ROSTOV-ON-DON, Russia (AP) " Top of La Liga and now with three wins from three in the Champions League, Atletico Madrid's season so far is going to plan after beating FC Rostov 1-0 on Wednesday. Yannick Ferreira Carrasco fired in the winner on a cold night in Russia on Wednesday, and at the halfway point in Group D Atletico is all but assured of qualifying for the knockout stages with an eight-point lead over third place. Carrasco now boasts five goals from his last four games for Atletico after having failed to score in his first seven outings of the season. Against Rostov, the Belgium winger was all action from the start, forcing a save from Rostov goalkeeper Soslan Dzhanaev early on and twice helping to set up good chances that were missed by Angel Correa. Defensively minded Rostov has one point from three games in its Champions League debut campaign and rarely threatened to score against Atletico, barring a couple of late efforts easily dealt with by goalkeeper Jan Oblak.

Source: New Zealand Herald October 19, 2016 21:30 UTC