Llorente, Felix, Costa score, Atletico Madrid beats MLS 3-0
Llorente scored in the 43rd minute and Feliz and Costa came off the bench to score late goals in the rain-delayed match away before a sellout crowd of 25,527.
Marcos Llorente, Joao Felix, Diego Costa scored to lead 10-time Spanish League champion Atletico Madrid to a 3-0 victory over Major League Soccer's best in the annual MLS All-Star game Wednesday night.
Llorente scored in the 43rd minute and Feliz and Costa came off the bench to score late goals in the rain-delayed match away before a sellout crowd of 25,527.
The MLS's best have faced international opponents 16 times in the All-Star Game. The past two years, Italian powerhouse Juventus and Spain's Real Madrid won on penalty kicks after the teams played to 1-1 draws through 90 minutes.
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Wednesday night's game at Exploria Stadium — a 25,500-seat, soccer-specific facility that opened two years ago — culminated a week of related events thrusting Orlando into the soccer spotlight. The city also hosted the MLS All-Star game in 1998, attracting a crowd of 34,416 to the Florida Citrus Bowl.
Heavy rain sent fans scurrying for cover about an hour before the scheduled kickoff, which was delayed 34 minutes, and the showers continued for much of the match. Atletico controlled the tempo, outshooting MLS 12-1 in the opening half — with D.C. United's Wayne Rooney getting off the All-Stars' only attempt — a right-footed shot from outside the box that sailed over the top of the net in the 26th minute.
Llorente scored off a nifty pass from Rodrigo Riquelme, a 19-year-old midfielder who delivered the ball off his heel. Llorente finished with a shot that deflected off the hand of diving goalkeeper Andre Blake of the Philadelphia Union.
MLS had a couple of scoring chances early in the second half, however LAFC's Diego Rossi misfired on a right-footed shot from the left side of the net in the 47th minute and Atletico starting goalkeeper Antonio Adan made his only save when Seattle's Nicolas Loderio tried to score from the same area in the 55th minute. Atlanta's Ezequiel Barco was rejected on a free kick in the 80th minute and another opportunity ended with Chicago Bastian Schweinsteiger's shot on a direct free kick veering just right of the net in the 82nd.
Atletico put it out of reach in the closing minute with Felix scoring in the 85th minute and Costa in the 93rd.
