Verza scored two late goals to give Almeria a 2-0 win in their La Liga clash against Atletico Madrid this evening.
Atletico came close to opening up the Almeria defence early on when Javier Manquillo was slid into the box by Diego, but his ball across goal was well cleared by Rafita.
© AFP
Diego then tried his luck from distance for the visitors with a powerful effort that went just over the bar.
The Madrid outfit were unlucky not to be awarded a penalty when Suso appeared to foul Manquillo in the area, but the referee was unconvinced.
At the start of the second half the visitors came close, as Diego drilled a low strike just wide of the post.
Gabi and Raul Garcia both put efforts wide, as Atletico struggled to test keeper Esteban Andres Suarez.
The home side soon came within inches of finding the net. Aleix Vidal burst through the midfield, before driving a low effort against the post.
With 10 minutes of the game left to play, Almeria broke the deadlock. Verza's curling cross from the left-hand side missed everyone in the box, before drifting over the head of Daniel Aranzubia and into the net.
Things got worse for the visitors six minutes later when Aranzubia was sent off for bringing down Jonathan Sundy Zongo inside the box, and Verza stepped up to fire the resulting penalty into the top corner.
The result sees Almeria climb up to 13th in the table, while Atletico drop to second below Real Madrid on goal difference.
Alex Meyers
