Atletico Madrid moved provisionally to the top of La Liga on Saturday after securing a 2-0 away victory over Levante, piling pressure on Barcelona ahead of the Catalan side’s home clash with Alaves.
Diego Simeone’s men climbed one point above reigning champions Barcelona, who suffered their first league defeat against rivals Real Madrid last weekend.
Goals from Alejandro Grimaldo and Giuliano Simeone in Valencia secured Atletico’s seventh consecutive league victory, extending their impressive run of form and strengthening their title challenge.
“I’m very happy with the team’s work,” Atletico coach Simeone told Movistar.
“We’re very far from the end of the season… we’ll keep going game by game.”
The match began with a minute’s silence in memory of the 69 victims of a train crash in the Spanish province of Toledo earlier this week.
Levante threatened early on, with Dani Requena forcing Atletico goalkeeper Jan Oblak into an impressive save.
Atletico thought they had taken the lead when Morten Hjulmand found the net after being played through by Alex Baena, but a VAR review ruled out the effort for offside.
Baena, who was at the heart of Atletico’s attacking play, later helped create the opening goal.
His pass caused confusion in the Levante defence, allowing the ball to fall kindly to Grimaldo, who unleashed a powerful strike into the near-post roof of the net.
Atletico continued to press after the break, with Lee Kang-in striking the crossbar as the visitors sought to extend their advantage.
Their second goal eventually arrived when Giuliano Simeone, the coach’s son, prodded the ball home after being set up by World Cup winner Baena.
Oblak then produced another fine save to deny Karl Etta Eyong and prevent Levante from mounting a late comeback.
The victory also saw Simeone record his 344th La Liga win as Atletico coach, drawing level with the club record set by Luis Aragonés.
“I don’t feel it much as mine, but it belongs to my players, everyone who has been with me for so many years,” said Simeone, who took charge of Atletico in 2011.
Atletico will now turn their attention to Tuesday’s Champions League encounter against Bayern Munich before hosting Barcelona at the Metropolitano Stadium next weekend in a potentially decisive league fixture.
Elsewhere, third-placed Real Madrid, coached by Jose Mourinho, travel to face Racing Santander on Sunday.
AFP
