Atletico Madrid have climbed to the top of La Liga courtesy of a narrow 1-0 victory over bottom-of-the-table Levante at the Vicente Calderon this evening.
After Barcelona had been held to a goalless draw by local rivals Espanyol earlier in the day, Diego Simeone's side knew that victory would take them two points clear of the Catalan giants and six ahead of Real Madrid, who play tomorrow.
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It took a while to come, but ultimately a late strike from Thomas Partey was enough to hand Los Rojiblancos the points, putting them in the driving seat for the title race.
The hosts started well enough when Saul Niguez rose highest in the area to meet a cross in just the second minute, but he planted his header narrowly wide of the target.
Atletico came close again just four minutes later as Diego Marino was called into action for the first time, keeping out Jackson Martinez's effort towards the bottom corner from inside the box.
The first half did not carry on in that manner, however, and Atletico had to wait until just before the half-hour mark for their next opening when Stefan Savic hit the crossbar having been first to a corner.
That miss almost proved costly when Levante went straight up the other end and threatened for the first time in the match, only for Verza to fire his effort just past the post.
Simeone was left bemoaning his side's luck again 10 minutes into the second half when they came within the width of the crossbar from taking the lead once more, this time Koke striking the woodwork from the edge of the area.
The breakthrough finally came with less than 10 minutes remaining when Partey embarked on a solo run into the box before firing his effort past Marino.
The visitors could not conjure up a response in the closing stages as they slumped to a fifth defeat in a row and eighth consecutive match without victory, while Atletico have now won 11 of their last 12 games in all competitions.
Barney Corkhill
