The first incident of the game saw Torres tumble inside the penalty area, but despite his appeals, the referee waved played on after deciding that two Malaga defenders had won the ball.

Just before the quarter-hour mark, the former Chelsea man was provided with a sighter on goal after meeting Juanfran's cross, but his first-time effort flew over the crossbar.

Malaga's first spell of action in the final third involved Nordin Amrabat, who fired straight at Jan Oblak, but just after the midway point of the half, Atletico opened the scoring in fortuitous circumstances.

Goalkeeper Carlos Kameni came to collect a high ball but the Cameroonian only proceeded to drop it straight at the feet of Griezmann, who made no mistake from close range.

Malaga responded well without creating anything of note, but eight minutes before the break, they found an equaliser when Recio's effort at the near post was deflected into his own net by an unfortunate Torres.

That goal put Malaga in the ascendancy when the teams returned for the second half, but it was Atletico who created the best chance through Koke, who headed wide after being teed up by Torres.

Soon afterwards, Atletico laid siege to the Malaga goal with both Griezmann and Torres being denied by Kameni, who was atoning for his earlier error.

The visitors had the momentum, but with 18 minutes remaining, Malaga went ahead when Samuel Garcia collected a pass from Amrabat before clipping the ball over Oblak in the Atletico goal.

Six minutes later though, Atletico were back on level terms after Griezmann netted his second. The Frenchman finished easily from close range, but replays showed that he had scored from an offside position.

The final stages saw both teams have opportunities to win it, but Malaga held on to not only boost their own European hopes but to almost certainly leave Atletico out of the title race.