Atletico hold La Liga rivals at bay with tight Villarreal win

MADRID: Atletico Madrid bounced back from recent poor form with a hard-fought 2-0 win at Villarreal on Sunday that allowed the La Liga pace-setters to extend their lead to five points.

An own goal from Alfonso Pedraza and Joao Felix’s powerful strike gave Atletico a precious win after a wobble which had allowed Barcelona and Real Madrid to gain ground in the title race. Diego Simeone’s side had come into the match off the back of a Champions League last 16 defeat to Chelsea and a league run in which they picked up just five points from their previous four matches.

However despite Villarreal coming close on a number of occasions Atletico held on for a win that ensures they keep second-placed Barca at bay and crucially increase the gap between them and rivals Real Madrid to six points ahead of next weekend´s local derby.

Madrid can go back to within three points of Atletico when they host Europe-chasing Real Sociedad on Monday night. "We suffered, and even after the second goal they had good chances. But we come home with a very important victory at this point in the season," said Simeone.

Atletico opened the scoring thanks to Pedraza´s odd own goal mid-way through the first half, which came after long VAR check to see if Stefan Savic, who was initially credited with the goal, had strayed offside for Thomas Lemar´s cross.

Savic´s header was saved by Sergio Asenjo only for the ball to ricochet off Pedraza and into the net as the 24-year-old defender fell over. Gerard Moreno should have pulled the hosts level when he met a Daniel Parejo cross but couldn´t muster a decisive finish and Savic recovered easily to clear the ball off the line.

Suarez could have doubled Atleti´s lead eight minutes after the break when he pounced on a defensive lapse to let off a powerful shot, only for Asenjo to pull of a superb reaction save to deny the Uruguayan.