Atlético Madrid maintain momentum with away win over Levante

Atlético Madrid moved to the top of La Liga after goals from Alejandro Grimaldo and Giuliano Simeone gave them a 2-0 victory at Levante on Saturday. A seventh successive league victory saw Atléti overtake Barcelona, who can reclaim top spot with a draw at home to Alaves on Saturday evening. Alex Baena’s creativity proved key as he claimed assists for a goal in either half. Morten Hjulmand had a 16th-minute goal ruled out for offside but the breakthrough came 20 minutes later after an error by Jon Ander Olasagasti. The Levante midfielder attempted to step in and nick Baena’s pass off Grimaldo but he failed to connect, allowing the underlapping left-back to run into the penalty area and beat goalkeeper Mat Ryan at this near post from a narrow angle. Julian Alvarez and Grimaldo were both denied by Ryan early in the second half before, just past the hour, Baena was allowed to run unchallenged from deep inside his own half before playing a ball inside the full-back for Simeone to run on to. His first touch with his right foot gave him the angle to sidestep Ryan and slide a left-footed shot into an empty net. Levante’s Petar Ratkov directed a header wide but despite registering more shots than their opponents the home side failed to test Oblak, whose only real save of note came as early as the 11th minute when he dived high to his right to deny Dani Requena.