La Liga champions Atletico Madrid moved up to third position thanks to a routine 2-0 win away at Cordoba on Sunday.
Antoine Griezmann latched onto a poor pass from Bruno Zuculini to drill home the opener after just five minutes before Saul Niguez made it 2-0 six minutes before half-time on his return after a lengthy injury layoff.
Cordoba remain bottom of the table after a 10th consecutive defeat and there seemed little doubt that Atletico would secure their first away win since January from the moment Griezmann drove at the Cordoba defense and slotted home his 18th goal of the season early on.
Diego Godin could have doubled Atletico’s lead shortly afterward, but sent his header too close to Cordoba goalkeeper Juan Carlos.
However, it was no surprise when the visitors made it 2-0 from another set-piece as Jesus Gamez’s throw-in was flicked on by Jose Maria Gimenez and Saul nodded the ball into the far corner.
Atletico were able to comfortably sit on their lead after the break with Cordoba only coming close in the closing stages when former Manchester United man Bebe hit the crossbar.
Sevilla maintained their pursuit of a top-four finish with a comfortable 2-0 win over Athletic Bilbao yesterday.
Aleix Vidal pounced on an error by Bilbao goalkeeper Gorka Iraizoz to open the scoring after just three minutes.
Carlos Bacca then stabbed home his 20th goal of the season midway through the first-half to double Sevilla’s lead.
Athletic’s miserable afternoon was rounded off as Iker Muniain had to be stretchered off in tears after appearing to suffer a serious knee injury.
Elsewhere, UD Almeria and Malaga were held to 1-1 home draws against Levante UD and Real Sociedad respectively.
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