Fernando Torres’s solitary strike after just a minute was enough to move Atletico Madrid leapfrog Real Madrid and take the second spot in La Liga with a 1-0 win at Getafe on Sunday. Torres ended a five-month goal drought to net his 100th Atletico goal against Eibar last weekend and was brilliantly picked out by Yannick Carrasco’s low cross to get the visitors off to the perfect start.
Atletico then held on to record their 15th clean sheet in 24 Liga games this season to push Real to third.
Torres was handed his first start since early January and rewarded boss Diego Simeone with a smart finish after great work from Carrasco down the right.
The former Liverpool and Chelsea striker then missed a huge chance to double Atletico’s lead on 13 minutes when he failed to hit the target when clean through on Vicente Guaita.
Getafe rarely threatened the Atletico goal, but the visitors did suffer a big setback when Carrasco hobbled off with ankle ligament damage early in the second period.
The Belgian international is now a major doubt for both Atletico’s trips to PSV Eindhoven in the Champions League last-16 next week and the Madrid derby in a fortnight.
Elsewhere, Sevilla closed the gap on Villarreal in the battle for the fourth Champions League place to eight points with a 2-0 win over relegation threatened Las Palmas.
Second-half goals from Ever Banega and Kevin Gameiro overcame the Canary Islanders’ resistance to register Sevilla’s 13th consecutive home win in all competitions.
Basque minnows Eibar’s brilliant second season in the top flight continued as they saw off Levante 2-0 to move up to sixth. And Real Sociedad moved into the top half with their third straight win 3-0 over Granada.