Antoine Griezmann's early strike was enough to extend Atletico Madrid's unbeaten run to 10 games in all competitions as Diego Simeone's men ran-out 1-0 winners against Espanyol in La Liga.
Fresh from netting both goals in Atleti's 2-0 Champions League victory over Galatasaray, Griezmann nudged the hosts ahead with an exquisite finish inside the opening three minutes.
Griezmann was denied a second soon after the break as Pau Lopez produced a terrific stop in the Espanyol goal.
Diego Godin then headed against the upright as the hosts searched for a second goal, with Espanyol unable to fashion any notable opportunities, with Atleti dominating possession.
The victory was marred somewhat for Simeone by an injury to Tiago midway through the first half – the veteran midfielder having to be taken to hospital with an apparent knee injury.
Simeone made four changes to the Atleti side that secured qualification to the last 16 of the Champions League in midweek and one of those, Oliver Torres, unlocked Espanyol's leaky defence just three minutes in.
Lopez pulled off an instinctive save to parry away Griezmann's close-range effort shortly after the restart, with Filipe Luis' goal-bound strike having been blocked by Alvaro Gonzalez just prior.
Espanyol's goalkeeper was forced into action again around the hour mark, reacting sharply to tip Torres' venomous effort over.
Griezmann came close to doubling his tally with a fantastic effort from 20 yards out late on, but Lopez was again equal to it, before Godin hit the woodwork with a powerful header.
But that miss mattered little as Atleti held firm against Espanyol's lacklustre attack to secure a third consecutive league win and fifth consecutive clean sheet in Liga.
- Atletico Madrid have kept more clean sheets than any other side in the top five European leagues in 2015 (20).
