Vintage Torres downs lowly Las Palmas
Fernando Torres scored a rare la Liga goal on Sunday as Atletico Madrid made light of Diego Costa's absence to consolidate second place with a 3-0 win over lowly Las Palmas.
Torres finished a lightning 73rd-minute counter-attack with a vintage shot into the roof of the net to double his side's lead and help move them up to 46 points, six ahead of third-place Valencia after their 4-1 home defeat by Real Madrid on Saturday.
The win for Atletico means that they have also closed the gap to Barcelona to eight points ahead of the runaway league leaders' home clash later with Alaves, who are hovering one place above the relegation zone.
With Costa injured, Atletico took a while to get going and had to wait until the 61st minute to open the scoring, Antoine Griezmann latching on to Juanfran's fine ball down the right flank before dinking neatly over Las Palmas stopper Leandro Chichizola.
"The first half was not very good but the coach gave us a good talking to at half-time, and we responded well," said Griezmann, who also hit the post twice and started the move that led to the Torres goal, the 600th scored by Atletico in all competitions during Diego Simeone's seven-year reign as coach.
The Frenchman intercepted a loose pass and set Angel Correa free to scamper down the pitch and feed Torres, who shifted the ball onto his right foot and lashed home the goal that sealed the three points.
An easy tap-in from Thomas Partey after great work from Yannick Carrasco two minutes from time completed the second-half rout of a desperate Las Palmas, who remain second from bottom and five points from safety.
"In the end, we had lots of opportunities and we scored three goals," added Griezmann, whose goal was just his seventh in the league this season but his fourth in league and cup since the turn of the year.
"I feel good, I've started the year well and I hope to continue the goals and assists.
"We still have two competitions to play for this season (La Liga and the Europa League) and we will give everything in them both. Let's see how far we are able to go."
Sevilla were denied the chance to close within three points of Real Madrid and the Champions league places after Angel Rodriguez scored a controversial equaliser deep in stoppage time to snatch a 1-1 draw for Getafe at the Roman Sanchez Pizjaun stadium.
Luis Muriel had slid in a 72nd-minute for hosts but with seconds to spare Juan Cala challenged Sevilla keeper Sergio Rico for a hopeful high ball, and with the Sevilla fans and players clamouring for a free-kick, Angel lashed home the leveller and celebrated under a hail of whistles and boos.