A catalogue of defensive errors and an Antoine Griezmann hat-trick gifted Atletico Madrid a 5-2 victory over Sevilla in La Liga on Sunday.
In what was billed as a bogey game for Atleti, given they were eliminated from the Copa del Rey by Sevilla last month, it was anything but this time around.
Diego Costa robbed Ever Banega on the eddge of his own box to open the scoring, before Griezmann fired home from 20 yards out.
Sergio Rico then wiped out Costa for Griezmann to net from the penalty spot, and Gabriel Mercado’s awful backpass was snapped up by Koke.
Griezmann ended the match with a third goal to restore Atleti’s seven-point lead over arch-rivals Real, despite late consolations from Pablo Sarabia and Nolito.
Sevilla boss Vincenzo Montella: “Defeats are always frustrating. We lost confidence after we went 2-0 down.
“This is something that we must improve during matches, as well as our finishing. Rotations? I’m not going to make changes for the sake of them.
“The team are making lots of sacrifices, but it’s clear that we have to score goals. We gifted them two or three.
“I get angrier if the team don’t follow our philosophy than when they make individual errors.”
Atleti boss Diego Simeone: “The Copa was a long time ago, the team are doing very well and Sevilla are doing extraordinarily well under Montella.
“The team looked strong, they knew what they had to on the pitch and did very well. The second half was our best of the season.
“We’ll keep improving with calmness. We played some good football and now we must keep going like this.
“Griezmann? He’s an extraordinary player. I hope he keeps growing and makes us all grow. He’s in a brilliant run of form.”
