Atletico Madrid recover from Valencia defeat by beating Espanyol

Atletico Madrid bounced back from their defeat to Valencia last time out by beating Espanyol 2-0 at the Vicente Calderon on Sunday. 

The three points keep Diego Simeone's men five points behind Barcelona and just one off their city rivals, Real Madrid.

Espanyol, meanwhile, sit in the middle of the table with nine points from their eight matches.

Miguel Moya had to be alert early on to deny Lucas Vazquez, but Sergio Gonzalez's side never really threatened, despite Atletico failing to get going.

It is therefore not surprising that the game's two goals originated from set pieces.

A half-cleared corner was helped back into the box by Gabi just before half time, and Tiago's header was perfectly looped over the diving Kiko Casilla in the visiting goal.

Another midfielder, Mario Suarez, would add the second after the break from another set play.

"The difference today has been the dead balls," Sergio conceded after the defeat.

"One of their qualities is set plays and they have demonstrated that. 

"We spoke about it during the week, we tried not to give away many fouls, but when you play against a team as aggressive and intense as Atletico it's impossible not to give fouls away because you have to match their intensity."

Elsewhere, despite his side not being at their best, Simeone was happy with Atleti's performance.

"We played well, attacked well and defended well," he analysed. 

"The team played the game they had to play. In every moment we were in control of the rhythm of the match, played in our rival's half and got Raul Garcia and Mandzukic into the area."