Griezmann's brace sees Atletico down Levante
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Madrid, Spain (SportsNetwork.com) - Antoine Griezmann produced at brace at the Vicente Calderon on Saturday as Atletico Madrid claimed a 3-1 home victory over Levante.
The opener came in the 18th minute when Griezmann met a cross from the left flank and nodded the delivery past Diego Marino at the near post.
Atletico failed to add to its lead before the close of the opening period, but the hosts wasted little time in doubling their advantage after the restart.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}It was once again Griezmann finding the back of the net after Mario Mandzukic had his header palmed away by Marino. A brief scramble in the box saw the loose ball squirt to Griezmann, and while Marino managed to parry the Frenchman's header to safety, the Levante goalkeeper was unable to stop the shot before the ball crossed the goal line.
Levante pressed the issue just after the hour mark when Miguel Moya produced a fine save on the line following a corner kick. The clearance, though, went only as far as Victor Casadesus, who uncorked a shot from the corner of the penalty area that deflected off of Nail El Zhar on its way into the back of the net.
The visitors pushed in search of an equalizer, but Atletico grabbed an insurance goal eight minutes from time when Diego Godin headed Thiago's cross past the on-rushing Marino, securing a second straight victory for Diego Simeone's men to see them improve to 38 points.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Levante is winless in its last five La Liga outings, staying put on 15 points for the season.
Sevilla capitalized on an early red card to collect a 1-0 home victory over 10-man Celta Vigo.
The visitors went down a man after Carles Planas picked up a straight red in the 21st minute, and Nicolas Pareja notched the winner just 11 minutes later to doom Celta Vigo to a fifth successive league defeat.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Elche managed to overturn a two-goal deficit to collect a point from a 2-2 home draw with Villarreal on Saturday.
Luciano Dario Vietto and Ikechukwu Uche scored five minutes apart to give the visitors a comfortable lead inside the opening 17 minutes, but Jonathas pulled one back in the 26th before Victor Romero Rodriguez equalized 10 minutes before the break.
Neither side was able to find a winner in the second half, leaving Elche to stay at the bottom of the table with 11 points and Villarreal in sixth place on 31 points.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Elsewhere in Saturday's La Liga action, Ivan Cavaleiro netted the lone goal in Deportivo's 1-0 defeat of Athletic Bilbao and Tommer Hemed produced a brace to lead Almeria to an impressive 2-1 win at Malaga.