Atletico Madrid vs. Levante: Winners and Losers from La Liga Game
Atletico Madrid kicked off La Liga in 2015 with a 3-1 home victory over Levante, moving level with second-place Barcelona in the table.
Antoine Griezmann scored two headers before Nabil El Zhar pulled one back, but another header late on saw Diego Godin wrap up the points for the home side, who were largely comfortable throughout.
Here are all our winners and losers from the match.
Winner: Arda Turan
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Turkish attacking midfielder Arda Turan was one of the stars of the first half, with his fine running down the channels and ability to beat a man making him one of the few players able to create space in the final third for Atleti.
He almost set up a couple of goals that failed to materialize due to some wayward finishing and offside flags, and he worked as hard as ever off the ball.
Turan faded after the break as Levante scored and tried to push for an equaliser, but he remains the most in-form Atleti midfielder out of the quartet of starters, just as he was in the final games before the winter break.
Loser: Pape Diop
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Levante had a particularly poor time of things in the first half of the game, as they lacked ambition to attack, had no real out-ball and couldn't get control of play in the centre of the park.
Pape Diop was one of their poorest performers, getting booked for a crude challenge from behind in the first 45 minutes and being unable to create anything of note going forward after the break.
He was overrun and outworked by his opposite numbers, was wasteful on the ball and didn't break much up, either.
Winner: Antoine Griezmann
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French attacker Antoine Griezmann's pre-winter break hat-trick kept him in the team up front as part of a two-man strike force with Mario Mandzukic.
He repaid manager Diego Simeone's faith in him with two more goals, both headers, showing great movement for the first and anticipating and reacting on the second to net vital strikes for his side.
Griezmann worked very well off the ball, tracking back, finding spaces and making challenges. He was the standout performer for Atletico and looks to really be finding his role at the club now.
Loser: Raul Jimenez
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Raul Jimenez came off the bench to play around 10 minutes or so for Atletico, but he failed to have any kind of impact in the final third for his team.
The Mexican hasn't settled into a productive bench role for Atleti, he isn't showing enough to start matches and now the 23-year-old faces increased competition for a place on the pitch from one of the club's heroes in a returning Fernando Torres.
Jimenez isn't close to usurping either of the front two spots, while Raul Garcia has often been preferred to start ahead of him, too, in attack. It's hard to see much changing for the striker in the coming weeks, with big games ahead that he'll have to watch from the sidelines.
Winner: Gabi
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Central midfielder Gabi didn't have a great time of things in November and December, losing form at times and suffering with suspension, but he returned to put in a great performance against Levante.
He battled hard to dominate the centre of the park for his team, won the ball back well, delivered some quality set pieces and, most importantly, avoided a booking, which would have ruled him out of the next league game against Barcelona.
Atletico will hope their captain's return to top form persists for the rest of the season as they look to retain their title.
