Granada vs. Atletico Madrid: Winners and Losers from La Liga
Atletico Madrid kept the pressure on Barcelona at the top of La Liga by seeing off Granada on Saturday night, before the Catalan side played.
Real Madrid had beaten Getafe 4-1 earlier in the day, but Diego Simeone's men moved back ahead of them in the table to second place, after seeing off Granada 2-0.
In many ways it was a classic Atletico victory, and here are the winners and losers.
Winner: Diego Godin
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Atletico Madrid's Uruguayan centre-back has been in wonderful form for weeks.
Godin scored the opening goal here with a bullet header from a corner, which gave Andres Fernandez no chance.
That would be enough to get him in the good books, but defensively he gave Granada short shrift too.
The last time Atletico conceded a goal with him on the pitch was against Deportivo de la Coruna at the end of October.
Astana, Sporting Gijon, Real Betis, Galatasaray, Espanyol and now Granada have all failed to break the Rojiblancos' defence.
Obviously, Juanfran, Jose Gimenez and Filipe Luis have been important in that run, along with Slovenian goalkeeper Jan Oblak, but Godin is still leading the way.
Loser: Fernando Torres
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Will his 100th Atletico Madrid goal ever come?
The veteran striker missed two excellent chances in this game, one in the first half and one in the second.
Some of his hold-up play was decent, and the second chance he made for himself came with a good dribble, but the goalkeeper got down quickly to deny him.
Effort isn't the problem, with Torres cheered on by the fans as he charges about up front, but he just isn't having the desired impact.
His contract expires at the end of the season, and unless he can find some semblance of form he may be looking for a new club at the end of the season.
Atletico look after their players, and if he can do anything to show he deserves a new deal, they will offer one to him.
At the moment, things just aren't going his way. For now, he isn't capitalising on Jackson Martinez's absence.
Winner: Oliver Torres
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Although Diego Simeone put him on the bench for this game, he still had an influence after coming in.
The coach is cautious with his young players and doesn't like to tire them out, but Oliver Torres is giving the Argentine reason to keep him in the side.
He has set up three of the last five goals that the club have scored.
Here he laid one on for Antoine Griezmann; he also set up one of the goals in the Copa del Rey against Reus and created Griezmann's goal against Espanyol.
Simeone has been reluctant to start him alongside Yannick Ferreira Carrasco, as the manager bids to keep a balance in the side between attack and defence.
However, the more comfortable Torres looks, the harder it will be to deny both him and the Belgian spaces in the starting lineup.
Losers: Granada's Fans
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Granada are bottom of the form table at home. They have fewer points than they have played games at home, only five.
They managed to beat Athletic Club at Estadio Nuevo Los Carmenes on November 22 in a delightful 2-0 win.
But apart from that, they have fallen against Eibar, Villarreal and Real Sociedad while drawing with Deportivo de la Coruna and Real Betis.
There is no shame in losing to Atletico Madrid, who will be tussling for the title next season, but despite having more shots than their opponents, 18 to 11, Granada never really looked like overturning the visitors.
Granada are fourth from bottom on 11 points, but the three teams underneath them (Malaga, Las Palmas and Levante) all have 10 and a game in hand.
Winner: Antoine Griezmann
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Antoine Griezmann went through a 10-game spell between September and November when he only scored two goals.
He netted against his former side, Real Sociedad, and against Sporting Gijon, but games against Villarreal, Benfica, Real Madrid and Valencia, among others, saw him draw blanks.
Some accusations against Griezmann suggest he can't do it in big games, and not netting against those sides furthered those rumours.
Now Griezmann is back in the goals, although his four in three games have been against Galatasaray, Espanyol and Granada.
That won't stop people saying Atletico can't rely on him against the best, but he is in good form, and nobody can criticise him for that.
Atletico have no huge games until they head to Barcelona at the end of January, but if Griezmann can keep on scoring and keep his team in the title race, that will be good enough for Rojiblancos fans.
