Atletico Madrid vs. Real Sociedad: Winners and Losers from La Liga

Atletico Madrid turned on the style to build on their success in the Madrid derby, beating Real Sociedad 3-0 at the Vicente Calderon.

Their victory never looked in doubt after an early own goal by Diego Reyes, with Saul Niguez and Antoine Griezmann wrapping things up in the second half.

Here are the winners and losers from the game...

Winner: Antoine Griezmann

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Antoine Griezmann is back in the goals. His strike against Real Madrid at the weekend gave Atletico a huge derby victory and ended a five-game dry spell.

Now he has struck again against Real Sociedad, his former side, a good omen for the weeks ahead as his team try to keep the heat on Barcelona.

Perhaps even more pleasingly for head coach Diego Simeone, the goal was just the tip of the iceberg when it came to Griezmann's performance.

It came from the penalty spot, important for him after missing his two previous La Liga attempts from 12 yards.

Griezmann won it, fouled by Alberto de la Bella, dusting himself down and stroking it home.

Before that, he played a wonderful ball to Luciano Vietto in the buildup to Saul's goal, and his incisive cross should have been turned in at the back stick by Diego Godin but the effort was blocked, five minutes before half-time.

Griezmann seems to have returned to form, both with regards to scoring and also his overall level of play.

Loser: Diego Reyes

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Centre-back Diego Reyes did not have his best day at the office, and not just because of his own goal.

Koke's low cross was troublesome, but it still seemed like he could have done something with it other than turn it past his own goalkeeper.

Antoine Griezmann gave him plenty of trouble, while even Luciano Vietto got in behind him on a couple of occasions.

La Real have been in good form, drawing with Malaga, winning the Basque derby at Athletic Bilbao, seeing off Granada, Espanyol and Real Betis recently.

Atletico never struggled here though, and partly that came down to slack defending. It's rare that Simeone's side is so fruitful in front of goal.

Winner: Saul

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Saul Niguez is having a whale of a time. While Koke generally tends to be the most highly rated midfielder at Atletico, it's the 21-year-old who has become a key, undroppable player in the team.

With seven goals, he is the club's second top scorer, behind Antoine Griezmann, and finding the net isn't even his forte.

Here his goal was well taken, blasting home after good work by Griezmann and then Vietto down the right.

But his whole performance was impressive, helping Atletico control the game, following up a splendid performance against Real Madrid at the weekend.

Surely Spain head coach Vicente del Bosque will have to turn to him when he picks his squad for Euro 2016? He's never been called up so far but is clearly better than some of the players recently selected.

Loser: Luciano Vietto

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Luciano Vietto didn't play particularly badly against Real Sociedad, but that's not what Diego Simeone is looking for.

The Argentine is crying out for a forward to take the chance to play with Antoine Griezmann with both hands and find the net.

Vietto set up Saul Niguez's goal here, although his cross may have been overhit if it was meant for Koke.

He troubled Diego Reyes and the other La Real defenders too, sporadically, but hardly stamped his mark on the match.

At the end, he had the chance to grab a fourth but slowed down a break, and his effort wasn't good enough to test the goalkeeper.

With 12 goals in 17 starts at Villarreal last season, this year Vietto only has one league goal.

Winner: Diego Simeone

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This was a cracking night for Atletico manager Diego Simeone.

Not only could he breathe easy as his team romped to three points, but the gap on Barcelona and ahead of Madrid has been closed and extended respectively.

Trips to Rayo Vallecano and Levante await the big guns in the coming days, both places where slip-ups wouldn't be that much of a shock.

What's more, Simeone managed his squad well here.

He was able to substitute Diego Godin, Antoine Griezmann and Gabi, three key players, giving them a rest ahead of the trip to Mestalla to play Valencia on Sunday.

Those three were all possible suspension candidates, on four yellow cards, and Simeone will be pleased to have them available at the weekend.