Diego Costa scored twice as Atletico Madrid beat Valencia 3-0 to maintain their winning home run this season and keep pace with Barcelona at the top of La Liga.
.
The in-form forward broke the deadlock just before the hour mark and with Valencia's resistance broken Raul Garcia added a second moments later.
.
Costa then missed a penalty but made amends from the spot with nine minutes to go, allowing him to draw level with Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo with 17 goals this season.
.
"You need to show personality and fight for your achievements so after missing the first penalty I wanted to take the second," Costa told reporters.
.
"Valencia played well in the first half and we knew that we had to do a bit more especially in attack which we did."
.
Atletico are level on 43 points with Barcelona, who beat Villarreal 2-1 on Saturday, while Real Madrid lost further ground following a 2-2 draw at Osasuna and now sit five points off the pace in third spot.
It is getting really tough out there between this two. I dont see Real Madrid doing anything again.