It was a slow start to the contest from the visitors, and the hosts almost capitalised on this after 11 minutes when a fierce 15-yard strike from Daniel Requena forced Jan Oblak into an impressive save to keep the score level.
This appeared to wake the Rojiblancos up, and Diego Simeone’s side thought they had made the breakthrough just after the quarter-hour mark through Morten Hjulmand, but his smart finish from close range was retrospectively ruled out for offside after VAR intervention.
Atleti continued to grow into the game as the first half progressed, which led to an important save from Mathew Ryan to prevent Marcos Llorente’s effort from distance from giving the visitors the lead.
The Rojiblancos eventually broke the deadlock after 36 minutes when Alejandro Grimaldo took full advantage of a defensive error from Jon Ander Olasagasti to rifle in his fourth league goal of the season from inside the box.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Atleti held onto their lead at the interval, as they maintained their remarkable record of conceding only one first-half goal in this season’s LaLiga campaign.
Eager to kill the game off, David Hancko had the ball in the back of the net for Atleti early on in the second half, but his effort was immediately ruled out for offside. And just moments later, Kang-In Lee saw a powerful strike from the edge of the box come back off the bar.
However, the Rojiblancos were soon rewarded with a vital second goal when Giuliano Simeone latched onto Alex Baena’s delightful through ball, placing his shot brilliantly past Ryan.
Levante had a golden opportunity to halve the deficit midway through the second half following a mistake from Llorente, but Karl Etta Eyong somehow squandered his effort from only six yards out.
That turned out to be the Granotes’ last significant chance to salvage something from the match, as Atleti expertly managed the latter stages of the game to secure all three points.
After missing out on the chance to go three games unbeaten at home, Levante remain one point clear of the relegation zone but have dropped one place to 16th position in the table.
Meanwhile, current table-toppers Atleti have now managed three successive league shutouts, conceding just eight goals in 11 games so far.
They must now shift their attention to the league phase of the UEFA Champions League as they host Bayern Munich on Tuesday.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Alejandro Grimaldo (Atletico Madrid)