Atletico Madrid are outright La Liga leaders after victory over Levante.

Thomas Partey came off the bench to fire Atletico Madrid to a 1-0 win over struggling Levante and take Diego Simeone's side two points clear at the top of the Primera Division.

The Ghanaian midfielder scored a scrappy winner with nine minutes remaining to ensure his side took advantage of Barcelona's goalless draw at Espanyol, although the reigning champions have a game in hand.

Simeon said afterwards: "We struggled to combine during the first half – more for being overly-impulsive rather than how we were playing. After Thomas came on there was more fluidity to our game. This was an important game and a very difficult one but we're going home happy that we are up at the top.

"We've one weekend to go before we close the first round of games and our initial objective remains the same. We're battling because we can play better, we can be more effective, we can finish off our moves much better and elaborate our attacking moves better..."