Atletico Madrid beat Levante 2-0 in Valencia on Saturday, AFP reported. The win took Diego Simeone's side a point clear of Barcelona at the top of La Liga. Barcelona hosted Alaves later that day. According to a later AFP headline, they then routed Alaves to keep top spot.
The win was Simeone's 344th in La Liga as Atletico coach. That equals the club record set by Luis Aragones, according to AFP. Simeone has coached Atletico since 2011. It was also Atletico's seventh league win in a row.
Levante's Dani Requena forced an early save from Atletico goalkeeper Jan Oblak. Morten Hjulmand thought he had scored from an Alex Baena pass, but a VAR review ruled the Dane offside. Baena then set up the opener. Levante defended his pass poorly and the ball reached Grimaldo, who shot high into the net at the near post.
Lee Kang-in hit the crossbar early in the second half. Giuliano Simeone, the coach's son, then scored the second goal after Baena played him in. Oblak made another strong save from Karl Etta Eyong to stop Levante getting back into the game.
Simeone told Movistar he was very happy with the team's work. He said the season was far from over and the side would keep going game by game. He added that the record belonged to his players and everyone who had worked with him over the years.
Before kick-off, the teams held a minute's silence for the 69 victims of this week's train crash in the province of Toledo. Barcelona had lost their first league game of the season to Real Madrid last weekend. Atletico host Bayern Munich in the Champions League on Tuesday. They then welcome Barcelona to the Metropolitano next weekend. Jose Mourinho's third-placed Real Madrid visit Racing Santander on Sunday.