Atletico Madrid extended their unbeaten streak to eight matches across all competitions, recording seven wins and one draw, with a victory over Deportivo La Coruna at the Metropolitano. The result also reduced the gap to Barcelona to just two points in the LaLiga title race.

Atletico controlled much of the first half, with Julian Alvarez emerging as a key attacking threat. The forward first dragged an effort wide from the edge of the penalty area before showcasing some impressive footwork to set up Pablo Barrios, who fired his shot over the crossbar.

However, Deportivo soon demonstrated why they had suffered only two defeats in LaLiga before the match, having recorded two wins and five draws. The visitors began to create promising attacking moves of their own.

They came close to taking a surprise lead when Yeremay Hernandez’s free-kick was parried by Jan Oblak. The Atletico goalkeeper then reacted superbly to keep out Lorenzo Amatucci’s follow-up attempt.

That proved to be Deportivo’s only significant threat of the first half, as Atletico continued to search for an opener. Lee Kang-In and Morten Hjulmand both squandered opportunities, sending their efforts over the crossbar before the interval.

Atletico finally broke the deadlock shortly after the restart. Alejandro Grimaldo delivered a dangerous cross into the penalty area, where Alvarez finished clinically into the bottom corner. The goal was his second in as many matches as he continued to rebuild his relationship with the club following a failed transfer move during the summer.

Atletico have now opened the scoring in nine of their 10 LaLiga matches this season. They looked capable of adding to their advantage when Alex Baena’s effort was comfortably collected by Leo Roman, before centre-back David Hancko came close with a long-range strike that narrowly cleared the crossbar.

Despite holding only a slender lead, the hosts remained in control and used the opportunity to introduce several substitutes. Among them was Alexander Sorloth, who tested Roman with a powerful effort that forced the goalkeeper to get a hand to the ball.

As in their victory over Espanyol last weekend, Atletico proved that a single goal was enough to secure all three points. The result marked their eighth league win of the campaign, alongside one draw and one defeat, while extending their unbeaten run against Deportivo in competitive meetings to 15 matches, with 12 wins and three draws.

Deportivo showed plenty of determination throughout the contest but ultimately lacked the quality needed to trouble Atletico consistently. The defeat extended their winless streak to six matches, comprising three draws and three losses.