• Atletico Madrid's Joao Felix vies with Valencia's Jose Luis Gaya Pena. AFP
    Atletico Madrid's Joao Felix vies with Valencia's Jose Luis Gaya Pena. AFP
  • Atletico Madrid's Portuguese midfielder Joao Felix shoots a free kick. AFP
    Atletico Madrid's Portuguese midfielder Joao Felix shoots a free kick. AFP
  • Atletico players Joao Felix's equaliser against Valencia. AFP
    Atletico players Joao Felix's equaliser against Valencia. AFP
  • Valencia's French forward Kevin Gameiro vies with Atletico Madrid's Uruguayan defender Jose Gimenez. AFP
    Valencia's French forward Kevin Gameiro vies with Atletico Madrid's Uruguayan defender Jose Gimenez. AFP
  • Atletico Madrid's Luis Suarez scores their second goal. Reuters
    Atletico Madrid's Luis Suarez scores their second goal. Reuters
  • Luis Suarez celebrates after making it 2-1. EPA
    Luis Suarez celebrates after making it 2-1. EPA
  • Valencia's Jose Luis Gaya in action with Atletico Madrid's Luis Suarez. Reuters
    Valencia's Jose Luis Gaya in action with Atletico Madrid's Luis Suarez. Reuters
  • Atletico Madrid's Angel Correa scores their third goal in a 3-1 win. Reuters
    Atletico Madrid's Angel Correa scores their third goal in a 3-1 win. Reuters
  • Atletico's striker Angel Correa celebrates with his teammate Lucas Torreira. EPA
    Atletico's striker Angel Correa celebrates with his teammate Lucas Torreira. EPA
  • Atletico Madrid's Luis Suarez celebrates scoring their second goal with Joao Felix. Reuters
    Atletico Madrid's Luis Suarez celebrates scoring their second goal with Joao Felix. Reuters

Atletico Madrid 'not getting carried away' as Joao Felix and Luis Suarez down Valencia


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Joao Felix and Luis Suarez inspired Atletico Madrid to a comeback 3-1 win against Valencia to restore their seven-point lead at the top of La Liga.

After Real Madrid thrashed Alaves on Saturday, Barcelona had earlier followed suit with a scrappy victory over Elche.

But Atletico were undeterred in the capital, as their considerable advantage was restored again, with a game in hand.

"We don't get carried away or think too far ahead, we think about getting better," said Atletico coach Diego Simeone.

Valencia took a shock lead through with Serbian midfielder Uros Racic's long-range strike on 11 minutes but Felix restored parity when he prodded home a corner on 23 minutes.

The Portuguese forward then released Suarez early in the second half, with the Uruguayan taking , who took a couple of touches before striking in off the far post from a tight angle.

The Uruguayan, who was celebrating his 34th birthday, moved joint-top of La Liga's goalscoring charts alongside Sevilla's Youssef En-Nesyri, with 12 from 15 games since being shown the Barcelona exit last year.

"It's perfect to play alongside a striker like Luis Suarez. He just keeps scoring goals and he is so important for the team," said Felix.

Substitute Angel Correa then finished off a fine move from Marcos Llorente in the 72nd minute to clinch a seventh league win in a row for Simeone's side.

"We may have fallen behind early but we're a team that keeps fighting until the end," Felix added. "We're doing so well, we just focus on each game and that's what we need to keep doing. We're not looking at how many points we have."

Atletico lead the standings with 47 points from 18 games, seven ahead of nearest challengers Real Madrid and with a game in hand. Valencia are 14th on 20 points.