Atletico Madrid are making it clear that they won't let up in their pursuit of Spanish league leaders Barcelona.
Atletico sent a strong message about their intentions on Sunday by routing Sevilla 5-2 with a hat trick by Antoine Griezmann in Seville. Diego Costa and Koke also scored for Atletico as they took advantage of a disastrous defensive performance by Sevilla, which gave away three goals on individual blunders.
The resounding victory at Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan Stadium left Atletico seven points behind Barcelona, who trounced Girona 6-1 on Saturday.
Third-place Real Madrid, who defeated Alaves 4-0 on Saturday, are seven points behind Atletico.
Sevilla dropped to sixth place, 10 points behind four-place Valencia in the last qualification spot for the Champions league.
Costa opened the scoring after Ever Banega's mistake in the 29th minute. The midfielder didn't notice that the Atletico striker was behind him while trying to play a ball just outside the area, and easily lost possession.
Griezmann added to the lead just before halftime by evading three defenders before hitting the top corner from outside the area. The France forward scored his second early in the second half by converting a penalty kick after Costa was fouled by goalkeeper Sergio Rico following another defensive mistake by Sevilla. Defender Clement lenglet tried to clear a ball with a header but ended up giving it away to Costa.
Griezmann set up Koke's close-range goal less than 15 minutes later after the third mistake by the Sevilla defence, this time by Gabriel Mercado. He passed the ball back to Rico without noticing that Griezmann was nearby to pick it up and pass it back to Koke with a backheel touch inside the area.
Griezmann scored again after a pass by Saul Niguez in the 81st.
Sevilla added their late consolation goals through Pablo Sarabia in the 85th and Nolito in the 89th.
It was Atletico's seventh win in a row since being eliminated by Sevilla in the Copa del Rey quarterfinals.
"Almost everything went our way today," Atletico coach Diego Simeone said.
DECISIVE MINA
Valencia kept a safe distance from their closest challengers for the last Champions league spot by defeating Real Sociedad 2-1 and extending their winning streak to three matches.
Santi Mina scored a goal in each half at Mestalla Stadium to keep Valencia eight points in front of fifth-place Villarreal, who defeated Getafe 1-0 earlier.