Atletico Madrid overcame Athletic Bilbao 1-0 as Fernando Torres continued his recent resurgence with his fifth goal in as many matches.
Barcelona and Real Madrid also recorded victories on Wednesday, leaving Atletico level on points with Barca but second in the table due to their inferior head-to-head record, and one point clear of third-placed Real.
The Barcelona outfit entered the match off the back of three straight defeats in Spain’s top flight, but four from Luis Suarez and one each for Ivan Rakitic, Lionel Messi, Marc Bartra and Neymar has seen the leaders
Real Madrid remain in the La Liga title hunt with just four games left following a 3-0 victory over fourth-place Villarreal at the Bernabeu on Wednesday night.