Rayo Vallecano 0-1 Atletico Madrid: Koke strikes for the champions

Atletico Madrid extended their hot streak with a 1-0 win at Rayo Vallecano in LaLiga after Koke scored the second-half winner in Saturday's capital derby.

After an international break, Atletico will play Alaves before playing their Champions League quarter-final against Pep Guardiola's Manchester City on April 5.

Defending champion Atletico's sixth win in seven matches overall lifted them ahead of Barcelona into third place, and just two points behind Sevilla in second. League leaders Real Madrid are 12 points ahead of Atletico before they host Barcelona on Sunday in an eagerly awaited 'El Clasico'.

Diego Simeone kept with the same lineup from Tuesday's 1-0 win at Old Trafford that knocked Manchester United out of the Champions League 2-1 on aggregate in the round of 16.

After constantly tweaking the lineup as his team struggled at times this season, Simeone appears to have found his preferred starting XI with Antoine Griezmann and Joao Felix in attack and Luis Suarez as a sub.

Griezmann and Felix combined three times early on to create chances as Rayo's defence held on. The hosts responded with pressure and a high-pace attack that managed to rattle the more talented visitors through the rest of the first half.

But when Felix linked up with Koke in the 49th minute, the resistance collapsed. After receiving the ball in the box, Koke passed it back for Felix arriving in a second wave. The Portugal forward slid the ball right back to meet Koke's move around his marker, and the Spain midfielder did the rest by slotting his shot inside the far post.

'I think we have made this click,' Koke said. 'We have increased our intensity and our concentration and that is why we are on this run. (We have improved) both in defence and