(Reuters) -Atletico Madrid coach Diego Simeone has urged his side to keep up the momentum until the end of the season after a commanding 3-0 home win over city rivals Rayo Vallecano on Thursday strengthened their grip on third place in LaLiga.
Goals from Alexander Sorloth, Conor Gallagher and Julian Alvarez led Atletico to a convincing victory that helped them recover from Saturday's damaging 1-0 defeat at Las Palmas.
"It doesn't make me angry that we're scoring goals now, it's part of the process. In football many scenarios can happen and we have to be prepared for whatever comes our way," the Argentine told reporters.
"In the league we have been competing quite well and I hope we can maintain this line game by game until the end," he added.
Third-placed Atletico are 10 points behind leaders Barcelona and six behind second-placed Real Madrid, and although Simeone conceded the title is virtually out of their reach, he stressed the importance of defensive solidity as they head into the final stretch of the campaign.
"In the game against Las Palmas we played very badly and today in the first half we repeated that situation a little bit, but we recover and I'm happy with the defensive work which is our first strength to build everything the team tries to do," he added.
The coach reserved special praise for substitute Antoine Griezmann, who made a significant impact after coming on to provide a fine assist for goalscorer Alvarez.
"Antoine came on in the 60th minute and found a way to break down the defence and make an important pass," he said. "Julian goals speak for who he is a player and we are getting to know the person, he is a guy who came here to win and I hope we can help him do that."
(Reporting by Angelica Medina in Mexico City, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
