Torres' winner pushes Atletico Madrid past Getafe

Madrid - Fernando Torres' solitary strike after just a minute was enough to move Atletico Madrid back level with Barcelona at the top of La Liga with a 1-0 win at Getafe on Sunday.

Torres ended a five-month goal drought to net his 100th Atletico goal against Eibar last weekend and was brilliantly picked out by Yannick Carrasco's low cross to get the visitors off to the perfect start.

Atletico then held on to record its 15th clean sheet in 24 Liga games this season to leapfrog Real Madrid back into second place.

Barcelona has two games in hand on both capital clubs and host Celta Vigo later on Sunday.

Torres was handed his first start since early Jan. and rewarded boss Diego Simeone with a smart finish after great work from Carrasco down the right.

The former Liverpool and Chelsea striker then missed a huge chance to double Atletico's lead on 13 minutes when he failed to hit the target when clean through on Vicente Guaita.

Getafe rarely threatened the Atletico goal, but the visitors did suffer a big setback when Carrasco hobbled off with ankle ligament damage early in the second period.

The Belgian international is now a major doubt for both Atletico's trips to PSV Eindhoven in the Champions League last-16 next week and the Madrid derby in a fortnight.