Málaga 1-0 Atlético Madrid: Player Ratings

Let's get this over with:

Jan Oblak, GK: 8

Atlético Madrid's best player on Sunday and it wasn't close. Málaga created several dangerous chances right from the start and the Slovene was there to stop them all - until some friendly fire (a Diego Godín deflection) took away his clean sheet and, by proxy, the point Atleti needed to be top at Christmas.

Juanfran, RB: 5

Like a lot of his teammates, struggled to get down the pitch and attack. Had issues with Málaga winger Juan Carlos as well; he had a good night and exerted influence on Juanfran's side.

Diego Godín, CB: 6

Atlético's best defender on the night, as he usually is, but even he had problems. Committed some rare positional errors but was able to right himself and rely on his head to snuff out danger until the very end when, perhaps due to the "headless chicken" defensive scheme the team decided to run, a Charles shot took a heavy deflection off him and skittered past a helpless Oblak.

José Giménez, CB: 5

Was more aggressive than we've seen recently, but really struggled to play the ball out of defense and was lucky not to receive a booking for a rough challenge on Charles late on.

Filipe Luís, LB: 4

First bad game in a while for Filipe. He was caught out twice in the first half  and was bailed out by Oblak on both occasions. What's more, Nordin Amrabat eventually notched the assist on the match winner from Filipe's side. The Brazilian was not a threat going forward either and will miss the next game against Rayo due to card accumulation. One to forget.

Yannick Ferreira Carrasco, RM: 5

The Belgian, so influential the past couple months, is experiencing a dip in form. Other than forcing Carlos Kameni into a fine save off a free kick, he wasn't lively over his hour-plus and was baited into a booking at the end of the first half. Also had a stonewall penalty go unnoticed by referee Mateu Lahoz, just cuz.

Saúl Ñíguez, CM: 7

Saúl dropped deeper than normal to do his best Tiago impression and performed pretty well in the role. He used his head well and his long ball delivery was solid. Such a versatile player, his importance to the side will only grow in the new year.

Koke, CM: 5

Set-piece delivery took a step backwards. Was hounded by Málaga's central midfield pairing of Ignacio Camacho and Recio and suffered from a lack of sharpness in the final third.

Gabi, LM: 4

Picked up his first yellow card trying to clean up for Godín at the back, then sent off five minutes later for a blatant handball. Should have stayed at the polling station.

Antoine Griezmann, FW: 5

Could not find a way through the rugged Weligton-Raúl Albentosa center-back pairing and was unable to consistently open up space for others.

Luciano Vietto, FW: 4

Ten touches and a silly booking in 45 minutes. Vietto's been back a month. It's almost January. He must improve soon.

Fernando Torres, FW: 7

Came on for Vietto at halftime. This was Torres' best outing in a while, even though the goalless drought reached 17 games. He ran hard, worked harder and was arguably the only player on the night who could create for himself. Just needs that 100th goal.

Thomas Partey, CM: 5

Came on for Carrasco in the 64th minute. Didn't really mess up in defense and attacked with some vigor after scoring midweek, both good things. However, his role in the coming months is up in the air with the impending arrivals of Augusto Fernández and Matías Kranevitter.