Jan Oblak

Alavés had neither a shot on- or off-target in the first half. The home side was defensively solid, which left them short up front and Oblak saw little action. It took 80 minutes for Alavés to test Oblak and the Slovenian made a fine fingertip save from Florian Lejeune. Beaten by an own-goal into the top corner, about which he could do nothing — 7.

Mario Hermoso

Another game where he was asked for his big switching passes to open up Atlético Madrid’s options in attack. Moved the ball forward to Carrasco when given the chance to do so. Not much asked of him in the first half and did well defensively — 7.

Felipe

Unlucky to score the own-goal but another good performance from him in the middle of Atlético’s back three. Heavily involved in the build-up and sprayed the ball around nicely. Good header from a corner in the first half, but deflected over — 7.

José Giménez

Commanding in his return to the side in Stefan Savić’s place. Atleti’s spiriutal leader at the back was out, but Giménez proved he can be this presence too. The Uruguayan was good in the air and rarely let Alavés’ attackers get turned against him — 8.

Šime Vrsaljko

A more lively performance from the Croatian than his return last week. Got up the line regularly in the first half and delivered a couple enticing passes — though he lost the ball with one misplaced pass. Atlético’s attacks went down the left and Alavés tried to take advantage of Vrsaljko’s lack of rhythm. Lucky to have Giménez handling business beside him, but promising overall — 7.

Yannick Carrasco

Another good performance from the Belgian, if slightly less productive. Alavés’ 3-5-2 meant he had plenty of defensive work to do in the opening half. Should have scored after Lemar was fouled when playing him through, and he played a lovely weighted pass to Suárez, which could have been another. Inspired recently — 8.

Koke

Played as the deepest midfielder and forced to think more defensively, while also applying pressure when Alavés tried to go through the middle. Not much play went through there, but Koke was everywhere as usual and did whatever was needed — 7.

Photo by Denis Doyle/Getty Images

Marcos Llorente

Occupied a more central role alongside Koke but got forward regularly. Opened the scoring before half-time with a deflected shot. Consistently one of Atlético’s best players, and one of the driving forces behind their good form in recent months — 8.

Thomas Lemar

Played in João Felix’s role as a number 10, favouring the inside-left position. Broke free and was hauled down by Víctor Laguardia around the hour mark, which resulted in a red card. Still struggles with his end product, but more involved and improving almost weekly — 8.

Ángel Correa

Peripheral in the first half, the Argentine has struggled recently with more sporadic game time. Never got into the match, was hauled off after an hour and looked dejected — 5.

Luis Suárez

Involved in the opening goal as he played it sideways to Llorente in open space. Offers himself for the ball often and is obviously used to playing in more adventurous sides, which leads to frustration sometimes when he doesn’t get the ball as he’d like. The Uruguayan won’t mind though, as long as Atlético keep winning. He missed an opportunistic chance at the start of the second that he should have used to shoot, instead squaring to nobody...but got the winner with a tap-in at the end for his ninth of the season. He could be the difference for Atlético this season in the quest for silverware — 9.

Substitutes

João Félix

Played on the right of midfield where he came on for Correa after an hour. Still looks to be getting back into the groove. Beautiful ball to Suárez for the goal to win it and had a chance to finish the match with a goal of his own as Suárez teed him up — 8.

Saúl Ñíguez

Replaced Carrasco, and a drifting Lucas Pérez caught him out for the equalizer. Only played 10 minutes — N/A.

Renan Lodi

Came on late and didn’t have time to make an impact — N/A.