Atletico Madrid hasn't flinched in its quest to win the La Liga title for the first time since 2014.
Coming from behind for a second straight time, Atletico defeated Valencia 3-1 on Sunday to strengthen its hold on the league lead entering the second half of the season.
Barcelona earlier picked up its second win in a row without the suspended Lionel Messi, defeating Elche 2-0 to regain third place.
Joao Felix, Luis Suarez and Angel Correa scored to give Atletico its seventh straight league win and a seven-point gap to second-place Real Madrid with a game in hand. Diego Simeone's team is 10 points ahead of Barcelona.
Atletico had also needed to rally to win its previous league match against Eibar.
“We started behind again but this team always fights until the end and thankfully we ended with the victory,” Felix said.
“We can't get too caught up with the lead that we have now. We have to stayed focused match after match.”
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Valencia opened the scoring with a beautiful curling long-range shot by Uros Racic in the 11th minute, but Felix equalized off a corner kick in the 23rd and Suarez put the host ahead with a well-placed low shot into the far corner in the 54th from a Felix pass. Correa sealed the victory by completing a cross from Marcos Llorente in the 72nd.
Suarez, who netted a late winner against Eibar last weekend, is now one of the league's leading scorers with 12 goals, along with Sevilla's Youssef En-Nesyri.
Valencia, which was unbeaten in five matches in all competitions, stayed in 14th place. It has the same 20 points as Alaves, the first team inside the relegation zone after 20 matches.
Valencia defender Mouctar Diakhaby had to be replaced early in the second half because of an apparent muscle injury.
Celta held
Celta Vigo was held 1-1 against Eibar to extend its winless streak to five matches in all competitions. It had lost four straight, including against third-division club Ibiza in the second round of the Copa del Rey. Its last league win was in December.
Celta sits in ninth-place, while Eibar stayed 15th, not far from the relegation zone.
Osasuna wins
Osasuna snapped its own 13-game winless streak with a 3-1 victory over Granada.
Ante Budimir scored a pair of first-half goals for the host, which hadn't won in the league since October.
The win moved Osasuna out of the relegation zone, while Granada stayed in seventh place.
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