Thibaut Courtois has conceded that Atletico Madrid struggled against Villarreal, but insisted that grinding out results is a sign of champions.
Raul Garcia scored the only goal of the game as the capital side maintained their one-point advantage at the top of the table.
But after hanging on towards the end of the match, the goalkeeper admitted that his men were put under an extreme examination.
“It was a very tough game,” he told reporters. “We were able to take the lead but after that, we noticed the tiredness setting in.
“I don’t think we are running out of gas but last Tuesday’s game [against Barcelona] was tough and took it out of us and we noticed that today.
“We are taking it one game at a time. I’m sure that from now until the end, we are going to suffer as we are reaching the final few weeks but we have to keep going.”
