A second half Arda Turan strike was enough to give 10-man Atletico Madrid a hard-fought 1-0 win over Granada.
As Atletico looked to catch up with Barcelona at the top of La Liga, it was actually the home team who dominated the early exchanges.
Guillherme Siqueira and Youssef El-Arabi could have given El Grana the lead within 10 minutes, but it was Mikel Roco who had the best chance of the half for Juan Antonio Anquela’s men, but his rasping effort was saved by Thibaut Courtois.
Atleti could have opened the scoring themselves, but Miranda’s close-range header went just inches over the bar.
After the break, still the hosts had the majority of possession, but they were hit with a sucker-punch just after the hour mark as Koke crossed for Arda Turan to tap in at the far post.
Things got more difficult for Diego Simeone’s side though ten minutes later, as Mario Suarez was given a second yellow card for deliberate handball.
The away side held out however, and gained an invaluable three points.
