Costa watches as Atletico beats Sevilla to go 2nd in Spain

Antoine Griezmann and Yannick Carrasco both scored in the second half to give Atletico Madrid a 2-0 victory over Sevilla, leapfrogging the visitors into second place in the Spanish league on Saturday.

After both sides had hit the woodwork, Carrasco opened the scoring two minutes after halftime and Griezmann sealed the victory in the 70th.

Carrasco raced around Steven N'Zoni to reach a through pass from Luciano Vietto before he avoided sliding goalkeeper Sergio Rico and pushed the ball into the empty net.

The Belgium winger also started the attack that led to Atletico's second goal. Carrasco made a run into the area before crossing for Griezmann, who fought to keep control of the ball before he exchanged it with Filipe Luis and fired under Rico.

Jesus Navas went closest for Sevilla early on when his shot was deflected by Atletico defender Stefan Savic onto the post.

Carrasco almost set up Filipe Luis in the first half only for the left back to fire off the corner of the goal frame.

Diego Simeone's team moved one point behind leader Barcelona, which plays at Girona later. Sevilla fell to third, two points adrift of Barcelona.

Diego Costa, who is on his way back to former club Atletico from Chelsea, watched the match from the stands of the club's new Wanda Metropolitano Stadium.

Also Saturday, Real Madrid visits Alaves while Athletic Bilbao is at Malaga.