Atletico Madrid head coach Diego Simeone wants his side to maintain their momentum for the remainder of the LaLiga season after a 3-0 victory over Rayo Vallecano on Thursday.

The victory leaves them third in the table, six points clear of Athletic Bilbao although they trail leaders Barcelona by 10 points.

Goals from Alexander Sorloth, Conor Gallagher and Julian Alvarez helped Atleti atone for their 1-0 defeat away to relegation strugglers Las Palmas last weekend.

"It doesn't make me angry that we're scoring goals now, it's part of the process. In football many scenarios can happen and we have to be prepared for whatever comes our way," said Simeone.

"In the league we have been competing quite well and I hope we can maintain this line game by game until the end."

In order to challenge for the LaLiga title, Atletico will require an unlikely drop off from both Barcelona and Real Madrid. Instead, Simeone is simply after his side to be defensively solid in their final five matches.

Additionally, Simeone reserved praise for Antoine Griezmann's performance against Rayo after he provided a brilliant assist for goalscorer Alvarez.

"In the game against Las Palmas we played very badly and today in the first half we repeated that situation a little bit, but we recover and I'm happy with the defensive work which is our first strength to build everything the team tries to do," he said.

"Antoine came on in the 60th minute and found a way to break down the defence and make an important pass. Julian goals speak for who he is a player and we are getting to know the person, he is a guy who came here to win and I hope we can help him do that."

Goalscorer Alvarez, meanwhile, was pleased with his contribution after reaching 27 goals in all competitions for the season.

"I am happy on a personal level. I try to improve every day. I don't look at statistics," he said.

"We have to keep working... We know it's not easy [to win the league] we're a long way behind in the standings. We're focusing on ourselves."