Atletico Madrid beat Cadiz ahead of Manchester United Champions League second leg

LaLiga champions Atletico Madrid won their fourth consecutive league game on Friday, beating Cadiz 2-1 to climb to third place in the standings.

Joao Felix was once again a key factor for Atletico as he scored in the third minute following a bad error from Cadiz goalkeeper Jeremias Ledesma who mishandled the ball inside the area and gifted it to the Portuguese forward.

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Felix has five goals in his last five games in all competitions and has been instrumental in reviving Atleti's title hopes after a poor start to the season. Real Madrid lead the standings on 63 points, 12 ahead of Diego Simeone's side.

Atletico were pegged back when veteran Alvaro Negredo headed in an equaliser for Cadiz from a counter-attack on the stroke of halftime. However, the champions retook the lead in the 68th minute with Rodrigo de Paul scoring from a rebound.

"I'd said before that the games would be more difficult -- when there aren't many games left everyone has their objective," De Paul said afterward. "We had the character to do it, we could have done better in the first half, and we'll keep improving.

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"I don't know if we relaxed, after the 1-0 the game took on a different dynamic, and Cadiz had to come at us. We misplaced some passes, and they're things to improve, but the important thing is the attitude and enthusiasm. We have to focus on that."

Atletico ended the game with 10-men after substitute Javi Serrano was shown a straight red card after a violent challenge two minutes from time.

They had an earlier red card shown to Reinildo Mandava at the end of the first half, but the video referee assistant intervened and referee Pablo Gonzalez changed the call, giving Atleti's defender only a booking.

Cadiz fought a good fight until the end and almost scored an equaliser to draw the game when Luis Hernandez struck from a rebound, only for defender Jose Maria Gimenez make a goal-line clearance.

"In terms of the result, at this late stage of the season, the most important thing is to win," Simeone said. "We started well, after that Cadiz controlled the game, they didn't have clear chances. We didn't press them, or win second balls, or make quick transitions, and that meant they equalised. In the second half it was more even, a game without many chances for either team, and we took the one we had, a goal that gave us the win, and then defended to take the three points."

Atletico will now travel to Old Trafford on Tuesday for the second leg of their Champions League last 16 tie against Manchester United with the score tied at 1-1.

"It was important to win with what we'd done against Betis," De Paul said. "The confidence is good for us for the next game, we know the team we face but we want to go through to the next round."

Information from ESPN's Alex Kirkland was used in this report.