Diego Simeone delighted with Atletico Madrid win

Atletico Madrid boss Diego Simeone has praised his side for showing their character in Sunday's La Liga clash against Sporting Gijon.

It appeared that the hosts would drop two points at the Vicente Calderon after struggling to break down the newly-promoted side, but Antoine Griezmann's late strike secured a vital win for Atletico.

Simeone has admitted that it was "a tough match", but was pleased that his team emerged victorious in the Spanish capital.

"I forgot a word which also has a lot to do with Atleti's history the other day – insistence. This was a key word in the context of the match. I prefer to say we insisted rather than suffered," Simeone told reporters.

"It was a tough match, played well by our opponents, but Atletico never stopped insisting, with good play at times, trying to break out and win the second ball. I haven't minded the difficulty of our recent games because football games aren't easy to win.

"Since the match against Real Sociedad, we've played six, won four and drawn two. It's also evident that we've conceded very few goals in that time. It becomes harder to win each day."

Atletico have moved into third position in the La Liga table and are now just one point behind second-placed Real Madrid.