BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Luis Suárez headed in the winner to give Atlético Madrid a 1-0 victory over Getafe on Wednesday and protect its lead of the Spanish league.

The Uruguay striker used a powerful and precise header to send Yannick Carrasco’s lob from a free kick into the lower corner of Getafe’s net in the 20th minute.

It was Suárez’s eighth goal in the league this season, pulling him level with three other players as the leading scorers in the competition.

Atlético’s third win in a row left it three points above Real Madrid, which visits Elche later. Atlético holds the current tiebreaker over Madrid thanks to its better overall goal difference. Diego Simeone’s team also has two more games to play than Madrid.

Atlético was without England defender Kieran Trippier, who missed his first match due to his 10-week suspension for breaking betting rules.

Sime Vrsaljko took Trippier’s place as right wingback after returning from a long injury layoff following knee surgery.

It was Simeone's 500th match in charge of Atlético since he took over the team nine years ago and transformed it into one of the top teams in Europe.

THREE RED CARDS

Jorge Molina scored with two minutes remaining to give Granada a 2-1 win over Valencia in a match that included the sending off of three players.

Valencia lost Jason Remeseiro to his second yellow card in the 70th and Gonçalo Guedes to a direct red three minutes later. Granada’s Domingos Duarte also got a straight red in the 76th.

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