Atletico Madrid coach Diego Simeone said his team had got their La Liga consistency back after a 1-0 victory at home to Real Betis on Saturday -- their third consecutive win.
Atletico went ahead after less than 10 minutes through recalled winger Nicolas Gaitan and were relatively untroubled for the rest of a low-key 90 minutes.
After a run of just one win in five La Liga games, Simeone's side have not conceded a goal in their three victories.
The coach told his postmatch news conference: "Today we have won a third game in a row in La Liga, where we had lacked consistency, so we are happy.
"This was an important win for us. We had to work hard, but they had few chances to score."
Mid-table Betis enjoyed some long spells of possession, and there were whistles from some fans when Atleti midfielder Koke decided to take a corner short and use up time late on.
But Simeone said: "I thought what Koke was doing was fantastic, trying to keep the ball in the corner close to the end."
And the coach praised match-winner Gaitan, saying: "He continues to improve, which makes us happy. Hard work always brings important rewards for a player, and he got his goal.
"The intention is always to look to make attacking connections. Fernando [Torres] and [Antoine] Griezmann worked hard in the first half.
"With [substitutes Kevin] Gameiro and [Yannick] Carrasco we wanted more depth and had feeling the second goal would come.
"Carrasco had a good chance, maybe the clearest of the game. That would have given more relief as 1-0 is always a close score."
Asked by a local reporter whether results were all-important for him, Simeone had a cheeky response:
"Do you have any doubts? Always the result is the most important for us -- always," he said. "Look at the Ballon D'or -- whoever wins is the best. Results mean everything."