Atletico Madrid coach Diego Simeone said Diego Costa had produced his best performance since returning to the club in the Europa League quarterfinal win at home to Sporting Lisbon despite a fourth consecutive club game without scoring.
Former Chelsea striker Costa robbed Sporting centre-back Sebastian Coates to set up Koke's opening goal after 22 seconds, with strike partner Antoine Griezmann adding a second as the tournament favourites won 2-0.
Costa later failed to convert in two one-on-ones with Sporting goalkeeper Rui Patricio, and seemed frustrated with his own performance when substituted late on.
But speaking at his postmatch news conference, Simeone said the Spain international's all-round display had been impressive.
"This was Costa's best performance for us since he came back," he said.
"He was an animal -- he ran, pressured, kept it up for the whole game."
Costa has six goals in 16 games in all competitions since returning to the team in January, having missed the first six months of the season because of Atletico's transfer ban.
He scored for Spain in the 6-1 friendly win over Argentina, played at Atletico's Wanda Metropolitano stadium, last week.