Atletico Madrid had scored first in all but one of their prior league matches, and after Jan Oblak turned a speculative Toni Martinez shot around his post, they looked likely to do so again today, as Giuliano Simeone and Pablo Barrios both saw efforts drift wide.
Simeone then latched onto a Julian Alvarez through ball, and forced a save from Antonio Sivera after 15 minutes.
That saw the visitors revert to a more deep-lying strategy, though Simeone continued to cause problems, heading into the side netting from a Matteo Ruggeri cross.
Late in the half, Simeone turned provider for the next big chance, laying the ball off for Alvarez to strike from 20 yards, and he would have found the top corner if not for a vital Jonny Otto deflection.
With Alavés increasingly eyeing up the tunnel to the dressing room, their last-ditch defending was tested again in the final seconds of the half, as Thiago Almada beat Sivera but not Nahuel Tenaglia, before Jon Pacheco managed to block follow-up efforts from Barrios and Simeone amid a frantic goalmouth scramble, which confirmed a sixth successive goalless first half for Eduardo Coudet’s side in all competitions.
Early in the second half, the usual flow of promising Atletico moves to no avail continued, as Alexander Sorloth went inches away from connecting with Barrios’ low centre.
But the pair were rewarded for their perseverance two minutes later, as Barrios took the aerial route, and Sorloth rose high to head into the bottom corner of Sivera’s net.
Barrios then almost had a second assist just before the hour mark, but this time Sivera managed to get behind the firm hit from Almada.
With 20 minutes to play, Alex Baena came close to wrapping up the points when he curled an effort from the edge of the box around Sivera and onto the post.
Known masters of the tight margin, Atletico were not punished in the dying minutes, and held out for the win – the eighth match in their last nine to end level or settled by one goal.
Meanwhile, it’s one win in nine league games for Los Albiazules, who continue to slide towards relegation trouble.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Pablo Barrios (Atletico Madrid)