Madrid, Feb 22 (TIWN) Atletico Madrid's title challenge suffered another setback as they were beaten 2-0 at home by Levante on Saturday.

The result, coupled with Real Madrid's 1-0 win at Real Valladolid, sees Atletico's lead at the top of La Liga cut to three points with a game in hand, when just two weeks ago it looked as if they were running away with the league.

Atletico and Levante had drawn 1-1 in Valencia in midweek, so surprise was no excuse for Atletico as they once again found it hard to break Paco Lopez's well-drilled side, and Atletico's tactic of using three central defenders with Marcos Llorente as a wing-back didn't work, although Llorente was probably Atletico's best player, Xinhua news reports