A wonder goal from Saul Niguez saw Atletico Madrid defeat Las Palmas on Saturday afternoon to end a terrible run of form.
Having drawn with Espanyol and lost to Bayern Munich and Villarreal, Los Rojiblancos had yet to win in the month of December, but the youth graduate was on hand to score their first goal in 334 minutes of play and to keep Diego Simeone's side from slipping any further behind the top four.
Las Palmas did make it difficult, but it was a deserved win for the capital city side and a much-needed one.
Right from the kick-off, with fans singing against the recent alterations to the club badge in the background, Atletico probed and Las Palmas' Mauricio Lemos had to make an early last-ditch challenge to block Kevin Gameiro as the striker was preparing to rifle a shot from inside the box.
Saul Niguez then gave the visitors another scare when his acrobatic volley snuck through a number of bodies to strike the post in the 15th minute.
Just minutes later Gameiro broke through Los Amarillos' defensive line again and was bearing down on goal when he opted to square the ball to Antoine Griezmann rather than shoot from a tight angle, but the pass was cut out and the chance was lost.
Koke then whipped a special ball into the path of Griezmann just before the half hour mark, but the No.7 fired wide under pressure from Pedro Bigas.
The visitors from the Canary Islands had hardly enjoyed a sight of goal up to that point, which centre-back Lemos tried to solve in the 33rd minute with a thunderous shot from distance, one which smudged the top of the crossbar on its way over.
Yet that was a rare attempt from the away side, with Los Rojiblancos back on the offensive moments later when Gameiro nearly converted a cutback from Koke.
Griezmann and Gabi tried their luck before the interval as the under-pressure home side's desperation heightened, but to no avail.
Las Palmas had a couple of early efforts after the break, with Nabil El Zhar and Roque Mesa both testing the injured Jan Oblak's stand-in Miguel Angel Moya.
It would be the home side, though, who snatched the breakthrough, with Saul whipping a superb effort into the far corner on the hour mark when under pressure from a swarm of incoming yellow-shirted defenders.
After having waited so long for one goal, Diego Godin almost came up with a second shortly afterwards, but his header from a corner dropped just wide.
Then Atletico, as they have done so often before, closed out the game and denied Las Palmas space as they managed to hold on to their narrow lead to the final whistle.
Both sides return to action in the Copa del Rey in midweek, but don't face LaLiga action until the new year.
Match Sheet:
1 - Atletico Madrid: Moya; Vrsaljko, Godin, Savic, Lucas; Gabi, Koke, Saul Niguez, Carrasco (Torres, 77); Griezmann (Thomas, 90), Gameiro (Gaitan, 84).
0 - Las Palmas: Varas; Michel, Lemos, Bigas, Lopes (Castellano, 84); Montoro, Roque Mesa, Gomez (Tana, 83); El Zhar (Momo, 86), Livaja, Viera.
Goals: 1-0 (min 59, Saul Niguez),
Referee: Mario Melero Lopez. Yellow cards: Saul Niguez, Mesa, Carrasco
Stadium: Estadio Vicente Calderon