Atletico Madrid produced their best performance of the season as they swept to a 4-0 win over an out-of-sorts Real Sociedad in the Primera Liga at the Calderon on Thursday.

Greek striker Demis Nikolaidis put his side ahead with a well-taken goal on 19 minutes, Fernando Torres added two@after the break, one from the penalty spot, and fans' favourite Diego Simeone weighed in with a fourth late in the game.

The win propelled Atletico into eighth place in the Primera Liga, level on points with seventh-placed Real Betis and one ahead of Sevilla and Sociedad.

Deportivo Coruna retained top spot on Wednesday despite slipping to a 2-0 defeat at home to Real Mallorca after rivals Valencia were held to a 2-2 draw at home to an improving Celta Vigo.

The Galicians lead the table on 21 points, just one ahead of last season's champions Real Madrid, who drew 0-0 at Real Zaragoza on Tuesday, and third-placed Valencia.

After an evenly balanced opening quarter of an hour it was Atletico who began to put together some dangerous-looking attacks with young forward Torres testing out the Sociedad defence.

And it was the 19-year-old who began the move that led to the opening goal when he launched a long pass to midfielder Jorge, who snapped the ball to the feet of Nikolaidis on the edge of the area.

The former AEK Athens player jinked past Sociedad keeper Sander Westerveld and curled a left-foot shot round defender Bjorn Tore Kvarme and into the net to score his second goal in two outings.

Sociedad appeared a mere shadow of the side that ran Real Madrid so close for the title last season and only threatened the Atletico goal when Turkish striker Nihat Kahveci swept a swirling free kick over the bar just after the half-hour mark.

The visitors looked a little sharper at the start of the second half but it was Atletico who ended up scoring when Torres blasted in from the spot after he had been brought down by Westerveld when he tried to check past him in the area.

Eight minutes later he took his tally for the season to five when he netted with a brilliant angled header following a pin-point cross from Jorge.

It was left to experienced Argentine defender Simeone to complete a memorable win when he burst into the area to fire home a close range header from a corner 10 minutes from time.

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