Atletico Madrid's Mozambican defender #23 Reinildo Mandava (center) scores the opening goal as he is challenged by Rayo Vallecano's Spanish midfielder #14 Kike Perez and Rayo Vallecano's French defender #24 Florian Lejeune during the Spanish league football match between Club Atletico de Madrid and Rayo Vallecano de Madrid at the Metropolitano stadium in Madrid on Jan 31, 2024. (PHOTO / AFP)

MADRID - Memphis Depay's last-gasp goal salvaged a 2-1 home win for Atletico Madrid against Rayo Vallecano on Wednesday which lifted Diego Simeone's side back to third in the LaLiga standings.

Atletico moved up to 47 points, level with Barcelona but ahead on goal difference.

They are eight behind leaders Girona and seven adrift of second-placed Real Madrid, who have a game in hand and play at Getafe on Thursday.

Playing their third game in six days and with a much anticipated derby at Santiago Bernabeu against Real on Sunday, Simeone decided to rest several key starters including forwards Alvaro Morata, Antoine Griezmann and Rodrigo de Paul.

Yet, Atletico dominated proceedings from early on and defender Reinildo Mandava put them ahead with a towering header from a Rodrigo Riquelme free kick in the 35th minute but a fine first-half strike from the edge of the box by Alvaro Garcia levelled the scores seven minutes later.

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Simeone made four changes early in the second half, with Griezmann, De Paul, Nahuel Molina and Samuel Lino coming off the bench to give the team the spark they lacked up-front.

Rayo Vallecano's North Macedonian goalkeeper #01 Stole Dimitrievski vies for the ball with Atletico Madrid's Argentinian forward #10 Angel Correa during the Spanish league football match between Club Atletico de Madrid and Rayo Vallecano de Madrid at the Metropolitano stadium in Madrid on Jan 31, 2024. (PHOTO / AFP)

Griezmann was a constant menace to the visitors' defense but Atletico struggled to break down Rayo for most of the second half.

Depay thought that he had scored the winner in the 83rd minute, after taking a great pass from Pablo Barrios in his stride to fire an unstoppable shot past the goalkeeper, but the goal was ruled out after a lengthy VAR check that showed the Dutch striker was marginally offside.

However, one minute into added time, Griezmann found Depay inside the box and the Dutch forward reacted quickly to secure victory for the hosts, striking a first-time effort that Rayo goalkeeper Stole Dimitrievski couldn't stop despite getting a glove on it.

"When you accumulate so many games in a row and in such a short space of time, it's normal that the level drops," defender Mario Hermoso told Movistar Plus.

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"We would have liked to have done it differently, but what mattered to us was to make it three out of three."