Atletico Madrid fell to a 2-0 defeat - their third in a row - at Levante tonight, capping off a miserable week for the reigning UEFA Europa League champions.

Quique Sanchez Flores' side were beaten 3-2 at home to Espanyol last Saturday, before losing by the same scoreline at the Vicente Calderon to Greek outfit Aris Salonica in the UEFA Europa League on Wednesday night.

Atletico were hoping to get back on track in this fixture against a lowly Levante, but they got off to the worst possible start as Nano headed the home side into the lead from close range following a mistake by Atletico goalkeeper David de Gea after just three minutes.

The usually-impressive De Gea failed to deal with a corner and watched in horror as Xavi Torres flicked the ball to Nano to nod home unchallenged at the far post. Felipe Caicedo, who had already missed two great opportunities to extend the promoted side's advantage, finally made it two after 59 minutes. The on-loan Ecuador forward received a Juanlu Hens pass just inside the box and beat De Gea with a curling left-footed effort which found the top corner.

There were half-chances for Diego Forlan and Sergio Aguero after that, but Levante managed to keep Atletico's star forwards quiet for most of the game and Rafa Jorda should have made it 3-0 right at the end, when he was beaten to the ball by Luis Perea.

Levante move provisionally four points clear of the drop zone after 14 rounds of matches, while Atletico missed the chance to move back into the top six and could drop several more places tomorrow.