March 07, (THEWILL) – Atletico Madrid defeated Real Betis 3-1 at the Estadio Benito Villamarin to move into fourth place in LaLiga with Joao Felix scoring a brace for his side.
After Barcelona’s 2-1 win over Elche earlier on Sunday, Betis had dropped to fourth place, while Atleti had dropped out of the Champions League place altogether.
It meant that Diego Simeone’s players were under even more pressure to win their third game in a row, and Joao Felix’s tap-in put them up just two minutes into the fixture. Betis replacement Cristian Tello equalised before half time, but Joao Felix added a second shortly after the hour mark, and Thomas Lemar clinched the win for Atleti late on.
The first half was brought alive after Angel Correa supplied Felix with the ball and the latter scored from close range with just 74 seconds on the clock for Atleti’s quickest league goal since July 2020.
Yannick Carrasco failed to pick out either Felix or Renan Lodi alongside him in a three-on-one attack, allowing the visitors to miss the opportunity to add a second.
With a curling first-time shot from 20 yards, Tello brought Betis level after Jose Maria Gimenez’s headed clearance ricocheted off Paul Akouokou and sailed over the bar.
Simeone’s side had to adjust after losing Correa and Sime Vrsaljko to injury within the first half-hour. Shortly after, Gimenez headed against the base of the post for Simeone’s side.
With 61 minutes gone, Atleti regained the lead thanks to another straightforward finish from Joao Felix, this time after being set up by Marcos Llorente.
Betis tried for a leveller, but it appeared fatigue had begun to set in, and Antoine Griezmann fed the ball to Lemar in the 80th minute to seal three crucial points for Atletico.
For their next tie, Real Betis are against Eintracht Frankfurt in the Europa League on Wednesday, ahead of a match against Athletic Bilbao on Sunday in La Liga. Atletico Madrid have a week off before hosting Cadiz in the Spanish top flight on Friday.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
