STATS Perform/dpa
berlin
Antoine Griezmann scored a double, including a goal direct from a corner, as Atletico Madrid won 2-1 at Real Betis on Sunday to move up to third in La Liga. The visitors struggled to create chances but took the lead early in the second half when Griezmann’s inswinging set-piece somehow found its way into the net, before the France international added a second following a neat move down the right.
Manuel Pellegrini will have been frustrated to lose a game in which his Betis side were arguably on top prior to falling behind, and they gave themselves hope when Nabil Fekir scored a late free-kick, but were unable to find another goal.
The win moves Diego Simeone’s Atletico above Real Sociedad after their defeat at Real Valladolid on Saturday.
It was a relatively uneventful first half, though the hosts did suffer a blow when Luiz Felipe was forced off injured after just 20 minutes, replaced by Victor Ruiz. Borja Iglesias hit a hopeful shot at Jan Oblak’s near post five minutes before the break to record the first effort on target of the game. The ball was then in the Atletico net two minutes after the restart when Henrique fired a shot into the top right corner of the net from the edge of the box, but a VAR check found Iglesias to have been offside in the build-up.
Salt was firmly rubbed into the wounds in the 54th minute when the corner from Griezmann made its way through a crowd, with German Pezzella unable to keep it out at the far post. If that goal was fortunate, the second was well-earned as a move featuring Nahuel Molina, Angel Correa and Matheus Cunha ended with the Brazilian finding Griezmann, who ran through and prodded the ball beneath Rui Silva in the Betis goal.
Substitute Fekir curled a beautiful free-kick into the top-left corner of Oblak’s goal to provide late drama, but Atletico were able to hold on for three points.