Real Betis erase memory of heavy defeat to Atletico Madrid with Metropolitano lockdown | OneFootball

Atletico Madrid 0-1 Real Betis

Coming off the back of a 5-0 win for Atletico Madrid just three days prior, it would be fair to question how many of Real Betis’ players were envying a trip to face the same side at the Metropolitano. However their journey home will leave no trace of the long faces seen at La Cartuja in the Copa del Rey.

Betis began the match with an awareness that allowing new Atletico signing Ademola Lookman space to stretch his legs was their biggest issue in the previous encounter, dropping far deeper in the opening exchanges. Lookman still got the first effort of any danger off though, firing narrowly wide after nine minutes, but this time it was Cedric Bakambu who was being given the opportunity to get up to full speed, with first Pablo Fornals and then Ez Abde curving passes into his path. On both occasions, Jan Oblak was able to make saves a little too comfortable for Manuel Pellegrini’s liking.

It was also an eventful opening period for Rodrigo Mendoza, making his home debut for Atletico. Commanding on the ball, and brave enough to try the incisive passes, he was swiftly reminded of his mortality, nearly costing a goal as Abde easily read his pass to set up Bakambu’s second chance. After an excitable start for both sides, the game settled into more of a rhythm, Betis holding onto the ball for longer periods where possible.

Those prolonged periods were not finding gaps in the Atletico defence though, hence Antony’s 29th minute opener seemed to come from the most uneventful spell in the game. The Brazilian’s pot-shot from 25 yards out looked fairly comfortable, but as it dipped towards the corner, Oblak seemed caught out, unable to push it away with the hand he got down to his near post. A wake-up call for Atletico, worse still was that it instilled a growing belief into the Betis team and an increasingly noisy away section.

By contrast, the home crowd were beginning to raise the volume towards the end of the half too. Their noise was pure frustration. Lookman did have the ball in the net on the stroke of the half-time, but was found to be offside when he converted Marcos Llorente’s lovely cross.

Real Betis perform memory wipe on Metropolitano

Image via Diario AS

Diego Simeone reacted with four changes in the opening 10 minutes of the second half, three of which at the break – Alex Baena the best of them, driving aggressively at the defence, albeit without results. Now with just Koke Resurreccion holding the fort in midfield, Betis continued to track their runners diligently, with Alvaro Fidalgo putting in a conscientious effort on his first start. As the 70′ mark approached, Atletico Madrid’s best hope looked increasingly like a set-piece. Alexander Sorloth flicked one corner onto the roof of the net, before a weak header landed straight into the arms of Alvaro Valles, who remained largely untroubled.

For a second time he was given no chance with 15 minutes remaining, this time by a header from the otherwise excellent Diego Llorente. For a second time, after a lengthy VAR review, that too was ruled offside. The frustration at the Metropolitano bubbled angrily, as much a symptom of the fact Atletico were failing to find themselves in dangerous positions as a criticism of the referee.

Side to side the ball went, but to call it probing would have been generous. Pellegrini’s side had relinquished any attacking ambition to dedicate their efforts to defending, efforts amply fuelled by the wounded pride of Thursday night. The Chilean barely altered his side, sending on fresh legs periodically, but keeping their duties the same.

Simeone had gone with just Koke sitting in midfield, throwing all four forwards and Baena at Betis, but after 10 minutes of disappointing results, brought Obed Vargas on to balance things again. That too failed to impregnate any added cohesion to their build up, or incision to their passing. As the game drifted into stoppage time, the crescendo was conspicuous by absence.

Image via Diario AS.

By the final whistle, all trace of Thursday night had been erased from the character of both sides. A liquid, intelligent, fun performance was replaced by an Atletico devoid of imagination, one that slipped into a pattern of inertia, barely creating a chance in the final minutes. Betis, by contrast, had appeared naive and short of solutions earlier in the week. This time they seemed to understand how to parry Atletico into submission in the second half. Antony got the goal, Natan and Diego Llorente anticipated every cross, but the what stood out was their completely selfless approach.

The three points place Los Verdiblancos four points from Espanyol in 6th, and Villarreal in 4th (with one and two games less respectively), but Pellegrini will no doubt weigh the reaction as much as the result. Atletico can be caught by the Yellow Submarine again should they beat Espanyol on Monday night. If Simeone needed any persuasion to prioritise the Copa del Rey on Thursday, the 13-point gap to Barcelona at the top looks ample.