Betis aggravates Atlético’s crisis

Madrid. Atlético de Madrid fell (1-0) against Real Betis this Sunday on matchday eleven of LaLiga EA Sports, quite outmatched at the Benito Villamarín and without finding better luck with their reaction in the second half, in a new defeat that aggravates his bad moment of play and results.

Diego Pablo Simeone’s team has still not found its ideal eleven, nor a system that works for it, defeated this time by a Betis team that did have clear ideas. Manuel Pellegrini’s men went 1-0 at half-time with an own goal from José María Giménez, but they lost count of the missed chances.

Atlético was spared a good bag of goal-scoring actions by the Beticos and their reaction in the second half was not enough, despite the fact that Ángel Correa found the woodwork twice. Simeone’s men, with two wins in the last six league games and two defeats in the Champions League, are not performing as expected in a campaign with important reinforcements.

The Madrid team, with the need to heal the most recent injury against Lille during the week, was overwhelmed by the pressure from Betis above. Pellegrini’s men stole many balls in a compromised situation and, before even having a shot on goal, they went 1-0 up on a cross from Abde that touched Witsel and Giménez.

That action ate up all of Betica’s fortune in the face of goal, because afterwards they had countless chances but not even Abde himself, who shot the crossbar, Vitor Roque or Chimy Ávila were successful. Atlético did not leave the cave, nor did they connect with Julián Álvarez, nor did they go deep on the wings. Antoine Griezman came down to give solutions, Reinildo had a header on a corner kick, but ‘Cholo’ had to start his usual revolution at half-time.

Javi Galán and Sorloth were the first moves, and it didn’t take long for Giuliano Simeone, Ángel Correa and Thomas Lemar to jump in. Betis knew how to suffer in defense but Atlético’s step forward gave the locals good opportunities to score. A penalty against Fornals, after a robbery by Johnny Cardoso who had a great game, could have been the clearest, but Gil Manzano changed his decision after the VAR warning and the visitor’s riot continued.

The spaces that Sorloth generated were taken advantage of by Correa who crashed into the post and the crossbar in two shots. An ultimately suffered victory that Villamarín and Betis celebrated, which, with many casualties and an irregular path this campaign, added three points of confidence. Meanwhile, Atlético, ten points behind the lead, aggravates an identity crisis that makes it difficult to get the results.