Atletico Madrid 2-1 Real Betis: Atletico bounce back from cup defeat with home victory over Betis
On Sunday, Atletico Madrid won 2-1 at home against Real Betis in LaLiga thanks to an own goal by Rui Silva and a header by Alvaro Morata, ending Diego Simeone's side's three-game winless streak in all competitions.
The hosts entered the match licking their wounds after a humiliating 3-0 defeat in the Copa del Rey semi-finals at Athletic Bilbao in midweek, and they were desperate for a win to strengthen their grip on a top-four spot in La Liga.
Atletico moved to 55 points, placing fourth in the standings. They are two points behind third-placed Barcelona and six ahead of fifth-placed Athletic Bilbao, who will meet later on Sunday in Bilbao. Real Madrid currently lead with 66 points.
They started well and pressed Betis early on, with Rodrigo de Paul hitting the post with a close-range shot in the third minute.
Atletico's relentless pressure resulted in the opening goal, which was scored after a series of catastrophic mistakes by the Betis defence, including a miscommunication between three players while attempting to clear a Memphis Depay cross.
That created a pinball effect, with the ball ricocheting between them before bouncing off goalkeeper Silva and into his own net in the eighth minute.
Morata, who had missed a penalty earlier in the game, increased the hosts' lead in the 44th minute with a header off a rebound from the goalkeeper.
However, Betis got back into the game when William Carvalho came off the bench to reduce the deficit with a superb strike from range into the top corner in the 61st minute, and Atletico's goalkeeper Jan Oblak's heroics helped them secure a much-needed home victory.
Oblak made two reflex saves to deny close-range shots, followed by two outstanding one-handed saves to deny late efforts by William Jose and Guido Rodriguez, extending Atletico's home unbeaten streak to 25 LaLiga games.
"I try to do my best. A goal has gone in and it always makes me sad when it happens, but I try to do my best, to stop as much as possible and I'm going to do that until I'm still here," Oblak told Movistar Plus.
"It was a hard-fought game, we could have resolved it earlier, but we didn't and with a goal they got into the game. In the end we suffered as often happens to us, but I wish we could have solved it earlier, because we controlled the game from the start until their goal and we had to suffer until the end."
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