La Liga round-up: Atletico romp past Betis but Valencia lose again
Saturday 2 April 2016 23:20, UK
Atletico Madrid tightened their grip on second spot in La Liga with a 5-1 win over Real Betis but Valencia lost in their first match since Gary Neville left the club.
Antoine Griezmann scored twice as Atleti warmed up perfectly for their Champions League quarter-final clash against Barcelona on Tuesday.
Fernando Torres opened the scoring for Rojiblancos after 36 minutes, before Griezmann doubled his side's lead in the first half thanks to a mistake from Adan.
Angel Correa had an immediate impact after coming on for Torres in the second half, setting up Juanfran and then Griezmann, who restored Atletico's three-goal lead after Ruben Castro had reduced the deficit on the rebound.
Fellow substitute Thomas Partey then completed the rout in stoppage time as Atletico moved six points behind leaders Barcelona, who lost 2-1 to Real Madrid later in the day.
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Valencia lost their fourth game in a row after Las Palmas came from behind to win 2-1 in the club's first match since Neville left the Mestalla.
The former Manchester United defender was sacked in midweek after just three wins from 16 La Liga games, leaving the club six points above the relegation zone.
Pako Ayestaran was appointed in his place shortly after but he struggled to make an instant impact as Los Che lost again.
He left assistant coach Phil Neville back in Valencia, taking his own coaching team to the Canary Islands, and got off to a dream start when Rodrigo Moreno gave the struggling visitors the lead with less than three minutes gone after a gift from Las Palmas goalkeeper Javi Varas.
The hosts outplayed Valencia and levelled early in the second half when Javi Fuego was penalised for tugging Tana's shirt in the box, with Jonathan Viera converting the spot kick, his seventh goal of the season.
Las Palmas' comeback was complete when Aderlan Santos' attempted clearance ricocheted off Shkrodan Mustafi and into his own net after 63 minutes.
Elsewhere, Celta Vigo's hopes of landing a top four spot were dented after they were held to a 1-1 draw at home to Deportivo La Coruna in the late kick-off.
Celso Borges gave the visitors the lead after 21 minutes but the hosts restored parity on the half hour mark when Nolito latched on to Fabian Orellana's through ball to fire into the top corner.
Deportivo finished the match with 10 men after Alejandro Arribas was shown a second yellow card with a little over 20 minutes remaining.
