Friday, May 18th, 2012
Atlético Madrid 0 Sevilla 0
Atleti were denied by a mixture of poor finishing and fanstastic goalkeeping from Javi Varas and Sevilla weathered a storm to come away from the Vicente Calderón with a point.
Radamel Falcao missed a glorious chance just after the hour as he blazed over from only five yards out but Atleti were also left to rue missed chances by José Antonio Reyes in the first-half and a number of fine saves from Varas.
Sevilla started with Álvaro Negredo on the bench and lacked the Spanish striker’s presence up front as they failed to gain any control of the game in the first period. Varas saved from Reyes after only four minutes before the Atleti winger should have opened the scoring when the ball fell to him on the penalty spot but he pushed his shot just wide.
Diego, Reyes and Adra Turan were linking to great effect as Atleti bossed possession but on a number of occassions the final pass was just inches away from perfection and a desperate Sevilla challenge would nick the ball away.
At the start of the second period however the roles were reversed as it was Sevilla who went on the attack and Thibout Courtois had to make two great saves from Jesus Navas and Manu del Moral. Manu’s chance was the better one as he took advantage of some sloppy play by Mario Suarez to run through one-on-one but the Belgian keeper stayed up well and made a fine block with his left arm.
Atleti were soon back on the front foot and Falcao will still wonder how he failed to convert when on 63 minutes Reyes’ cut-back found him standing directly in front of goal only yards out, but the Colombian appeared to mishit his shot and he skied it way over the bar. Minutes later Atleti’s record signing did make proper contact with a left-foot shot across Varas that the keeper did exceptionally well to turn behind.
Reyes and substitute Eduardo Salvio saw further efforts flash just wide but Sevilla held out to continue their unbeaten start to the season and move above city rivals Betis into fifth.
Real Betis 0 Levante 1
Levante’s incredible start to the season continued as they rose to the top of La Liga for the first time in their history with a 1-0 win at Betis.
The Valencian side had already had their best ever start to a season before Juanlu’s solitary goal was enough to give them their fourth consecutive league victory (another first for the club).
After a relatively quiet opening in which Betis controlled possession without overly strethcing the Levante defence it was the visitors who went in front when Valdo’s cross to the back post found Juanlu whose volley went in through the legs of goalkeeper Casto.
Arouna Koné should have added to Levante’s lead before half-time but he shot straight at Casto after being put through by a wonderful ball from Jose Barkero.
In the second period Betis had almost all of the ball but like so many of Levante’s opponents this season found it hard to find a way through. Luis Garcia’s men have enjoyed an average of only 39% possession this season and had even less this afternoon with 30% but the combination of an experienced backline and pace up front has made them extremely difficult opposition in the early part of the season.
Benat was trying to pull the strings in midfield for the hosts and on a couple of occassions Betis nearly played their way through but firstly Juanma miscontrolled Salva Sevilla’s thorugh ball and then Sergio Ballesteros made a brilliant sliding tackle to deny Alex Pozuelo. However Munua was rarely tested in the Levante goal and the closest the hosts came to an equaliser was from Nacho’s drive in stoppage time which the keeper comfortably parried away.
FT: Betis 0 Levante 1 (Juanlu 33)
Tags: Atletico Madrid, Levante, Real Betis, Sevilla
