Pressure mounts over Manzano as Atletico loses to Betis

MADRID - The Associated Press

Coach Gregorio Manzano was protested by Atletico Madrid following the team’s 2-0 home defeat to Real Betis. REUTERS photo

Atletico Madrid picked up its first home league defeat of the season after going down 2-0 to 10-man Real Betis yesterday to increase the pressure on coach Gregorio Manzano.

Alex Pozuelo scored in the 54th minute and substitute Roque Santa Cruz added a second in stoppage time to give Betis a second straight victory and boost its own beleaguered coach, Pepe Mel.
Pozuelo was sent off in the 72nd.

“We’ve played worse (today) than other days and won 2-0. But I’ve got enough (problems) at Betis without worrying about Atletico,” said Mel, whose team has just recovered from a 10-game winless slump in the league.

Atletico is without an away win in seven Spanish league matches but its impressive home form had given Manzano some protection.

“If I’d seen the team lacked strength, if I’d seen the team had no soul, commitment, intensity, then we’d all be more worried ... but we have,” Manzano said. “You have to value the players’ attitude, the effort made. The result wasn’t fair today.”

This latest defeat leaves the Atletico coach in an increasingly precarious position. Atletico has a Copa del Rey fixture against third-tier Albacete on Dec. 14, aiming to overturn a shock 2-1 defeat in the away leg.

With the Christmas break approaching, anything but a win against Albacete looks likely to end Manzano’s time at the club he took over for a second time in June.

At one point against Betis, home fans in the Vicente Calderon stadium chanted the name of Luis Aragones, the former European Championship-winning Spain coach, who is seen as a potential successor.

“It’s a culture that we should control because it doesn’t help the team,” Manzano said. “Today (there were chants) because the team was losing, but there have been protests at other times even when we’ve been winning.”

Atletico started brightly against Betis, with striker Radamel Falcao spurning two early opportunities - first glancing a third-minute header wide when he should have scored, then hooking a volley round the post in the sixth.

Atletico winger Arda Turan of Turkey saw his back-post volley pushed away by Betis goalkeeper Casto Barriga in the 44th, but the visitors improved in the second half.

Pozuelo controlled a pass from Ruben Castro before advancing past Alvaro Dominguez and firing into the roof of the net to open the scoring.

Pozuelo got a second yellow card for handling the ball in the 72nd, but Atletico failed to find an equalizer despite heavy pressure.

Barriga produced a flying one-handed save to keep Adrian’s header out of the net in the 75th and Santa Cruz scored Betis’ second after following up his own shot that hit the crossbar in the 91st.
On Dec. 17, a hat-trick from Cristiano Ronaldo inspired Real Madrid to a 6-2 romp at Sevilla to lead Barcelona by three points atop the standings.

After yesterday’s fixtures, the Spanish league started a three-week break.