Beckham-less Real Madrid turn the tide
Goals from Robinho and second-half substitute Alvaro Mejia helped Real Madrid reverse their mini-slump, after having lost their two previous games in the last week, with a 2-0 win at Real Betis.
Goals from Robinho and second-half substitute Alvaro Mejia helped Real Madrid reverse their mini-slump, after having lost their two previous games in the last week, with a 2-0 win at Real Betis.
"Victory was important but it wouldn't have mattered if we had lost today because we went out there and played, and played well," said a relieved Real Madrid coach Wanderley Luxemburgo.
Real were without Ronaldo, Julio Baptista, Zinedine Zidane and David Beckham, the England captain rested after a flare up of his back problems in Real's 3-1 loss at Deportivo La Coruna on Wednesday.
After a tepid first half hour, Robinho gave Real the lead in the 30th minute, finishing off a neat move through the midfield orchestrated by captain Raul Gonzalez.
Mejia, who scored his first professional goal for Real after five years on their books and having worked his way through from their third team, added Real's second after 79 minutes with his first touch of the game.
However, Betis were unfortunate not to level in the 77th minute when Edu crashed the ball past Iker Casillas and off the crossbar.
"We scored with two counter-attacks and that's football, you can talk about many things but we came here and won, and that's not easy to do at Betis," added Luxemburgo, after a game that only came to life in the final 20 minutes.
Real travel to Norway on Sunday ahead of their Champions League match with Rosenborg, with Beckham expected to return to action after missing out on his first game of the season.
Betis have now lost their last four matches, starting with their 4-0 hammering at Chelsea in the Champions League ten days ago, and conceded 14 goals in that time while only scoring two.
The Seville-based side play host to the English Premiership leaders on Tuesday.
"At least we went out to try and beat Real," said Betis' under-fire coach Lorenzo Serra Ferrer.
"Our problem is that already we have players getting tired. Seven or eight of them have played in every game."
At least against Chelsea, Betis will be able to field a rested Spanish international winger Joaquin Sanchez, whose presence was sorely missed against Real after being suspended following a midweek sending off.
Osasuna were the surprise leaders going into the weekend.
They play host to Espanyol on Sunday, although the Pamplona-based side are still worried about the bottom of the table rather than the top.
"If we beat Espanyol then we'll have 21 points and that will give us half the amount that we need to ensure we stay up," said Raul Garcia.
Getafe, second in the table at the start of the weekend, travel to Deportivo La Coruna on Sunday hoping to out their midweek 3-0 defeat by Real Sociedad behind them.
Reigning champions Barcelona play host to Real Sociedad on Sunday.
Barca have gone unbeaten in their last five league games to climb steadily up to third while Sociedad have not conceded a goal in their last three outings.