The Albany Gazette - Rayo thrash Atletico who 'deserved to lose' as Betis cut gap

Atletico dropped to fourth after their heavy defeat at Leganes's Butarque stadium, where Rayo hosted the fixture due to pitch problems at their own Vallecas ground.

Real Betis, fifth, were able to cut the gap to Atletico down to four points with a 2-1 win at Mallorca.

Fran Perez, Oscar Valentin and Nobel Mendy struck for Rayo, who thoroughly deserved their triumph against an Atletico side that had thrashed Spanish champions Barcelona 4-0 in the Copa del Rey on Thursday.

With the Spanish cup their best chance of silverware this season it has seemed that Atletico lack some focus in La Liga, and that was reflected in this humbling by their city rivals.

The Rojiblancos have not won in their last three league matches.

"It seems like the league has slipped away, we can't lose games like this and we can't play a game the way we did today," angry Atletico goalkeeper Jan Oblak told DAZN.

"Competing like this is going to be to tough, you can't choose your games, every game has to be played at the highest level...

"Today they were much better, congratulations to them, we lost and deserved to lose."

Simeone, who rotated much of the team that beat Barca with Wednesday's Champions League play-off against Club Brugge in mind, did not agree with all of Oblak's analysis.

"I don't share (his opinion), I thought the team gave what it could, they were better, but the truth is there is no need to criticise the team in terms of effort, work, of wanting to do well," said Simeone.

"We didn't have a good match, the opponent was better, congratulations to them and let's think about what's coming on Wednesday."

Inigo Perez's Rayo took the lead in the 40th minute when Perez finished Andrei Ratiu's cross, and Valentin doubled their advantage after Clement Lenglet gave the ball away.

Mendy netted the third in the 76th minute after some more poor Atletico defending to round off a miserable afternoon for Simeone's side.

Rayo, whose players have complained in recent weeks about the way the club is being run, as well as the state of the Vallecas pitch and their training ground facilities, backed by the coaching staff, climbed up to 17th.

"This is a battle-hardened team that adapts well to circumstances," said Rayo coach Perez.

"Today's match was very tough both because of the opponent and because of our own institutional and sporting situation."

- Betis pushing -

Betis doubled down on their win over Atletico in La Liga last weekend with a third straight top flight triumph, boosting their hopes of Champions League qualification.

Manuel Pellegrini's side capitalised on Atletico's defeat by Rayo on the road at Mallorca, thanks to first-half goals from Ez Abde and Cedric Bakambu.

Vedat Muriqi pulled one back for the hosts in the second half with his 16th league goal of the season, behind only Real Madrid's Kylian Mbappe in the scoring charts, but it was not enough.

Despite the Kosovan target man's goals Mallorca are 18th, a point behind Rayo.

Valencia won 2-0 in a derby clash at Levante to move up to 14th, two points clear of the drop zone.

On Monday champions Barcelona visit Girona, aiming to go back top after Real Madrid usurped them on Saturday with a 4-1 win over Real Sociedad.

(O.Robinson--TAG)