Atletico Madrid move top of La Liga after Real Madrid stumble at Real Betis | OneFootball

Atletico Madrid have moved to the top of the La Liga standings after they sealed a 1-0 win over Athletic Bilbao on Saturday.

Real Madrid suffered a blow to their title hopes as they lost 2-1 at Real Betis following goals from Johnny Cardoso and Isco.

Diego Simeone’s side had a chance to climb to the top, and they capitalised at the Metropolitano Stadium courtesy of Julian Alvarez’s 66th-minute winner.

The Rijiblancos created good scoring opportunities in the first half but suffered from a lack of quality in the final third.

Alexander Sorloth endured a particularly poor outing as he was guilty of missing three chances. Nico and Inaki Williams also came close for the Basque outfit, but the duo failed to convert.

Simeone replaced Sorloth with Alvarez after an hour, and the latter made an immediate impact.

The 25-year-old ran on to an excellent pass from Marcos Llorente before beating the goalkeeper with an excellent finish in the 66th minute.

Bilbao threatened to level the scores, but Atletico held on. The result put them top of the La Liga standings.

However, they could drop down to second, with Barcelona set to play Real Sociedad on Sunday.

Atletico will now turn their focus to the Champions League, where they meet Madrid in the first leg of their last-16 tie on Tuesday.