Atletico Madrid almost secured Champions League qualification with a 1-0 win over Real Betis at the Estadio Wanda Metropolitano on Saturday night.
After seeing two goals disallowed in the first half, Diego Costa scored the winner in the 74th minute to hand Los Rojiblancos the points.
The hosts went into the break, frustrated after having seen two goals chalked off following VAR reviews.
The first, a crisp finish from Angel Correa, was ruled out after VAR found that Kieran Trippier was offside and Marcos Llorente had used his hand in the build-up.
The second, a superb chip from Alvaro Morata, was disallowed following a lengthy VAR which adjudged the striker to have been marginally offside when Koke played his pass through.
Betis carried a threat on the break and caused the Atletico back four plenty of problems in the minutes after the half-time break.
Loren Moron was presented with a clear opening to put Los Verdiblancos ahead, but his dinked effort bounced wide of Jan Oblak’s left-hand post.
Atleticouper were reduced to 10 men shortly afterwards when Loren took the ball past Mario Hermoso, who chopped the Betis striker down with a rash challenge and saw a straight red card for it.
Despite being down in numbers, Diego Simeone’s side found a winner when Costa guided Koke’s deep freekick into the back of the net.
Another VAR review followed and, after Costa was deemed not to have handled the ball, the goal was given.
With substitute Felipe on in the centre of defence, Atletico, who have two games left to play, held out to secure their place in next season’s Champions League, thanks to having the head-to-head advantage over fifth-placed Villarreal, who have three remaining fixtures.
As for Betis, they stay in 13th place in LaLiga Santander with two matches left to play.
