BARCELONA: Atletico Madrid consolidated their fourth place in La Liga with a 2-1 victory over Osasuna on Tuesday while Real Betis beat Elche to guarantee themselves a Champions League spot.
Atletico’s English forward Ademola Lookman opened the scoring from the penalty spot in the 15th minute after Javi Galan was carded for handball.
Alexander Sorloth made it two with 20 minutes to play, the Norwegian heading in from close range past Aitor Fernandez.
The only blot on Atletico’s copybook up until then was a red card for Marcos Llorente for two bad fouls.
Kike Barja made the game tighter than it should have been at the end with an injury-time strike to pull a goal back for Osasuna.
But Atletico held on for a result that leaves the Madrid side fourth on 66 points behind newly-crowned champions Barcelona (91pts), Real Madrid (77). Villarreal (69), all three with a game in hand.
At the other end of the table. Levante climbed out of the bottom three after twice coming back from behind to win 3-2 at Celta Vigo who lost ground in the race for a Champions League spot.
They are one of five clubs on 39 points hovering around the relegation zone, including Elche who were beaten 2-1 at Real Betis,. Espanyol who host Sevilla on Thursday.
Betis’ win means that they qualified for next season’s Champions League by finishing at least fifth. They currently have 57pts, now seven ahead of sixth-placed Celta Vigo.
It will be Betis’ first foray into the elite European competition since the 2005-06 season.
Betis manager Manuel Pellegrini said qualifying for the Champions League after a 20-year absence marked the completion of a goal they set for themselves on the first day of the season.
“It’s not easy to be in European competitions for six years. much less to have qualified for the Champions League two matches before the end of the season, Pellegrini, 72, told reporters.
“The team’s greatest merit was always getting back up after losing.
“I think all those stumbles were more than compensated for today with the great celebration we had in our stadium. with our fans, to whom we owed this joy,” the Chilean added.
“We started the first match of the season against Elche,. at the end of the team talk we wrote in green letters, Today we begin our journey to the Champions League.”
Betis have been regulars in European competition in recent years, qualifying every season since 2021. reaching the Conference League final against Chelsea last season.
They next face champions Barcelona on Sunday.
Published in Dawn, May 14th, 2026
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