体坛英语新闻：Atletico Madrid go second in Spain after winning away to Betis

MADRID, Sept. 26 (Xinhua) -- Atletico Madrid moved into second place in the Spanish BBVA Primera Liga this Wednesday night thanks to a 4-1 win away to Real Betis.

An end to end first half saw Betis open the scoring thanks to a 26th minute goal from Salvador Agra whose ball from the left missed the Betis strikers, but fooled Atletico goalkeeper, Sergio Asenjo to end up in the back of the Atletico net.

The lead lasted barely four minutes before Radomal Falcao was on hand to stab home a cross-shot from Raul Garcia.

Betis then turned on the pressure and Asenjo had to be at his best to keep his side in contact, but his efforts were in vain as Juan Carlos put Betis back in front in the first minute of the second half with a large dose of fortune as his cross flicked off Atletico defender Juanfran Torres to leave Asenjo stranded.

Once again Betis' lead was short-lived and this time Pepe Mel's side suffered a double blow as referee Alvarez Izquierdo decided that Damien Perquis' challenge on Falcao was to be punished by a penalty and a direct red card.

Falcao stepped up to score from the penalty spot and level the scores.

Against 10 men, things were a lot easier for Atletico who quickly replaced Falcao, who had suffered from a muscle problem during the week, with Diego Costa. Costa wasted no time in making his mark when he put the visitors ahead on 54 minutes, after breaking the Betis offside trap.

The home side looked to get back in the match, but were reduced to nine men after an error from the referee who showed a second yellow card to Joel Campbell for handball when it should have been a penalty for Betis after Felipe had handled first.

Against nine men, Raul Garcia added a fourth goal for Atletico in injury time to leave them unbeaten this season and just two points behind Barcelona in the league table.