Tue, Feb 17, 2026 page7

• Rayo rout Atleti as Real Betis cut gap to four points

  • AFP, MADRID
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  Rayo Vallecano on Sunday waltzed to a 3-0 victory over Atletico Madrid in La Liga, leaving Diego Simeone’s side 15 points behind leaders Real Madrid.

  Atletico dropped to fourth after their heavy defeat at CD Leganes’ Estadio Ontime Butarque, where Rayo hosted the fixture due to pitch problems at their own Estadio de Vallecas.

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

  

  Atletico Madrid’s Nico Gonzalez, top left, vies for the ball with Rayo Vallecano’s Randy Nteka, top right, in their La Liga match at the Estadio Ontime Butarque in Leganes, Spain, on Sunday.

  Photo: AFP

  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 last week.

  With the Copa 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 their past 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,” he said.

  Simeone, who rotated much of the team that beat Barca with tomorrow’s UEFA Champions League playoff 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 criticize the team in terms of effort, work, of wanting to do well,” Simeone said. “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 Fran 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 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 to 17th.

  “This is a battle-hardened team that adapts well to circumstances,” Rayo coach Inigo Perez said. “Today’s match was very tough both because of the opponent, and because of our own institutional and sporting situation.”

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

  Manuel Pellegrini’s side capitalized 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 UD to move up to 14th, two points clear of the relegation zone, while Athletic Bilbao triumphed 2-1 away at Real Oviedo.
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