# European football: Atlético capitalise after Betis’ Isco stuns Real Madrid

**Real Madrid** stumbled in the three-way race for the La Liga title as Isco guided **Real Betis** to a 2-1 comeback win over the defending champions on Saturday, enabling **Atlético Madrid** to overtake their neighbours by winning the late kick-off against **Athletic Bilbao**.

Atlético won thanks to a second-half strike from the substitute **Julián Álvarez**. Atletico came close to taking the lead in the first half through **Alexander Sørloth**, who missed a header from Antoine Griezmann’s pass. Álvarez, who came on for Sørloth just before the hour mark, gave Atlético the winner in the 66th minute with a precise left-foot shot after being played through by **Marcos Llorente**.

Diego Simeone’s side top La Liga with 56 points, two clear of Barcelona, who host Real Sociedad on Sunday, and . Athletic stay fourth on 48 points.  

In Seville, Betis’s former Madrid player Isco delivered a corner that was headed in by his fellow midfielder Johnny Cardoso in the 34th minute, cancelling out Brahim Díaz’s opener for Madrid.

Isco then put Betis ahead from the penalty spot in the 54th minute after he passed to **Jesús Rodríguez** and the Madrid defender **Antonio Rüdiger** knocked the Betis forward down in the area.

Kylian Mbappé was back starting for Madrid after missing one game because of a dental problem. Carlo Ancelotti substituted him with 15 minutes left, possibly looking ahead to Tuesday’s Champions League last-16 first leg against Atlético.  

“We weren’t able to keep our initiative and the result got away from us,” Ancelotti said. “This is a hard blow, and we have to react. Today we didn’t play well.”

The former Real Madrid manager Jose Mourinho’s  for **Fenerbahce** has been halved by the Turkish football federation following a review of the club’s appeal. Mourinho was handed a fine and the ban over his comments about Turkish referees following a game at rivals **Galatasaray**, where he criticized the match officials in a press conference following the 0-0 Super Lig draw on Monday.

A late **Philip Billing** goal for **Napoli** rescued a deserved 1-1 draw at home to **Inter**, the  leaders, leaving the title rivals separated by a point.

Federico Dimarco put the defending champions ahead direct from a free-kick in the 22nd minute to silence a sold-out **Diego Armando Maradona Stadium**. Dimarco curled his free-kick around the wall and inside the far post. Alex Meret could only look on as the ball nestled in the corner of his net.

Romelu Lukaku, Giacomo Raspadori, and Scott McTominay all came close to equalizing for **Napoli**, while an **Inter** counterattack needed **Denzel Dumfries** to come well out of his area and clear the danger with **Denzel Dumfries** bearing down on the Napoli goal.

Just as it seemed **Antonio Conte**’s side would slip further behind in the title race with a second successive defeat, their Danish substitute **Billing** netted at the second attempt in the 87th minute. Played in by **Stanislav Lobotka**, Billing saw his first effort saved by **Josep Martínez** with a leg but he poked home the rebound.

Inter have 58 points with Napoli on 57, two ahead of **Atalanta** who were held to a 0-0 draw by **Venezia**, as Gian Piero Gasperini’s side put on another underwhelming display. Despite winning just three of their last 10 Serie A games, they are six points clear of fourth-placed Juventus, who host Verona on Monday. Venezia extended their winless run to 10 games as they sit 19th with 18 points.

**Bayer Leverkusen** delivered a ruthless first-half performance, striking three times in seven minutes, to leave their hosts, **Eintracht Frankfurt**, reeling. The 4-1 victory means Leverkusen are holding strongly on to second place in the Bundesliga, 11 points clear of third-placed Frankfurt. Bayern Munich remain firmly at the top with 61 points.

The breakthrough came in the 26th minute when **Nordi Mukiele** slipped in behind the Frankfurt defense. With a composed first touch, he set himself up before driving a low shot across goal, finding the bottom left corner.

Three minutes later, **Nordi Mukiele** extended the lead with a close-range finish. The scoring spree was capped off in the 33rd minute when **Patrik Schick** calmly slotted the ball home from inside the box after latching on to a pass from the byline.

However, Leverkusen’s confidence led to a lapse in concentration, allowing Frankfurt to capitalise. Seven minutes before the break, **Hugo Ekitike** seized on a misplaced back-pass, rounded the goalkeeper, Lukas Hradecky, and slotted the ball into an empty net.

Leverkusen maintained their dominance in the second half, with **Aleix García** delivering a low long shot in the 62nd minute, following a clearance, that nestled into the far lower corner to seal the fourth and final goal of the night.

This article was amended on 3 March 2025 because the late kick-off match referred to in the opening paragraph saw  beat Athletic Bilbao, not Real Betis as an earlier version said.

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