Riquelme and Bartra Strike Late as Betis Win 2-0 at Elche to Cement Top-Four Spot

For eighty minutes, this looked like the kind of afternoon that eats away at a team's season. Real Betis had the ball, had the chances, had the better players — and had nothing to show for it. Then, in the space of eight minutes, the game bent their way, and a frustrating trip to Elche turned into the sort of win that keeps a team exactly where it wants to be.

Rodrigo Riquelme did it first. In the 81st minute, substitute Dani Ceballos floated a cross into the Elche box. Jose Morante's header came back off the post, the ball bounced loose in a crowded penalty area, and Elche's defenders simply could not clear their lines. Riquelme was the one who reacted quickest, driving the ball past Matias Dituro, and the relief on the Betis bench was plain to see.

Marc Bartra made sure of it eight minutes later, rising to meet a corner in the 89th minute and heading home — a goal in a second successive LaLiga outing — to close out a 2-0 win that tightens Betis' grip on fourth.

It had not been straightforward. Elche, stung by defeat to Valencia last week, started the brighter of the two sides and spent the opening quarter of an hour pushing Betis back. The visitors' first real opening came against the run of play, when Isco threaded Pablo Fornals through, only for Dituro to make himself big and block the shot. Troy Parrott, still without a league goal since his winner against Real Madrid back in September, fired a fierce effort just wide of the post soon after.

Elche should have been ahead as the half-hour mark approached. Ruben Sanchez picked out German Valera in acres of space with a low cross, but the winger could not control it and ended up falling over his own feet. Federico Redondo then missed a close-range header just before the break, and the two sides went in goalless — a fair reflection of a half in which the home side had the better of the chances.

Manuel Pellegrini's side came out swinging after the restart. Abde Ezzalzouli found Fran Garcia in the Elche box with a headed pass, but the defender's shot went straight at Dituro. Elche, who had scored ten of their fourteen league goals this season after the break, answered in kind. Half-time substitute Grady Diangana twisted his way into space just outside the Betis box and got a shot away, but Alvaro Valles was well placed to palm it away.

Hector Bellerin then played a ball across goal to Ezzalzouli, who found himself unmarked in the six-yard box yet could not poke it home as Dituro got a toe to it. The Elche goalkeeper was at it again minutes later, diving to keep out a curling effort from Isco that looked destined for the top corner. Dituro, on this evidence, deserved better than to finish on the losing side.

But football rarely rewards the goalkeeper alone, and when Riquelme finally found the breakthrough, Elche had no answer left. Isco, the game's outstanding player, was named man of the match — a fair reward for a performance that kept Betis ticking through the long goalless stretch.

For Betis, the win ends a three-game winless run away from home in all competitions and keeps them firmly in the top four. For Elche, managed by Martin Anselmi, the wait for a first home victory of the campaign goes on, and the questions about where their next win comes from will only grow louder.