La Liga: Morata keeps Atletico on Barca's heels

Atletico Madrid kept up their pursuit of La Liga leaders Barcelona with an Alvaro Morata double in a 2-0 win at Real Sociedad on Sunday, despite having to play the final half-hour with 10 men after Koke was sent off.

Morata, who had scored his first goal for the club in last week's 2-0 win over Villarreal, rose to head home from close range on the half-hour mark following a corner which had been flicked on by Atleti captain Diego Godin.

Morata, who signed for Atletico on loan from Chelsea in January after a poor spell in the Premier League, used his aerial prowess again to double his side's advantage three minutes later, glancing in a free kick from Koke.

Spain midfielder Koke earned his first yellow card late in the first half and clumsily picked up a second booking in the 62nd minute, meaning he is suspended from next week's game at home to Leganes, as is Godin, who picked up a yellow card.

But Diego Simeone's side coped admirably and rarely looked like letting their lead slip, holding on to record an important victory after losing on three of their previous four trips to Anoeta.

Atletico are second in the La Liga standings on 53 points, moving five clear of third-placed Real Madrid and closing to within seven of leaders Barcelona, who have 60 points after winning 1-0 at Real in Saturday's 'Clasico'.

Simeone paid tribute to Morata for deciding the game, saying he had never doubted the striker's ability.

"Whenever we sign a player we expect he will play at his best, although some take longer to adapt than others," he told a news conference.

"But I'm even happier with how Morata has worked and adapted to the team than his goals. The top players always take less time to adapt, he's not a boy any more and he has the exact qualities we expected him to have."

Morata himself added that Atletico would not give up their pursuit of Barca.

"We have to win every point we can and hope Barca slip up along the way. As long as there are points on the table, we're going to keep fighting," he said.

"It's very difficult to win here, it's a very tough stadium and a very tough opponent, so these are three vital points for us."

Getafe maintain Champions League push with win at Betis

Getafe further boosted their unlikely push for a Champions League spot by earning an impressive 2-1 win at Real Betis on Sunday and climbing back into fourth place in La Liga.

First-half goals from Leandro Cabrera and Jaime Mata took Getafe to 42 points from 26 games, a two-point advantage over fifth-placed Alaves, while Betis are seventh on 36 points.

Getafe defender Cabrera headed the Madrid side in front against an out-of-form Betis outfit in the 20th minute following a short-corner routine.

The visitors doubled their advantage just before halftime when Mata latched on to a through pass from strike partner Jorge Molina and calmly stuck the ball into the bottom corner.

Betis, who were knocked out of the Copa del Rey semi-finals by Valencia on Thursday, pulled a goal back in the 75th minute with a thumping finish from captain Joaquin and then had an effort from striker Jese ruled out for offside.

The Seville team were booed off the pitch at full time after a fourth defeat in eight games in all competitions, while some fans also chanted for coach Quique Setien to be sacked.

Celta appoint Escriba as coach after sacking Cardoso

Struggling La Liga side Celta Vigo have appointed former Getafe and Villarreal coach Fran Escriba as their manager after sacking Miguel Cardoso following defeat at Eibar on Sunday.

"Fran Escriba is the new coach of Celta Vigo after the club agreed a deal with him," Celta said in a statement on their official website.

Escriba was assistant coach at Getafe, Valencia, Benfica and Atletico Madrid, later becoming head coach at Elche who he led to the top flight in his first season in charge.

He was appointed coach at Getafe in 2015 but was sacked the following year and joined Villarreal who he helped to finish fifth in La Liga before losing his job the next season.

Escriba will be officially presented as Celta coach on Monday, while his first game in charge will be at home to Real Betis next Sunday.

He is the third coach to take charge of Celta this season. Argentine Antonio Mohamed began the campaign with the club but was relieved of his duties in November to be replaced by Portuguese Cardoso.

Cardoso was dismissed less than four months after being appointed, following Sunday's 1-0 loss to Eibar, which was Celta's eighth defeat in 10 games and left them one place and two points above the relegation zone.

Cardoso got off to an embarrassing start to life at Celta by mistakenly declaring in his first news conference that he was taking over at their fierce local rivals Deportivo La Coruna, although he quickly corrected himself.

His first few games in charge were encouraging as Celta earned two victories from his first four games but their results took a turn for the worse in the new year, their plight worsened by injury to top scorer and Spain international Iago Aspas.