Seville (Spain), Feb 19 (IANS) Real Madrid mounted a second-half comeback to defeat Real Betis 5-3 as they remained fourth in the La Liga football championship on Sunday.

Madrid were on Sunday evening down 1-2 at the break after two goals within four minutes — one by Algeria’s Aissa Mandi and the other an own-goal by the capital squad’s Nacho, reported Efe.

Both teams were great on the attack at Benito Villamarin Stadium with Madrid getting on the board first on a strike by Marco Asensio in the 11th minute, although Betis then scored twice within four minutes to take the lead on the goal by Mandi and then Nacho’s mistake.

Madrid’s Marcelo left the match in the first half with a hamstring injury.

After the break, however, Madrid put on a strong show, with Sergio Ramos putting the team even with a header in the 50th minute and Asensio blasting in a great shot nine minutes later.

It was Cristiano Ronaldo, in the 65th minute, who made it 4-2 on a fabulous feed by Casemiro, thus notching his 10th tally in his last six outings, although Betis answered back in the 85th minute on a shot by Sergio Leon.

Then, in the 91st minute, Karim Benzema superfluously found the twine to put the game away for the final 5-3 result.

Madrid played without German midfielder Toni Kroos, who is on the injured list after taking a knock during 3-1 win against Paris Saint-Germain in the first leg of their Champions League pre-quarterfinal

With the win, Madrid are still in fourth place, 17 points behind league leaders FC Barcelona.

Asensio’s second tally before the 53,500 fans present was Real Madrid’s 6000th La Liga goal, making them the first club to hit that mark in the Spanish First Division.

Just five other teams in Europe’s top five leagues — all of them English squads — have managed to reach that mark in league play: Everton, Arsenal, Liverpool, Aston Villa and Manchester United. Meanwhile, Toffees is on the threshold of becoming the first club to notch 7000 tallies.

–IANS
pur/vd