SEVILLA - Two late goals from substitute Mariano Pavone gave Real Betis a dramatic win over Real Zaragoza at the Ruiz de Lopera stadium on Sunday.
A first-half strike from Andres D'Alessandro looked to have been enough to condemn Los Verdiblancos to their worst start in the league since the early nineties, but Pavone struck twice in the last 10 minutes to give his side only their second win of the season.
Before the game all the talk had been of worst runs and poorest records, with the hosts having picked up two wins in their last 24 league outings - their worst run since the 1940s.
Against this back drop of doom and gloom, Betis started brightly, putting Zaragoza, who they had not beaten in two years, under pressure with wave after wave of attacks which were all either dealt with superbly by defensive duo Roberto Ayala and Chus Herrero or which produced shooting chances which should have been taken.
One such chance fell to Juan Pablo Caffa who, after combining brilliantly with lone striker Rafael Sorbis, smashed a first-time effort onto the woodwork on 21 minutes, before receiving the ball in a good position in the area seven minutes later and missing a great opportunity.
They were made to pay for such wasteful attacking on 36 minutes when Juande brought down the lively D'Alessandro on the edge of the box and the Argentinian playmaker stepped up to curl a sublime free-kick into the net.
With seemingly nothing left to lose, Betis boss Hector Cuper made two attacking substitutions at half-time, throwing on Arzu and Xisco for Roberto Rivera and Juande respectively.
But still Betis were foiled by a combination of their inability to finish their attacks and some great defending by Herrero, who threw himself in front of two potentially killer final passes in the first five minutes of the half.
Caffa hit the post again on the hour mark before Xisco had a shot saved five minutes later as the second half turned into a repetition of the first.
Caffa had another good chance saved before making way for Pavone with just under 15 minutes to go as Cuper made his final and decisive roll of the dice.
The Argentinian forward had been on a matter of minutes when a great pass from Edu played him in inside the area, and having got the better of his marker he lifted the ball over the onrushing Cesar in the Zaragoza net to level matters and send the home fans into raptures.
In the final minute a Xisco cross from the right was headed back across goal by Edu and Pavone finished.
