Cardoso shines as Real Betis defeats Cadiz in La Liga

MADRID — U.S. midfielder Johnny Cardoso turned in a man-of-the-match performance to help Real Betis beat Cadiz 2-0 and move into sixth place in the Spanish league on Friday.

Cadiz has gone 20 league games without a win since Sept. 1. Even so, Cadiz was third from bottom in the league. Betis leapfrogged Real Sociedad and Valencia into sixth.

Betis was missing its top goal-scorer Isco, out for several weeks with a thigh injury, but his absence was barely noticed as the visitor took the lead after five minutes. Cardoso won the ball on the right flank and his cut back was swept home first time by Willian José.

Pablo Fornals made it 2-0 less than a minute into the second half when he curled a superb left-foot strike past the outstretched hand of Jeremias Ledesma.

Cardoso’s assist capped another good performance since he signed from Brazilian club Internacional in January.

“Johnny had a good game,” coach Manuel Pellegrini said.

Real Madrid tops La Liga, two points ahead of Girona. They meet on Saturday at the Santiago Bernabeu.