La Liga: Almeria Relegate Elche With 2-1 Win

Elche's hopes of staying in LaLiga were dashed on Tuesday after they were relegated following a 2-1 defeat to Almeria. The loss ensured they cannot finish higher than 18th in the league table.

Leo Baptistao and Adri Embarba scored for Almeria, taking them provisionally to 14th place, five points clear of the relegation zone.

Ezequiel Ponce scored a late consolation goal for Elche, but it was not enough to save them.

Elche, who have only managed three wins this season, had delayed their inevitable relegation after an impressive 4-0 win over Rayo Vallecano at the weekend.

The east coast club were promoted to LaLiga in 2020 and had managed to finish 17th and 13th in the previous two seasons.

However, this season proved to be too challenging for them.

Elche sacked their first coach of the season, Francisco Rodriguez, in October and replaced him with Jorge Almiron, who only lasted less than a month.

Pablo Machin then took over, but he was also sacked in March.

Current coach Sebastian Beccacece, who was appointed in March, was unable to prevent the club from being relegated.