Atletico bet looks sound in all-Madrid dust-up

THE managerial merry-go-round features more big names than usual this summer.

You know there are some top-drawer retirements and appointments going on when James Beattie's elevation to manager at Accrington Stanley barely gets a mention.

Even Rio's decision not to turn out for a team he hasn't actually turned out for in the last two years has earned more airtime than Beattie's good news. It's a funny old world.

Sadly, however, it's a world that is also dominated by Jose Mourinho. Real Madrid's Champions League exit should have sent The Special One spiralling out of our collective minds for a while but that was reckoning without the Copa del Rey, a decent enough cup competition named in honour of that much-admired songstress, Lana del Rey.

She'd probably be rather playing video games than having to watch an all-Madrid dust-up between Real and Atletico where Mourinho will be centre-stage before his grand exit and return to England later this month.

But she could do worse than have a punt on Atletico at long odds. Clearly they aren't as decent as they were back at the start of the campaign, but they are third in the league, only nine points behind their neighbours and have pretty much downed tools since they booked their place in the final.