At home, the team led by Engineer drew 1-1 with rocky Getafe, a result that stagnates them in the fight for qualification to the cups. In addition, Betis are worried about the situation of Isco, who came out irritated and visibly affected.
In the middle of an irregular 2023-2024 season, the Bétis aspires to find greater stability to improve its results and achieve its goals. In this sense, becoming strong at home, at the Benito Villamarín stadium, becomes a responsibility. This Sunday, he stumbled with this intention. Manuel Pellegrini’s team barely drew 1-1 against José Bordalás’ rocky Getafe on matchday 23 of La Liga.
The recent winter transfer market in Europe did not bring much satisfaction to Ingeniero’s team, as they lost important offensive variants, such as Luiz Henrique, who left for Botafogo, and Borja Iglesias, on loan to Bayer Leverkusen , the trendy team of the Bundesliga. . With a model without many alternatives, The Chilean coach again started without a nominal center forward.
As happened against Mallorca, Frenchman Nabil Fekir was ranked false 9, at the center of the attack. Along the line of midfielders, supporting the attacking team, were Rodri, Isco and Assane Diao. Waiting on the bench was Pablo Fornals, formerly of West Ham United, one of Betis’ reinforcements during the transfer window which ended on January 31.
The blue team struck first and early. Thanks to a penalty, The visitor took the lead after eight minutes of play, thanks to Mason Greenwood’s conversion. The former Manchester United player, who is relaunching his career in Spain and who recently had a controversy with his compatriot Jude Bellingham, figure of Real Madrid, was Getafe’s sharpest offensive player, especially in the initial period. In addition to the goal scored, Betis had to make a change before the 15th minute due to the forced departure of an irritated Abner Vinícius.
The match went according to what Bordalás proposed. Fortunately for the Greens and Whites, they managed to regain equality also thanks to a penalty. In the 35th minute, Isco took charge of the execution and made the score 1-1. A bitter and heated duel, also helped by the lack of control of the referee Pulido Santana in the management of the actions (he went too far with the lack of parity in the warnings), It was completely open.
The meeting did not just remain a heated expression. This means that the emotions in the zones did not multiply, except in the final stretch. Betis did not find the key to open the visitor. He seemed to notice it thanks to the ball saved by a goal from the Argentinian Pezzella, but it was refused for offside in the 64th minute. Pellegrini made changes, including the debut of Fornals, but he lacked even more weight up front as he did not have a center forward.
Betis needed a second wind to try to win. To make matters worse, 10′ from the epilogue, Isco, the most virtuous of the team, is injured. The former Real Madrid player left visibly affected, as if he felt it was something serious. No less a headache for the national strategist.
Amid controversy over the judge’s actions and volatile determinations, both teams were ultimately able to win, but the match ended 1–1. In this way, Real Betis (which is awaiting the reappearance of Claudio Bravo) is stagnating in the fight for the cups. It occupies eighth place with 35 points, 10 behind Athletic Bilbao, which is in the Europa League zone.
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Source: Latercera
I’m Scott Moore, a professional writer and journalist based in the US. I’ve been writing for various publications for over 8 years now, and have been working as an author at athletistic for the past five years. My work has been featured by some of the leading sports websites and magazines across Europe.
