Real Betis vs Real Valladolid LIVE ONLINE | Santander League

Thanks to a hard-fought 3-2 victory over UD Almería at the Power Horse Stadium —the team from Almería equalized the score twice—, Real Betis remains four points behind the Champions League zone in LaLiga Santander (LL). . The Verdiblancos are having defensive difficulties and link five halves of the game without leaving a clean sheet in the championship, a streak that they will try to end at Benito Villamarín against Real Valladolid, one of the teams with fewer goals scored after the dispute of 21 days.

"They were three very important points to make up for those lost at home last week and continue in the fight for the Europa League," declared Manuel Pellegrini after the win over Almería. The Verdiblanco coach is aware of how expensive qualifying for European competitions is, and following two league defeats at home (BET 1-2 FC Barcelona, BET 3-4 Celta de Vigo), it is logical that he does not want to talk about the possibility to achieve a place for the Champions League. In order to regain fourth position, it is essential that Betis not drop any points in their duels against Valladolid and Elche (J23), both located in the bottom half of the table.

Thirteenth at the start of this matchday, Valladolid struggles to keep moving away from the red zone in a lower half marked by great equality: at the end of matchday 21, the difference between 11th and 19th was only five points. The Pucelano team visits the Seville capital after drawing 0-0 at home with Osasuna, a fair result according to the blanquivioleta coach, Pacheta. "We must highlight the three clean sheets," said Pacheta, whose squad has linked three rounds with a clean sheet (G2, E1), as many as he recorded in his first 18 LL games this season.

Pucela have already shown some signs that they can compete against teams from the top half, with 29% of wins in matches in which they have not been a favorite (W5, D2, P10), adding enough points to be located in the zone table mean. Betis has experienced firsthand how iron Valladolid's defense can be, which left a clean sheet for the second time in LL 2022-23 in the clash against the Verdiblancos in the first round (0-0).

Players to watch: Nabil Fekir, one of the three Betis players who are available again after serving a suspension, scored not only in his last start, but also in the last official match of the Verdiblanco team in which Borja Iglesias did not play, low due to injury for this match. For Valladolid, Canadian striker Cyle Larin may enter the starting XI for the first time after scoring in his first two appearances as a blanquivioleta.

Highlight: Six of Valladolid's last seven games in LL have come at halftime 0-0.

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