BETIS 1 – ATHLETIC 0 | Betis minimizes Athletic and clings to the Champions

A goal from Borja Iglesias was enough for Betis to cling to the fight for the Champions zone and destroy Athletic’s hopes of fighting for Europe. Pellegrini’s men recover the triumphal path after five games without winning and stop the intention of Marcelino’s team to get on the train of the upper zone of this League. Betis imposed its law until the forces failed them again and Athletic threatened more than it did. Fekir’s expulsion in the final stretch due to an attack on Muniain invited Athletic to a vertigo finish that, however, Betis knew how to handle perfectly.

It didn’t take long for Betis and Athletic to show their arguments. Canales and Fekir took on the offensive weight of the Verdiblanco team, determined to take possession and find mobility for Borja Iglesias and Juanmi up front. Athletic spread its wings. He was more vertical and at times found Sancet between spaces. There were two bets full of courage on the lawn of Villamarín, but Betis was the first to threaten the rival goal when Juanmi allied himself with Borja Iglesias and ended up shooting an innocent shot at the hands of Unai Simón. Muniain’s set piece put Betis on alert while Paul multiplied his help with each Verdiblanco retreat.

Betis wanted more. And he found Fekir with more spaces. The Frenchman found a deep ball down the left to feint off Vivian and drive deep for Miranda. The left-back launched a precise cross that Borja Iglesias caught on the fly to make Unai Simón’s stretch insufficient. The Galician angrily celebrated something that lit up Heliopolis and upset Marcelino, forced to look for another plan to damage Betis. The reaction was almost mirrored a few minutes later, but Williams’s header narrowly missed De Marcos’ good serve from the right flank. Those of Pellegrini insisted on dominating him. Athletic wanted to surrender to Muniain’s talent, but he always appeared far from Rui Silva’s goal.

After the restart, more rhythm. Athletic accelerated and Betis accepted the challenge. Borja Iglesias had the second in a good service from Canales and that was when Marcelino pulled strings to vary the keys of the stage. Nico Williams replaced his brother and found a highway on that right hand side. His verticality pushed back Pellegrini’s team, which already seemed too tired to sustain the frenetic pace driven by Athletic.

With more command, the Bilbao team also found Muniain more, who invented a cartoon dribble against Bartra in the area to later find Rui Silva’s answer. Betis looked like a doll in the hands of Athletic. His tiredness, back on stage, motivated Pellegrini to bring in Carvalho and dispense with his nine. Betis took a breath at times, especially when Fekir captured the ball. But the Frenchman is capable of the best and the worst: after receiving a foul, Muniain criticized him for something and the Verdiblanco player kicked him which led to his immediate expulsion.

The chaos of the closure did not favor Athletic, which was not able to find spaces despite playing with one more. The impetus of the Betis team sustained the 1-0 lead with Canales at the top and Guido multiplied behind. Neither was Marcelino accurate with his changes. His team threw centers without precision and between Carvalho and Canales a discount evaporated that knocks down the European aspirations of Athletic and confirms the ambitious claims of Betis. The Champions does not seem impossible in Heliopolis.