La Real wants to put a finishing touch to another extraordinary season that, no matter what happens against Atlético de Madrid, will give them the prize of the passport to the group stage of the Europa League for the third consecutive year. However, Imanol He is not satisfied and wants to go one step further, the last twist that would mean an extra prize for the club of seven million, from 25 to 32: the fifth place that Betis now has. To do this, the Betis team must lose tomorrow against Real Madrid and Real, defeat an Atlético team that is playing for third place.
The impressive growth of the Royal
This Real of Imanol It has achieved that Europe has a txuri urdin color and that Basque is spoken throughout the continent. And it is that the Gipuzkoan squad, with this third consecutive participation in the Europa League, has achieved as many continental tickets in three years as in the previous 20.
10 years without scratching European ball
From the achievement of a place for the UEFA for being third in 1998 to the conquest of the second place and a place for the Champions in 2003 five years passed, but it is that from that 2003 until the next occasion in which the Real played more Beyond the Pyrenees, a 10-year desert had to be crossed: until qualifying for the Champions League in 2013 with Montanier. From then until the present magical and beautiful triennium, a single European competition -the Europa League forged in 2016/17- in six seasons. What this contemporary Royal is achieving is highly commendable, memorable for its unusualness and not only for the result, but for its development.
94% of the days from 2nd to 7th
The data is spectacular: the Real has remained in European positions in 94% of the days of the last three seasons, from 2019/20 to the current one. 106 of 113 weeks in the top seven, which will be 107 of 114 on Sunday, the day on which Real will be proclaimed fifth or sixth in the League. In these three campaigns, the Real has resided 36 days (32%) in Champions positions, 57 (50%) between fifth and sixth, which are from the Europa League, 13 (11%) in seventh place, which this Conference course, and only 7 (6%) outside the continental positions.
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In the current campaign, without going any further, he was out of the continental positions (18th place) only after the first game, in which he lost in Barcelona (4-2). From there, he did not drop from seventh place. Between days 7 and 14 he was second or third and now he has accumulated 13 games in a row in which he sees the world from the placid sixth place.
In the two previous seasons, the Gipuzkoan squad had to wait until the last day to certify their prize; but on this occasion they sealed their continental passport on the penultimate day and on the penultimate, after defeating Villarreal on their pitch, they secured their presence in the Europa League group stage.
Rare bird in history
Imanol stressed to his players in yesterday’s training talk that the season is not over yet, that there is a match at stake and, furthermore, the possibility of gaining a place in the standings and being fifth. It is not uncommon for Betis to lose tomorrow at the Bernabéu and the door to fifth place will remain open in the event of a victory at Anoeta.
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Well, the txuri urdin squad has only improved that classification in the League on 10 occasions and it is already 113 years of club history and 75 participations in the highest category. She won the title twice, in 1981 and 1982, came second three times, third twice, fourth three and fifth four. Therefore, there have been very few years in which he has ridden among the best. Carpe Diem. Enjoy the moment.