Marc Bartra will have minutes in the next Betis games. This was reflected in Manuel Pellegrini's speech about the need to have the central defender in his best version at the gates of a seven-game marathon in 21 days. The Catalan has not played yet in this course and has pending rematches: he wants to make up for his last campaign and regain the specific weight he had in Heliópolis when he landed three and a half years ago. Injuries have diminished his weight in the squad since Pellegrini arrived, but the coach is confident of repechating Bartra, who did set a good level when he was under the command of Quique Setién in the first of the two courses with the Cantabrian on the bench.
In Granada he could enter the fray due to the fatigue that Pezzella can accumulate and Europe also appears to give Bartra another opportunity. The defender accepts the challenge and Pellegrini knows it. “He had a muscular problem that prevented him from training normally. We need him and he is already one hundred percent to be present in the next eleven games,” said the coach himself in an interview with the club's media last Tuesday.
LaLiga Santander
* Data updated as of September 8, 2021
There is also a special wink with a view to Granada, the destination of the Verdiblanco team on the next day. The center-back played the two duels against the Nasrid team last year. The first of them before being absent due to injury for much of the season, the second to regain confidence despite an error that had no impact on the scoreboard. Bartra can meet with Granada again this Monday if Pellegrini begins to execute his rotation plan. The Catalan center-back has a place in it, who wants to make up for the recent past and return to his best form.