The Copa del Rey continues to generate memories that clay footballers will never forget. On this occasion, Gévora was the team in charge of receiving the sweet prize of facing Real Betis in the first round of the KO tournament, and the team from Badajoz did not miss the opportunity to intensely live a unique experience.
Martín Fernández’s men fell 1-6 at the Francisco de la Hera in Almendralejo, but they did so without ever giving up the style that has led them to play a match of such caliber.
The five categories of difference between one team and the other were noticeable and Betis, every time they pushed, achieved the goal of the goal. Altimira, Assane, Bakambu, Juanmi and Vitor Roque on two occasions were responsible for scoring the Betic goals.
But Gévora won the goal prize. Thanks to a maximum penalty awarded by Sánchez Martínez in the final moments of the clash, Juanma inaugurated the Gevoreño locker and caused madness among the home fans.
As the green-and-black coach already warned in the days before the clash, Gévora did not want to give up their idea of the game and this is how they expressed it on the grass of Francisco de la Hera. Gévora did not give up at any time in coming out with the ball played from their door and tried to triangulate to get closer to Fran Vieites’ goal.
Although the risky nature of the proposal was the first clash of the match. Fran Fernández chose the wrong teammate to give the ball to and Sergi Altimira managed to steal in a compromised area for the players, scoring the first goal of the game after a delicate finish from the edge of the area.
Despite the goal against them, the team from Badajoz did not change their idea one bit and continued playing the positional game that characterizes them. Every time Álvaro Perera centered his position and Juanma introduced himself between the two green-and-black centre-backs, Martín Fernández’s team managed to combine more successfully.
Betis, for its part, knew when to press Goveran possession to get the ball. Manuel Pellegrini’s men recovered with some ease and developed their game, relying heavily on Assane Diao and Ricardo Rodríguez on the flanks.
The man from Badajoz was precisely in charge of scoring the second goal of the game, after Iker Losada left him alone against Fran Fernández behind a wall. It was the 25th minute of the game and Betis got the match back on track.
The sentence was to come just two minutes later. Bakambu stood alone against the Gevoreño goalkeeper and finished with quality to score the third goal of the match.
The result against did not affect Gévora’s spirit. Martín Fernández’s pupils managed to get close to Fran Vieites’ goal on a couple of occasions with shots from the front that did not entail excessive danger.
With Francisco de la Hera’s score at 0-3, Sánchez Martínez put an end to a first half in which the green and black team showed a lot of personality while Betis showed off its hierarchy to dominate the result.
The second half began with chances on both sides of the field. Firstly, it was Bakambu who hit the woodwork after benefiting from a dead ball in the heart of the small area. A few minutes later, Fonseca (who came on at half-time replacing Nene Valverde) was inches away from finishing off Víctor’s cross from the left side.
After having arrived dangerously in the Betic area for the first time, Gévora finished removing the few complexes it still had. Adri Maya managed to get in front of Fran Vieties after receiving a filtered pass from Juanma behind the defense, but before hitting, Mendy blocked him and avoided the black-green shot in the face of protests from the stands for a penalty.
The game was approaching the 70th minute when Juanmi scored Real Betis’ fourth goal. The one from Coín took advantage of a rebound from Fran Fernández from a shot by Iker Losada to put his head in and score a new goal for the green and white.
After the fourth Betic goal, Pellegrini brought Vitor Roque onto the field. The Brazilian forward showed off his characteristic intensity and bagged the fifth and sixth goals of the match on his own.
But the green-and-black party was going to arrive during the discount. Sánchez Martínez declared a penalty on Nacho Píriz that Juanma, captain of the green and black, was going to convert. The Goveran sector of the stands exploded with joy at their team’s goal, demonstrating that just the fact of playing a match of such caliber was already a victory.
The match concluded and both fans joined in chants in unison while the players went around the field to receive encouragement from their team. The sportsmanship shown by both fans was another highlight of the clash.
After a few frenetic weeks and after being eliminated from the Copa del Rey, Gévora returns to reality and is already thinking about Don Álvaro. Martín Fernández’s team will travel next Sunday to face a new round of the Extremadura Cup.
