Real Betis did their homework and achieved a valuable and hard-fought victory in Chisinau against Petrocub (0-1) that allows them to leave their qualification for the Conference playoff well on track, although not sealed, which will have to be completed next Thursday in Villamarín against Helsinki. Pellegrini’s men, after a poor first half, improved a lot in the second, in which Bakambu scored and had a couple more chances to seal the score, but he didn’t do so and had to suffer until the final whistle, as Petrocub reached tie in the 87th minute, in their only dangerous play in the Betic area of the entire match, although the goal was disallowed for clear offside, indicated by the linesman and ratified by the VAR.
The Betis that appeared in Chisinau during the first half, unfortunately for the Betis, was the one they are used to seeing in the Conference. The eight changes introduced by Manuel Pellegrini in the starting lineup compared to the one that started against Barcelona were very noticeable. In attack, the green and white team was unable to break the Moldovans’ defensive system, which they only managed once in the entire first period, although then the Belgian referee D’hont appeared to annul a goal by Bakambu (29′) that seemed to have been It was all clearly legal, as he headed a ball that goalkeeper Smalenea failed to catch and scored at will into an empty goal moments later.
The goal, in the only dangerous action by the Betis in the first 45 minutes, did not go up the scoreboard, and a couple of minutes later the Belgian referee forgave a second yellow to the left-handed back Demian, who already saw one after eight minutes. grab Assane and then had to see another one in the 31st minute for another even more blatant action on the Betic winger.
After the break, with the entry of Altimira and Abde for the reappeared Johnny and the youth squad Jesús Rodríguez, Betis redoubled its dominance and began to dangerously reach the rival area. Bakambu soon made it 0-1 after stealing Mudrac’s wallet, and then he forgave the 0-2 a couple of times after assists from Assane, so in the end he had to suffer a lot to be able to come back with the victory, which was the target in the freezing Moldovan afternoon.
– Petrocub Hincesti: Smalenea; Ion Jardan, Potirniche, Mudrac, Bors (Nahr, min. 34); Lungu (Agyemang, min. 76), Douanla (Diallo, min. 46), Demian; Ambros (Lupan, min. 64), Platica y Puscas (Caruntu, min. 76).
1 – Real Betis: Adrian; Ruibal, Diego Llorente, Natan, Ricardo Rodríguez; Assane, Cardoso (Altimira, min. 46), Mateo, Jesús (Abde, min. 46); Chimy Ávila y Bakambu (Vitor Roque, min. 85).
Goals: 0-1, min. 54: Cases.
Referee: Lothar D’Hondt (Belgium). He admonished the locals Demian (min. 14), Lungu (min. 53) and the coach, Andrei Martin (min. 83); and the visitor Abde (min. 75).
Incidents: Match corresponding to the fifth day of the group stage of the Conference League played at the Stadionul Zimbru in Chisinau in front of around 7,000 spectators.
see match sheet
