Betis carried out a wonderful exercise of resistance against Villarreal, who had no football or punch to defeat a rival with one less player from the 34th minute due to the expulsion of Chimy Ávila. The Andalusian team, which broke a streak of five games without winning, was superb in defense and frustrated the locals’ attempts to find an equalizer. Llorente and Bartra were at an enormous level. His work was joined by the defense work of the entire group, which dwarfed a Villarreal that only had two dangerous actions with the 1-2 favorable for Betis. Sabaly took a ball under the goal of Yeremy Pino and Bartra prevented Barry’s shot from ending up inside the Betic goal already in the 91st minute. Villarreal lacked football, something that is not understandable taking into account the quality of its players in the center of the field, Parejo’s case. Betis was effective and then defended excellently. A supportive team that knew how to suffer to win fairly.
1
Luiz Lúcio Reis Júnior, Sergi Cardona, Albiol, Kiko Femenia, Eric Bailly (Bernat, min. 45), Yeremy Pino (Pau Cabanes, min. 70), Parejo, Álex Baena, Pape Alassane Gueye (Thierno Barry, min. 57) , Gerard Moreno and Ayoze Pérez
2
Francisco Vieites, Bartra, Llorente, Sabaly, Romain Perraud, Giovani Lo Celso (Isco Alarcón, min. 74), Chimy Ávila, Johnny, Abde (Aitor Ruibal, min. 73), Sergi Altimira and Vitor Roque
Goals 0-1 min. 32: Vitor Roque. 0-2 min. 46: Giovani Lo Celso. 1-2 min. 54: Álex Baena.
Arbitrator Guillermo Cuadra Fernandez
yellow cards Pape Alassane Gueye (min. 25), Giovani Lo Celso (min. 34), Bakambu (min. 35), Kiko Femenia (min. 38), Aitor Ruibal (min. 50), Alex Baena (min. 60), Vitor Roque (min. 64), Jeremy Pino (min. 66) y Parejo (min. 86)
Barely anything happened between Villarreal and Betis in a rather dull first half. Everything changed in the 33rd minute, when Abde put a good ball into the area that Vitor Roque finished off, anticipating Bailly, a spectator of the action. The 0-1 rewarded a more determined Betis against a frozen Villarreal. Just one minute after the Green and White goal, Cuadra Fernández was too rigorous in an attack by Ávila on Baena. A red that could have been decisive in the match. Much more so was Lo Celso’s great free-kick right at the start of the second half to make it 0-2.
Villarreal only responded with a goal from Baena, their best exponent. Then, at 1-2, he barely had the talent to dismantle a well-established Betis. Villarreal, gray, could not take advantage of Athletic’s draw in the fight for fourth place. There are now four games he hasn’t won.
“It is a very important victory against a very good team, a direct rival, after an important effort after playing on Thursday. The first half we were much superior and then we knew how to hold on,” said Manuel Pellegrini, the Betis coach. “I think the referee should have reviewed the action of the red because it changes the game. It’s a trip, I think that with yellow it would be good. They should review it in the VAR. It is an unfair expulsion, although we had a lot of order afterwards. I just told him to see it, that’s why he showed me the yellow one. The VAR has to be an ally and not an enemy. If you later see it and decide that it is red, nothing happens,” he concluded.
“We started well, but Betis dominated us. He scored a goal in his first dangerous action and then they were left with 10. We had control, but we lacked depth and we conceded a foul to a specialist like Lo Celso. We scored one, they took two balls under the goalposts and they disallowed a goal by an inch. I think Betis deserved more than us,” said Marcelino, Villarreal coach. “We have a problem because we are, with Valladolid, the team that concedes the most goals at home. They got it right and we didn’t. We cannot afford to make that mistake. “They have good players and we can’t always score three goals to win,” he concluded.
