Real Betis welcomed their green-and-white brothers Celtic to the Benito Villamarin this evening to get the 2021/22 Europa League campaign up and running. Both clubs, proud of their history and their cultural identity, share links going back years, although all that went out the window as soon as the first whistle sounded; Betis won a thrilling encounter 4-3.
It was the visitors from that took a 15th minute lead. Celtic won the ball and countered quickly, going from back to front in a matter of seconds. The ball was then centred from the right side for Albian Ajeti, who bundled it over the line to make it 1-0.
Josip Juranovic doubled their lead 12 minutes later, but then Betis began the comeback; Juan Miranda stabbed home after an incisive attack before Juanmi cooly converted after being teed up by Borja Iglesias. Betis had gone from 2-0 down to 2-2 in less than ten minutes; remarkably they made it 3-2 in the 51st minute through Iglesias before going 4-2 in the 53rd through Juanmi, who notched his second of the game. Celtic scored an 87th minute consolation goal through Anthony Ralston.
What a day
Snuck in through the car park up the lift and after sitting in a toilet for 2 hours we are finally in the stadium
Cmon the celtic pic.twitter.com/iRbyY30r8p
— Paul Byars (@byars_paul) September 16, 2021
One Celtic fan went viral on Twitter when he revealed that he’d managed to sneak into the Benito Villamarin by coming through the car park and up the lift, eventually hiding in a toilet inside the stadium for two hours before getting to a spare seat for kick-off.
