Real Betis welcome Zenit St. Petersburg to the Benito Villamarin this evening in the second leg of their Europa League tie. A place in the last 16 of the competition is at stake and Betis go into tonight’s fixture with a slight advantage as they won the first leg.
That took place last Thursday in Russia, a country now at the centre of a political storm following their invasion of Ukraine. Betis raced into a two-goal lead through Guido Rodriguez and Willian Jose only for Zenit to peg them back on level terms thanks to efforts from Artem Dzyuba and Malcom. Betis then won it through a strike from Andres Guardado.
Betis have a hot hand. They returned from Russia and beat Mallorca on Sunday evening and will be intent on getting the job done against Zenit tonight to book their place in the next round. They then face Sevilla on Sunday before taking on Rayo Vallecano in the second leg of their Copa del Rey semi-final next Thursday.
“Due to the characteristic of their team, Zenit will always be offensive, they have creative players,” Manuel Pellegrini said pre-match in comments carried by Diario de Sevilla. “We scored first and then they scored. The second half in Russia was similar to the second half against Mallorca. We lost control of the ball but we defended well, we didn’t give Zenit opportunities to score. It’s important to be strong in both facets, defensive and creative.”
The Chilean coach was then asked how he intends to balance the three competitions Betis are still alive in. “The only way to face three competitions is to think that the game that’s coming next is the most important. It’s important to retain our place in La Liga and perform in the other competitions too. That’s positive pressure, the pressure of a big team. The most important game is the next one. No competition is more important than the other.”
