It looked as if it might be a fairytale evening for Joaquin Sanchez in the theatre of dreams on Thursday night, after Ayoze Perez finished brilliantly past David de Gea. However a second half containing three Manchester United goals has all but ended the tie for the 41-year-old.
Manuel Pellegrini trusted his captain with a rare start in the match, and after a tricky start, Betis worked their way back into to the game. However Joaquin told Cadena Cope that that side did not return for the second half.
“The feeling is that we were not the team from the first half, and well, in five minutes, they sentenced the tie.”
“It’s a big result, against a great team. It’s already difficult to beat them, imagine trying to put four past them. In the end, we have to be realistic, we’re going to fight until the end to give a good impression of ourselves, above all at home. But we have to be realistic, it’s an opponent that have very good players.”
Asked where Betis went wrong, Joaquin felt that Betis did well, showing how they could compete, but felt they eased off in the second half.
“The difference in the second half. In the first half we went head-to-head with them, we pressed high, we had the ball. In the end, if you give it half of what you have, then this can happen.”
“At no point did I think that we would leave with such a bad result. Perhaps a 0-1 or a 2-2, but we’re hurt by the 4-1.”
It’s rare that Betis are beaten by such a wide margin, but there is a tiny silver lining for Los Verdiblancos. It should allow them to focus exclusively on the Champions League race in La Liga. Just three points behind Real Sociedad, it would be a major coup if they could secure the top four.
