Betis, who started as the clear favorite to overcome this tie and go to the round of 16 of the Conference League, were surprisingly defeated in their stadium against Dinamo Zagreb (0-1), so they will now have to come back from the tie week that He comes to the Croatian capital, where it will be necessary to change the image he gave this Thursday.
The Sevillian team, after the great disappointment of not continuing in the Europa League and falling back to the third continental competition, debuted in this tournament with the hope of starting a path that could end in the final that will be played in this edition at the AEK stadium in Athens.
The green and white coach, Manuel Pellegrini, had up to eleven casualties for this match, including injuries and players who are not registered, although the initial team was very recognizable to show the rival its power.
On the Croatian side, the also debutant in the competition appeared at the Benito Villamarín, a stadium strangely with much less presence of fans than usual, wanting to leave the tie open for the second leg, which could be good for gain morale in their domestic tournament, in which they are third, six points behind the leader Rijeka.
That cold atmosphere in the stands seemed to be transferred to the grass, where the locals had a hard time picking up speed against a protected rival, who did not want to risk and who seemed to be content with the minutes passing without too many shocks, although after five minutes the Frenchman Nabil Fekir He did test goalkeeper Ivan Nevistic, this Thursday a novelty in goal to the detriment of Danijel Zagorac.
Real Betis – Dinamo Zagreb / Raúl Caro
That attempt, and another one after half an hour by the Argentine central defender Germán Pezzella, was the only thing that Betis did in attack in the first half against an opponent that did not worry the Portuguese goalkeeper Rui Silva either, despite the fact that he timidly tried on the counterattack when He had the opportunity.
Pellegrini had time and the opportunity at half-time to correct some aspects of his team’s game so that something else could be seen in the second half, although at the start there was not much change despite the fact that the American Johnny Cardeso had a chance on the verge of match time.
After that play, the Chilean coach brought three fresh players onto the field in one fell swoop, the three from the first team who were on the bench – Bellerín, Marc Roca and Assane Diao – to look for that verticality and speed that was needed.
The reaction did not come, and even Marko Bulat gave a first warning with a very intentional shot in the 68th minute, but the surprise did appear shortly after when a penalty was awarded, at the request of VAR, for a handball by Chadi Riad.
The Croatian international Bruno Petkovic converted the penalty into 0-1 and thus added his fifth goal this season in European competitions, so much so that he now managed to wake up Betis to face the last quarter of an hour with more intensity.
Then came the siege of the green and white, with a shot against the post by Brazilian Willian José included in the 87th minute, but not even the tie was achieved, so we now have to wait for the return leg, in which Pezzella will not be there to see a yellow card with which he will be sanctioned for accumulation of warnings.
2024-02-15 22:12:54
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