Betis had its continuity in the Europa League assured after the victory against Dinamo Zagreb in December, mathematically achieving its classification among the top 24 in the standings. In fact, that sixth day of the league phase ended … in fourth position, with 14 points, so against PAOK in Thessaloniki and in La Cartuja against Feyenoord, Manuel Pellegrini’s team had the opportunity to confirm itself among the top eight to advance to the round of 16 directly and thus avoid the play off tie to be played between the third and fourth week of February. Well, the defeat this Thursday at the Toumba Stadium against the Greek team (2-0) has caused Betis to ‘drop’ to eighth position in the table and causes them to play next Thursday, January 29, at home against the team from the Netherlands, that direct ticket to the next phase of the competition.
The first Betic team will do it in front of their fans and, despite the large number of casualties they have, after Lo Celso and Aitor have fallen in Greece, with everything in their favor. But a remote carom could mean that Betis, even beating Feyenoord, will be left out of the already famous ‘top 8’ of the second continental competition.
We explain it. Betis is eighth, tied on 14 points with Porto, which is ninth. The two teams agree in numbers, with four wins, two draws and one defeat, and in general goal difference the Heliopolitans have scored 11 goals, to ten for the Portuguese, while both teams have conceded six goals. So the Verdiblancos currently have a +5 compared to the +4 of the Portuguese. If all the teams that precede Betis, the Betis and also the Portuguese, win their respective games (Porto receives the Rangers, already eliminated), we would have to look at the overall goal difference.
If Porto beat Rangers by one more goal on matchday 8, they can surpass Betis. If we equal the points and the general goal rating, it would go to the highest number of goals scored, which at the moment is favorable to the green and white by one goal. The next tiebreaker criteria would be the highest number of goals scored as visitors, which favors Betis; greater total number of victories (there they would tie); and finally, the highest number of wins as visitors (the green and white team also win).
The games that Betis would have to pay attention to, if they beat Feyenoord and Porto also beat Rangers, are the following:
Nottingham Forest – FerencvarosPanathinaikos – RomaGo Ahead Eagles – Sporting BragaCentral Jutland – Dinamo Zagreb.
