For Sunday night’s La Liga tussle, Real Betis welcome the trip of Atletico Madrid, hoping the latter would still be reeling from their Champions League defeat on Tuesday night. Third-placed in La Liga, Atletico find themselves seven points adrift of league leaders Barcelona while Real Betis, who have had a good start, lie seventh with 15 points from their opening 10 matches.
Match Preview
Real Betis comes into this match off a 1-1 draw in the Conference League against Copenhagen last week, so it has been a rather busy week for Manuel Pellegrini’s men. Though the results are mixed, there has been solidity in defense from Betis, who have let in just nine goals in 10 league matches so far, and they have been pretty strong at home with three wins in five home matches this season. Although Betis hasn’t beaten Atletico since 2019, they will be looking to pit their offense, which has been impressive of late, against their opponents’ stingy defense, one that has allowed just six times this season.
Atletico Madrid, meanwhile, remain undefeated in La Liga, with five victories and five draws, although they did manage a disappointing 3-1 home defeat to Lille in the Champions League – leaving Simeone’s team down in 27th place in their group stage table. Nevertheless, Atletico have kept their league form on course and look set to try taking advantage of their good record against Betis, having won five of their last six La Liga meetings.
Team News
Real Betis will miss Giovani Lo Celso, Marc Roca, William Carvalho and Isco all through injury while Natan is also suspended. Lo Celso alone has contributed five goals this season. Pellegrini can thus be trusted to utilise a front two with Vitor Roque and Cedric Bakambu.
Atletico too have their share of absentees in the form of Clement Lenglet, Pablo Barrios, Marcos Llorente, Robin Le Normand, and Cesar Azpilicueta. Simeone would likely retain a familiar unit, probably with the inclusion of Samuel Lino at left-back. The attacking trio for Atletico will be spearheaded by Antoine Griezmann, Julian Alvarez, and Alexander Sorloth.
Predicted Lineups:
Real Betis: Silva; Bellerin, Bartra, Llorente, Perraud; Ezzalzouli, Cardoso, Altimira, Fornals; Roque, Bakambu
Atletico Madrid: Oblak; Molina, Witsel, Gimenez, Lino; Koke, De Paul, Gallagher; Griezmann; Alvarez, Sorloth
With both clubs hungering for the win for their standing in the league and with Atletico seeking recovery from their European loss, this may be quite an interesting match.
