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Real Betis travelled to Vitoria to face Deportivo Alavés in the second matchday of the National League Championship. The trip, by the way, had to be made in the morning of the day of the match due to technical problems that prevented the transfer the evening before. 16,623 spectators almost filled Mendizorroza to see a draw between the Basques and Andalusians.
The Verdiblancos had just beaten a weak Ukrainian side Kryvbas in the Conference League qualifiers during the week. For their part, the Vitorian team was defeated somewhat unfairly by a narrow margin in Vigo on the first day of the League, in which Betis drew at home with Girona. In any case, the Verdiblancos team was not confident: Last season he was unable to defeat Alavéswith two draws in the league and a painful cup elimination at the hands of the Basques. With today’s draw, the green and white team’s bad streak against this rival continues.
Pellegrini could not count on the known absences of Isco, Bakambu and Mendy for this match, in addition to the absence of goalkeeper Fran Vieites.with discomfort. The Galician was replaced in the squad by the under-17 international Manu González. Meanwhile, Luis García Plaza had the entire squad at his disposal, something that we at Betis have not enjoyed for a long time. However, this week his squad has been weakened with the departure of Luis Rioja to Mestalla. Let us not forget that during the summer the Babazorro team has left footballers such as Samu Omorodion, Javi López or Rubén Duarte, among many others. However, Mendizorroza has also incorporated talent, with examples such as Luka Romero and Tomás Conechny. That is to say, Alavés is a team in reconstruction and Betis has not been able to take advantage of it.
On the Betis side, The big question in the starting eleven was the position of forwardThe recent arrival of Vitor Roque ensures him plenty of minutes as a striker, but until he is ready Pellegrini will have to define plan B. Thus, Today Aitor Ruibal has had the task of being number 9 again. The Catalan was joined by Rui Silva in goal; Ricardo Rodríguez and Sabaly on the wings with Diego Llorente and Bartra in the centre of defence; the central midfield was for Marc Roca and William Carvalho and the attacking midfield line included Juanmi, Fekir and Fornals.
There were quite a few surprises in the starting lineup for the home team: Jon Guridi, in good form, was a substitute. In attack, Luis García Plaza opted for rookies Stoichkov and Conechny alongside Carlos Vicente, while Kike García played up front from the start.
Betis took many minutes to get onto the fieldThe start of the match was a local monologue, in which Alavés imposed intensity and the green and white team simply watched their rivals pass by. With a traditional game, direct attack and looking for the wings, the Basque team lived close to the Betis area. Ricardo Rodriguez’s debut started out as a nightmarewith Carlos Vicente outflanking him time and again. The green-and-white midfield did not exist.
Only the centre-backs and Rui Silva conveyed some confidencewhile in attack it was Aitor Ruibal who was putting his own pride. A millimetric pass from the Catalan into the area was finished off by Juanmi in the best chance for the visitors in the entire first half, while Alavés scored a goal that was clearly disallowed for offside.
Little by little the local momentum began to fade, and halfway through the first half things became more even.. It had to do with Luis García Plaza’s inexplicable tactical change, who put Carlos Vicente on the left wing and Conechny on the right. And of course, Sabaly is not Ricardo Rodríguez. For his part, William Carvalho began to play the ball a bit more, although without giving it too much depth, and Fekir and Fornals tried to link up, with little luck. Betis tried long shots without success.
But Ricardo Rodríguez, now free from his counterpart from the beginning, began to move up the wing and had several really dangerous crosses: in one of them, Ruibal stopped Fornals from heading in an almost certain goal, having not asked for the ball.
The referee was very compassionate and did not add a single second to a soporific first half.Betis had 7 shots on goal, 5 of which went wide and 2 were blocked by the defence. Alaves’ offensive performance was not much better.
Pellegrini did not seem to like the Swiss full-back’s league debut and substituted him at half-timeincluding Perraud in the starting eleven. This gave more stability to the Betis left-back, but the team’s play did not improve in the initial phase of the second half. The match was completely balanced, with Alavés pushing forward with little quality, while the visitors tried to link up some counterattacks. In one of them Fekir erred on the side of individualism and shot wide.
At the hour mark, the coaches made their move, in both cases in attack: Luka Romero and Carlos Martín for Alavés and Abde and Chimy Ávila for Betis came onto the field. The game opened up, with both teams looking for the goal.. Abde and Chimy Ávila revolutionised Betis, and the chances started to come one after another. It was Fekir who was in charge of missing the inevitable: first, with a through ball from Fornals that, in a one-on-one with Sivera, he was unable to turn into a goal. And then, with a simple shot from inside the area, after a pass from Chimy, that went wide.
There was still more to come. Betis had a numerical advantage, which the Argentine striker took advantage of to play some great minutes. In fact, he came very close to scoring with a shot that Sivera denied him in the afternoon save.
Pellegrini’s men finished the match in the opponent’s arealooking for it in every possible way against a defeated Alavés, but they did not know how to open the can and the match ended with the initial result.
Lack of accuracy, especially from Fekir, prevented them from adding three points. Betis has thus accumulated its second draw in two games, a very empty record. The next stop is next Thursday, in the return leg of the Conference qualifier at home against Kryvbas, before facing the Bernabéu. Let’s hope the gunpowder dries.
