Betis returns to Europe after two years without a continental award. He will do it in a Benito Villamarín gala dress and with Celtic as guest of honor. The story tells how the Betic club took its green and white colors inspired by the shirt of the Scottish team, which comes with more doubts than certainties after losing in the last Scottish Championship with Rangers after having lifted the title in the previous nine years. Neither of the two contenders, of course, will wear green and white today due to the incompatibility found by UEFA. The blue and white will be on the grass.
A special illusion flows in Heliopolis. Conditioned, as almost always, but tied to the designs directed by Manuel Pellegrini and to the hope that his second project will find some parallelism with the first.. The Chilean already knows what to shine in Europe. There are also fears, those that tend to wreck continental dreamers in the League, but the experience of the coach is the greatest ally for Betis to negotiate that variant. Celtic opens the curtain as one of the rivals who a priori will fight with the Betic team for a place in the next round. And Pellegrini believes in good beginnings.
Rotations have already entered the fray in Granada and now Pellegrini has renewed dilemmas. Canales will return to eleven, perhaps in a more advanced position than usual, while behind Pezzella will command and Joaquín has ballots to enter the scene. The coach could dose Rodri despite being decisive in Granada, but the one who aims to keep his place is a Borja Iglesias who screams for a goal to ward off ghosts.
LaLiga Santander
* Data updated as of September 15, 2021
Ange Postecoglou has in his hands a renewed team that will not have his main asset in attack, the Japanese Furuhashi, due to injury. The market upset Celtic in recent weeks with the departure of important men such as Edouard or Christie, while others such as the Portuguese Jota arrived to renew the illusion. The numerous casualties disrupt Postecoglou’s plan, which will not have key players like Taylor or McGregor, while Abada is absent for celebrating the Jewish Yom Kippur. There will be daring on the pitch and little to lose on the part of the Glasgow team, who return to Seville after that failed 2003 final in this competition. It will be a party with the green and white in the shade. But Betis wants only a smile to remain.