It wasn’t a pretty game. Not at all. From this match that showed so few things, a huge Isco emerged, becoming the leader of Betis and once again named best player of the match. The man from Malaga fought and, above all, managed the times against a Mallorca team that appeared somewhat hungover after its passage to the Cup semi-final. Five months later, from the first matchday of the League, Betis won again away from home. home, thanks to Isco, a great hit from Altimira and a very outstanding group work. Mallorca, who had gone nine games without losing in Son Moix, fell fairly, although they had some clear chances through Abdón Prats.
0
Predrag Rajkovic, Valjent (Dani, min. 57), Raíllo, Lato (Jaume Costa, min. 79), Giovanni González, Nastasic, Manu Morlanes (Javi Llabrés, min. 79), Samuel Costa (Omar Mascarell, min. 36) , Darder, Abdón Prats and Cyle Larin (Muriqi, min. 57)
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Rui Silva, Abner, Sokratis, Héctor Bellerín, Pezzella (Ricardo Visus, min. 45), Johnny, Luiz Henrique, Sergi Altimira, Isco Alarcón, Assane Diao and Fekir (Willian José, min. 66)
Goals 0-1 min. 46: Sergi Altimira.
Referee Javier Iglesias Villanueva
Yellow cards Lato (min. 75), Rui Silva (min. 78) and Jaume Costa (min. 94)
Betis’ victory has a lot of merit and allows it to get closer to sixth place in Europe while licking its wounds: it has 12 casualties and yesterday Borja Iglesias’ move to Bayer Leverkusen was completed.
Betis arrived in Mallorca in great need after losing 2-4 to Barcelona last matchday. The Verdiblancos, somewhat soft, supported their football, as almost always, in Isco, in great form. And also in Fekir, who played as a forward and little by little is recovering his best level after his serious injury. He expected a strong Mallorca at home, where they had not lost in the last nine league games (seven draws and two losses). The locals, in addition, faced the clash with morale through the roof after their qualification for the semifinals of the Copa del Rey. Mallorca was somewhat better in a first half that was defined, however, by a great shot by Altimira that in the 46th minute beat Rajkovic from outside the area. Abdón Prats sent a ball to the crossbar with a good header, but the one that won at half-time was the green and white team.
Pezzella was injured at Betis and Visus, a center back from the reserve team, came on. Mallorca did not take advantage of it, without ideas, with Darder quite weak. Isco showed off brilliantly to maintain possession of the ball against the attacks of some Mallorca players who had to surrender to their hierarchy. Only Abdón Prats had a clear chance. Betis, well positioned at the back, repelled numerous balls into the Mallorca area. “We had the ball more and created more chances,” but it wasn’t the day, Aguirre said. “They came with great confidence after eliminating Girona, but we applied ourselves very well. We took the lead and knew how to keep that goal unlike other games. We were very dedicated,” said Manuel Pellegrini, Betis coach.