Real Betis and Barcelona meet this Wednesday in a LaLiga Santander match, corresponding to matchday seventeen, but which was postponed due to the celebration of the Spanish Super Cup, which the Catalans would end up winning in Riyadh (Saudi Arabia).
The last time the two teams met was in the recent Spanish Super Cup. Barcelona prevailed in the semifinal, but by the minimum. Xavi Hernández's team won on penalties. Now, in the domestic competition, the culés want to stay within five of Real Madrid or extend their advantage. The béticos fight to get into the Champions League.
In this league clash, Real Betis has the opportunity to end the losing streak against the Catalans. The Verdiblancos' last victory at home against Barcelona dates back to the 2007-2008 season, a 3-2 win with early goals from the Catalans Bojan and Eto'o, who came back from behind with a brace from Edú and a goal from Juanito.
Since then, and with the exception of one Copa del Rey match, Barcelona has visited Villamarín eleven times with a record of three draws and eight wins, the most recent being last season (2-3), when a Jordi Alba's goal in discount broke the tie that had been established by the goals of the visitor Ansu Fati and the local Bartra.
Barcelona feels comfortable at Villamarín. There they have obtained twenty-eight victories in the Betis field (42%) against twenty-one defeats (31%) and seventeen draws (27%). A statistic that Xavi's team wants to maintain.
In addition, the culés want to add three new points in a difficult place to maintain the advantage, at least, of five points over Real Madrid, second classified in LaLiga, who will face Valencia this Thursday.
The person in charge of whistling this match between Real Betis and Barcelona will be the referee Ricardo de Burgos Bengoetxea, from the Basque Committee of Referees.
The match between Real Betis and Barcelona, corresponding to the seventeenth day of LaLiga Santander, will be played this Wednesday, February 1 at 9:00 p.m. The match can be seen on television on Movistar LaLiga and can also be followed live on the La Vanguardia website.
Betis: Rui Silva; Aitor Ruibal, Luiz Felipe, Pezzella, Miranda; Guido, William Carvalho; Luiz Henrique, Fekir, Canales; Borja Iglesias.
Barcelona: Ter Stegen; Sergi Roberto, Kound, Araujo, Bucket; Busquets, De Jong, Pedri; Raphinha, Lewandowski, Ansu or Ferran.
