Betis and Villarreal already know what it means to win in the current edition of the Europa League. After starting the group stage with defeats two weeks ago, both Pellegrini’s team and Pacheta’s team reacted in the best way this Thursday and managed to beat, respectively, Sparta Prague and Stade Rennais, thus adding their first European points.
In the afternoon it was the turn of Betis, who received a Sparta Prague leader in the Czech league and who had beaten Aris Limassol on the first day of the Europa League by a tight 3-2. In this way, Pellegrini’s men were almost forced to win if they did not want to complicate their lives excessively.
So it was. The Czechs struck first in the 3rd minute of the match with a goal from Birmancevic, which forced Betis to come back, and Pellegrini’s men delivered. Just six minutes later, Assane Diao made it 1-1 after taking advantage of a very bad start from Vindahl, and eleven minutes from the end, Isco, who is making a great start to the season, gave the Sevillian team the victory.
However, the victory was a bit bitter for the locals, because after two days of the group stage they occupy the last place in group C: its four members are tied on three points, a clear example of the equality of the team.
For their part, Villarreal also achieved their first European victory of the season, and although unlike Betis they did not have to come back or concede any goals, Pacheta’s team had to suffer until the end to seal the three points.
The groguet team was not superior to the French team, which currently occupies sixth position in League 1, but if in other games Pacheta’s team missed multiple opportunities to achieve victory, tonight they stood out for their effectiveness.
Sorloth, who is also having a great start to the season, put Villarreal ahead in the 36th minute, making the Estadio de la Cerámica breathe. However, the French team did not give up at any time and regularly looked for the goal of Pepe Reina, who ended up being one of the main protagonists of the match.
With time already up, Stade Rennais was able to tie from 11 meters but Martin Terrier failed to deceive the veteran Spanish goalkeeper – last August he turned 41 – and Reina saved the penalty, driving the fans crazy and showing that he is still a specialist in this facet.
With this first European victory, Villarreal is third in group F, tied on points with Stade Rennais and just one point behind the leader, Panathinaikos, who did not go beyond a draw against Maccabi Haifa, last.
