Betis-Rayo Vallecano is a match of the thirty-fourth day of La Liga and is played on Monday at 9 pm: lineups, predictions, TV and streaming.
In La Liga yesterday was the big day for Barcelona, which with a full four rounds ahead ended all title-related talk, becoming Spanish champions after four seasons of abstinence. But with four games still to be played, Spain’s top league has yet to deliver several verdicts.
As for the race for fourth place, Real Sociedad, barring cataclysms, will be the team that together with Barça and the two Madrid-based teams (Atletico and Real) will play in the Champions League next year. Despite the draw with Girona, Imanol Alguacil’s Basques maintain an important lead over fifth, Villarreal, which is called upon to make up five points on the San Sebastian club. The Yellow Submarine remains, in fact, the only pretender, since Betis, complicit in a return leg marked by a strong discontinuity of results, has slipped to -10. Manuel Pellegrini’s green-and-whites, also -5 away from Villarreal itself, at this point all that remains is to defend sixth place: Girona, Athletic Blibao, Osasuna and Sevilla are all hot on their heels, but with a victory in the post-match match with Rayo Vallecano, the Andalusians can (perhaps) finally detach their pursuers.
Pellegrini wants to secure sixth place
It will take another convincing performance like the one that, a week ago, allowed Betis to take away the three points from a difficult field like the San Mamés in Bilbao.
Camello and Catena of Rayo Vallecano as they celebrate a goal
To get the better of the red-and-whites, a goal by Willian José in the sixth minute of play was decisive.Throughout the match, the green-and-whites withstood the onslaught of the Basques – who even missed a penalty – exhibiting a good defensive performance after they had cashed in seven goals in total in their last three games. Still cultivating some faint hopes of retaking seventh place is Rayo, which, like last year, has slowed down somewhat once salvation was clinched well in advance. The Madrilenians have won their last three home matches, while on the road they haven’t gotten a positive result in about a month.
The prediction
The team that has more quality, but above all more motivation, is Betis. The green-and-whites are favored in a match in which the guests – certainly less brilliant on the road, where they haven’t won a game since January – could also score.
The probable formations of Betis-Rayo Vallecano
- BETIS (4-3-3): Bravo; Sabaly, Pezzella, González, Miranda; Guardado, Rodríguez, William Carvalho; Canales, Pérez, José.
- RAYO VALLECANO (4-3-3): Dimitrievski; Balliu, Lejeune, Catena, García; Valentín, Comesaña, Trejo; Palazón, García, De Tomás.
POSSIBLE RESULT: 2-1
