by Betis fell 1-0 at Sparta Prague and, in a bad game, their qualification to the next round of the Europa League was pending for their last home game against Glasgow Rangers. The Slovakian Lukas Haraslín scored for the Czech team in the 54th minute of a match in which Betis, with less depth, hierarchy and verticality than in other matches, greatly lowered its performanceespecially in a very discreet second part.
In a decisive duel for both teams, in the case of the Czech – who faced it as third with 4 points – to speed up their chances of passing the round and in the case of a Betis that arrived as leader, with 9, to ensure its classification, the Chilean Manuel Pellegrini, faithful to his rotation policyHe revolutionized the green and white eleven with nine changes compared to the last LaLiga match.
In a first half with few opportunities, Borja Iglesias had the best at 27 minutes. After a pass from the active Assane Diao, he cut down an opponent in the area and his shot was blocked by Vindahl diving at his feet.while the Prague players were only worried, very intermittently, by their wingers Birmancevic and Haraslín, who looked for the goal on the stroke of half an hour, but a very focused shot came out without problems for Rui Silva.
At the restart, with the entry of Isco Alarcón for Fekir, still far from his best form and who also suffered a blow to the hip, the script changed little at the beginning, although Sparta Prague came out with vigor and tried with incursions by the Ecuadorian full-back Angelo Preciado on the right, the lane defended by the Brazilian Abner.
Precisely, it was a quick throw-in from the South American that led to the 1-0 score after sending the ball to Kuchta, who controlled well and opened the game on the left for the Slovakian. Haraslín beat Rui Silva with a great tight shot from a corner of the large area at 54 minutes, which changed the decoration a lot.
Although Sparta Prague remained firm and frightened from time to time, such as in a deflected header from the Finnish Kairinen to the Kuchta center or in a pass of death from Laçi that found no finisher, Pellegrini’s team went ahead. He had no choice to avoid having to play the pass on the last day. and, finally, he took a risk since he found himself behind on the scoreboard.
However, Betis did not find the prize when they failed to hit a long shot from Guido that was cleared by the Danish goal of the Czech league leader, in a very close header from Borja Iglesias to Abner’s center and in a cross from Isco that, After a defender failed to clear, he came out very close to the goal, which could not prevent the defeat against a Sparta Prague grown in their stadium.
