Fekir and Canales return to round off the job

A week after storming St. Petersburg with another exhibition of their fearsome punch, Betis are looking to round off the job against Zenit to seal their place in the Europa League round of 16 at the Benito Villamarín. Manuel Pellegrini’s team, immersed in a great run of results that has led them to win nine of the last eleven games they have played in the three competitions in which they are still very much alive, brings back Canales and Fekir for the company, once The first has already recovered from covid-19 and since the second has completed the three-match ban imposed on him for his expulsion against Bayer Leverkusen in the group stage.

The Verdiblancos, curiously, did not feel the absence of the two magicians who operate in their engine room at the Gazprom Arena, but their return is great news in Heliopolis, where they dream of adding another beautiful chapter to that success story that is being written the Engineer’s block less than 72 hours away from a derby hotter than ever that nobody wants to think about yet because first they have to do their homework in the second continental competition.

“The worst mistake is playing with the result. We came with a positive result, but it is not definitive or decisive. We will play without the mind in that result », Pellegrini reviewed that, emulating Cholo Simeone, he prefers to go step by step. «We want to continue to the round of 16 of the Europa League, there are thirteen or fourteen League games left to continue fighting for the place we have and we still have a qualification for the Copa del Rey final. The way to face the game is thinking that the next one is always the most important. Both in the Cup and in the Europa League, if you don’t reach the end, you have to look at the League and see that you’re also doing something important. It’s a big team mentality,” said the Chilean.

Statistical endorsement

The truth is that the precedents support Betis. The Verdiblancos have managed to advance in four of the five two-legged ties in the main European competitions when they won the first leg away from home, the exception being the elimination they suffered in the 2013-14 campaign at the hands of Sevilla in the round of 16 of the Europa League. To this data we must add that Zenit has chained sixteen games in a row without knowing the victory away from home in Europe. Their last victory dates back to the group stage of the 2017-18 Europa League, when the Russian side defeated a Real Sociedad 1-3 in which the current Verdiblancos Canales, Juanmi and Willian José played.

The last two seem fixed in Pellegrini’s initial formation to receive Zenit, but the Spaniard’s presence depends on how he recovers from the foot stomp he suffered in the match against Mallorca last Sunday. “He is on the summons list and is fit to play. We will see with which eleven we come out, ”the coach played hide and seek.

For its part, Zenit attends the event with the relief of knowing that goals in the opposite field are no longer worth double. Although the Russians are bound to win, a narrow win would see the tie go into extra time, softening the blow of the 2-3 defeat suffered seven days ago. Dzyuba’s aerial power and Malcom’s overflow will once again be the main threats for Sergei Semak’s squad, who concede behind but have enough dynamite up front to keep the matchup on edge.