While most of the World anticipates the El Classico, which will take place on February 7th, we will rather take a look at the match between Real Betis and Valencia, who will meet in the first leg of semi-finals in Copa del Rey. The match will be played at Estadio Benito Villamarín, the home stadium of Real Betis.
The home side, Real Betis are currently 6th in the LaLiga with an overall record of 9-5-8. While they were mediocre this season at most, Betis is holding an admirable 3-1-1 in their last 5 matches in all competitions. In the course of those 5 games, they have defeated Girona (3:2), Espanyol (3:1) and most recently Atletico Madrid (1:0). On the other side, they were defeated by Ath Bilbao (1:0) on January 27th and played a draw against Espanyol (1:1) on January 24th. With a 6th position in the LaLiga, Real Betis is only 4 points away from reaching the top 4, which would ultimately get them a ticket to play in the Champions League next season. Despite the fact they are in a great position to finish this season high in the league standings, Betis is also in a great spot to reach the finals in Copa del Rey, with the first leg being played at their home pitch, where they will be looking to defeat Valencia and get themselves a lead prior to the 2nd leg. Real Betis are considered an underdog here, but Betis has built up some confidence with a 3 game winning streak at home, as they managed to defeat Girona (3:2), Espanyol (3:1) and Atl Madrid (1:0). But the question remains, can they continue their impressive run of 3 wins at home against Valencia?
Valencia are coming into this match with 4 wins in their last 6 matches in all competitions. The only 2 teams they did not manage to win against were Getafe (1:0) and most recently Barcelona (2:2). With their recent draw against Barcelona, Valencia dropped to 8th place in LaLiga, where they hold a 6-12-4 record with 30 points, which means they are only 2 points behind Real Betis and 6 points away from reaching the top 4 teams in the league. Valencia is among the teams that do not really shine in the attacking end of the field. In the course of 22 games, Valencia only scored 24 goals, which puts them among the worst offensive teams in the league. On the road, their goal scoring is even worse, as they only managed to score 10 times in the span of 11 away games. While it’s true they scored 2 goals against Barcelona on February 2nd, they were not too impressive throughout the season, which is worrying as they head to Estadio Benito Villamarín, where Betis only conceded 6 goals in the last 10 games.
Valencia has a better H2H record against Betis, who they defeated twice in the last 5 games, whereas Betis won only once. This time, I do not believe Valencia will come out on top. As one of the worst away teams in the LaLiga, they will be facing one of the best home teams in recent matches. There will be a lot of pressure for both sides to win this match since they are in semifinals of LaLiga, but the question is, which team won’t let the pressure get to them? Taking everything into consideration, I believe Betis has a slight advantage over Valencia due to their recent performances and their impressive record at home, where they just recently defeated Atletico Madrid. While I believe Betis will try and get a lead prior to the 2nd leg, there is a possibility of a draw. That is why our prediction will be +0 on the home side.
Prediction: Real Betis +0
Odds: 1.92 SBOBET
