Real Betis vs Girona Preview & Prediction | 2024-25 Spanish Primera
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Manuel Pellegrini remains in charge of Real Betis with the ideal for the Andalusians being another top six finish in La Liga. They take on a Girona side that finished third last season and qualified for the 2024/25 UEFA Champions League in what was just their fifth ever campaign in Spain’s top-flight.
KICK-OFF DATE/TIME: Thursday 15th August, 2024 - UK – 8:30pm / US ET – 3:30pm / US PT – 12:30pm
HOW TO WATCH ON TV: UK – Premier Sports / US – ESPN have the exclusive rights to La Liga games in the USA, so Real Betis vs Girona may be televised on one of their affiliated channels
HOW TO WATCH ONLINE: UK – Premier Sports app / US – ESPN+
REAL BETIS PREVIEW: OLD BOYS CREW IN SEVILLE
With the likes of Ayoze Perez, who has now joined Villarreal, Nabil Fekir, Isco, Pablo Fornals and Sokratis Papastathopoulos, as well as Hector Bellerin, Real Betis have gained a recent reputation for signing recognisable players that are perhaps past their peak and their summer activity in the transfer market has continued in that way.
Betis have brought in Switzerland defender Ricardo Rodriguez on a free transfer from Torino, as well as former Liverpool goalkeeper Adrian, Leeds United duo Diego Llorente and Marc Roca and Romain Perraud from Southampton. They do, though, have what should be a fun and entertaining squad.
GIRONA PREVIEW: BIG DEPARTURES
The City Football Group-owned Girona have had to deal with some key departures over the summer transfer window. Brazilian winger Savio left at the end of his loan deal from Troyes to sign for Manchester City, whilst striker Artem Dovbyk, who was top scorer for the whole of La Liga last season, has departed for Roma.
Girona lost several key players last summer and recovered well, though. One of those departures was midfielder Oriol Romeu, who has returned this summer. The key bit of activity is keeping manager Michel with the Catalans reliant on his coaching capabilities and tactical nous to once again punch above their weight.
REAL BETIS TEAM NEWS: LET’S ALL HAVE AN ISCO
A couple of the aforementioned big or recognisable names brought in by Manuel Pellegrini and Real Betis are still injury doubts for this weekend with striker Cedric Bakambu making his way back from injury.
Isco had a wonderful couple of months of form towards the end of last season but the former Real Madrid attacking midfielder suffered an ankle injury that kept him out of a potentially remarkable recall to the Spanish national side ahead of UEFA EURO 2024. He is also a doubt.
PREDICTED XI (4-2-3-1): Silva; Hector Bellerin, Marc Bartra, Diego Llorente, Rodriguez; Carvalho, Marc Roca; Avila, Pablo Fornals, Fekir; Juanmi
UNAVAILABLE:
QUESTIONABLE: Isco (Injured), Bakambu (Injured)
GIRONA TEAM NEWS: LONG-TERM ISSUES
Michel has nothing majorly fresh or overly concerning to deal with in terms of selection and availability issues with Ricard Artero, who missed most of last season, still unavailable for the visitors.
As well as Ricard Artero, young Portuguese winger Jastin Garcia is still out injured, whilst Ukrainian international Viktor Tsygankov is a doubt. The key for Girona is finding effective ways of replacing both Savio and Dovbyk.
PREDICTED XI (4-1-2-1-2): Paulo Gazzaniga; Arnau Martinez, David Lopez, Blind, Miguel Gutierrez; Oriol Romeu; Yangel Herrera, Ivan Martin; Van de Beek; Portu, Bryan Gil
UNAVAILABLE: Ricard Artero (Injured), Jastin Garcia (Injured)
QUESTIONABLE: Tsygankov (Injured)
REAL BETIS VS GIRONA PREDICTION
We could well have an absolute thriller to kick off La Liga proceedings for these two sides at the Benito Villamarin in Seville. Real Betis have a fun squad that us ageing and injury prone but, with Manuel Pellegrini at the helm, can produce moments of magic on a fairly consistent basis. Girona, even before their impressive third placed finish last season, were one of the most entertaining teams to watch in Spain the year before that with goals to be had whenever they played. Both teams scoring seems a good start for the 2024/25 season.
REAL BETIS VS GIRONA TIP: BOTH TEAMS TO SCORE
