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Isco, who didn't play well, gave Betis a well-deserved win against Granada, who put up a lot of fight in a packed Benito Villamarín crowd of more than 50,000 in the green and white stadium. It was a hard-fought, fair victory that Betis achieved due to the high number of casualties in a complicated context. Granada also made things difficult. The three points bring a team out of crisis that had not won in five league games and has now been eliminated from the cup. Granada, tough and defensive, were also frustrated by a very fair offside position from Arezo in the 82nd minute. Cuadra Fermández scored, but the VAR canceled the goal because the visiting striker was in an illegal position. Betis' victory was based on Isco's goal and Luiz Henrique's great play, which was brilliant on both sides. Beticos' victory had its value as they saw Ayoze and Aitor Ruibal leave injured and conditioned Manuel Pellegrini's replacement. In fact, the coach took a risk by removing Willian José from the field and replacing Fekir, who is going through a difficult period after his long injury. With Isco and Fekir as strikers, a collaboration with Marc Roca and a lot of luck resulted in the Betic victory when Isco's ball touched Arezo and went under Batalla's legs. Granada has improved thanks to Medina. It is also strengthened in the winter market with players like Batalla himself, Méndez, Piatkowski and Hongla. However, there were too many points left along the way.
1
Rui Silva, Abner, Aitor Ruibal (Pablo Busto, min. 50), Sokratis, Pezzella, Isco Alarcón, Guardado, Luiz Henrique, Ayoze Pérez (Assane Diao, min. 18), Marc Roca and Willian José (Fekir, min. 68 ). )
0
Augusto Batalla, Carlos Neva, Miquel, Piatkowski, Bruno Méndez (Óscar Melendo, min. 90), Bryan Zaragoza, Gonzalo Villar (Hongla, min. 86), Callejón (Douglas Arezo, min. 68), Sergio Ruiz (Gumbau, min . 68), Lucas Boyé and Myrto Uzuni (doors, min. 86)
Goals 1-0 Min. 75: Isco Alarcon.
referee Guillermo Cuadra Fernandez
Yellow cards Bruno Méndez (min. 12), Myrto Uzuni (min. 33), Augusto Batalla (min. 43), Sokratis (min. 54), Assane Diao (min. 64), Isco Alarcón (min. 92) and Puertas (min. 94)
Betis was missing a goal and also the best version of Isco, who has been a bit subdued in the last few games. Still, they deserved better against a rugged and very defensive Granada, who barely attacked and were perhaps too timid and didn't believe in doing any damage to Betis in their stadium. This led to a first half marked by Bruno Méndez's shocking attack on Ayoze in the 15th minute. The central defender, who had been converted into a full-back, brought the Betis winger off the field with his badly injured ankle. Diao, her successor in the Sevillian team, had the best chance for Betis after a great game from Luiz Henrique. The Brazilian was the best of the local team and showed very valuable moves on the wing. Granada, which was initially quite domineering, was watered down. He scored the goal with a volley from Boyé that Uzuni touched offside. After that, he only lived on defense and Gonzalo Villar's good ball handling.
Betis went for the winning goal in every possible way with more heart than quality. Batalla made a great save from Roca and the goal was lost in the face of the green and white harassment, with Granada too paralyzed. Guardado and Abner had two good chances until Pellegrini played with Fekir. He removed the striker, the unfortunate Willian José, and it was Isco who blew up Benito Villamarín. The VAR did justice to Arezo's narrow approach and the Green and Whites limited themselves to holding the ball against a Granada powerless in attack. Betis won but need to improve in attack if they want to compete in Europe. However, his victory was fair after he shot over the Granada goal up to 25 times.
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