Preview: Real Betis vs Celje – prediction, team news, lineups

Real Betis will welcome the Slovenian team Celje to Benito Villamarin for Thursday Conference League encounter.

The Spanish team is aiming for its first win in the league phase, while Celje is aiming for its second consecutive European Cup win.

Game preview

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Betis enters the Conference League main draw after surviving the playoff round against Kryvbas with an aggregate score of 5-0.

However, they had a much more difficult time in the league phase as they only got one point from their first two games.

The Verdiblancos narrowly lost 1-0 away to Legia Warsaw before settling for a 1-1 draw against FC Copenhagen. This puts them in 27th place after two rounds of play.

Although they would have been frustrated with the draw against the Danish side, this result helped Betis complete a five-game unbeaten run in all competitions (W3, D2).

In their last game, Betis managed to hold Athletic Bilbao to a 1-1 draw at San Mames to end the weekend Seventh place in La Liga and is tied with Los Leones on 19 points.

Los Verdiblancos now return to the home comforts of Benito Villamarin, where they have proven to be a difficult side to beat this season, having lost just one of their eight competitive games at home (W5, D2).

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After suffering disappointment in Champions League and Europa League qualifying, Celje secured its place in the main draw of the Conference League with a 4-2 aggregate win over Pyunik in the playoff round.

The Slovenian champions enjoyed a mixed start to the league phase, having won one and lost one of their first two games.

Celje suffered a 3-1 away defeat against Portuguese side Vitoria Guimaraes before recovering with a comfortable home win against Turkish Super Lig side Istanbul Basaksehir.

Tamar Swetlin, Ivan Brnic And Svit Seslar Everyone found the net in the first section and laid the foundation for Armandas Kucys scoring a brace in the second half to secure a clear 5-1 win.

Unfortunately for Celje, this impressive result was followed by league defeats against Radomlje and Olimpija and a cup win against Hodos.

This puts Celje in fourth place, eight points behind the top spot in the Slovenian PrvaLiga. However, they must put their flagging title aspirations on hold and concentrate on Thursday’s trip to Spain, where they will look to end a run of four consecutive away defeats in UEFA competition.

Real Betis Conference League form:

Real Betis form (all competitions):

Celje Conference League form:

Celje form (all competitions):

Team news

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Betis cannot use the services of Aitor Ruibal, Giovanni Lo Celso, Isco, William Carvalho And Marc Roca.

Adrian should replace Rui Silva between the posts after featuring in Betis’ first two games of the league phase.

Manuel Pellegrini could make several other changes, with Youssouf Sabaly, Nathan, Ricardo Rodríguez and Diao are all likely to be considered for starting spots.

As for the visitors, they will not be able to rely on their main centre-forward as Kucys will be suspended for one game due to an accumulation of yellow cards.

Kucys’ absence could be an indication of this Edmilson with the possibility of making his first European start in the 2024-25 season.

Mario Kvesic is expected to make his first league appearance after missing the first two games due to suspension.

Real Betis possible starting lineup:
Adrian; Sabaly, Llorente, Natan, Rodriguez; Fornals, Altimira, Cardoso, Ezzalzouli; Diao, Roque

Celje possible starting lineup:
Rozman; Nieto, Zec, Vuklisevic, Nemanic; Seslar, Svetlin, Kvesic; Matko, Brnic, Edmilson

We say: Real Betis 2-0 Celje

Betis have won five of their last seven competitive games at Benito Villamarin and we believe they will take full advantage of the home advantage to take all three points, especially as Celje have lost their last four away games in European competition.

For data analysis of the most likely outcomes, scores and more for this game, please click here.

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