Football Season Guide

Since Manuel Pellegrini took over at Real Betis in 2020, they have been a consistently good team and that was the case again last season as they finished sixth, earning Europa League qualification for a third consecutive season. They didn’t spend a single week outside the European spots. Real Betis even looked at one point like they might challenge for Champions League football, but a long-term injury to star man Nabil Fekir in February seriously hurt them and they had to settle for sixth. There has been a decent amount of turnover in the off-season, but the overall quality of the squad hasn’t really improved nor worsened. There have been a lot of like-for-like changes in terms of the ins and outs, such as Isco for Sergio Canales or Marc Bartra for Edgar Gonzalez. There is no replacing Joaquin, though, the legendary captain who finally retired at the end of last season at the age of 42. Going into 2023/24, Pellegrini’s Real Betis will aim to do what they’ve been doing so well these last few years, which is dominate the midfield in their 4-2-3-1 and enjoy the playmaking ability of Fekir once he returns, which should happen a couple of months into the new season. The weakness remains the fact that Real Betis fail to convert as many of their chances as they should. Borja Iglesias is the starting striker, but is very streaky, and Real Betis will live and die by how many chances he converts.