Betis pays for their mistakes against Rangers with a dramatic elimination

The first defeat of the season, after eight days of the League and two of the Europa League, meant elimination for Betis, relegated to the Conference League when it had everything in its favor. Villamarín experienced a black night against Glasgow Rangers, who limited themselves to taking advantage of the green and white mistakes to advance to the second round as leader of Group C. [Narrative and statistics (2-3)]

On a night where a draw was enough, Manuel Pellegrini's team collapsed against the Scots, cheered on from one of the backfields by their loyal fans.. Sparta Prague's victory against Aris Limasol (1-3) was the death blow for the green and white team. “It was a very strange game, because in the first half we were able to finish the game. “It's a hard blow,” admitted Pellegrini.

The Chilean coach still did not seem to have digested the chances wasted by his team, especially with a shot by Héctor Bellerín, deflected with great reflexes by Jack Butland or a left-footed shot by Andrés Guardado that hit the crossbar.. Not to mention the intervention of the VAR, which annulled a goal by Germán Pezzella when it seemed that the ball had almost crossed the goal line. Or a header from Assane Diao hit the crossbar, in the 51st minute.

“The locker room is damaged”

The goodbye, due to its unexpectedness, perhaps stings even more than the one suffered two years ago against Eintracht in the last minute of extra time. “It hurts, because we had everything to continue in the competition. The locker room is affected,” Pellegrini admitted..

Isco Alarcón, the protagonist of a brilliant maneuver that earned Ayoze Pérez 2-2, expressed himself in the same tone of astonishment. “In football you can't give away and today we did it. They came four or five times and scored three goals against us. We weren't up to par. There are no excuses and now we have to get up as quickly as possible,” analyzed the Malaga.

Isco's skill competed with that of Cyriel Dessers, author of a fabulous individual action that had earned the 0-1. Very little was enough for Rangers to spread panic in Rui Silva's domain and the final action, after a corner kick, made it clear. A couple of shots in the area due to the ineffectiveness of the defenders cleared the way for Kemar Roofe, who scored 2-3 with a foreshortened shot from the six-yard box.