While awaiting the arrival of the internationals, Manuel Pellegrini He prepares with the footballers he has at his disposal the next day after a few days off. And what comes ahead is a marathon of encounters, on the occasion of the start of the Europa League, to which Betis returns after its last participation in 2018-19, when it was eliminated in the round of 32 against Rennes. This campaign will debut in the Benito Villamarín against Celtic, in what will be the second meeting of a marathon of seven dates in total that will take place in 21 days.
After the stoppage by the national teams, the competitions resumed and the calendar is compressed with five LaLiga games and two other Europeans. Five crashes in which the Verdiblanco team, after an irregular start in which they have barely accumulated two draws (against Mallorca and Cádiz) and one defeat (against Real Madrid) must begin to add three at a time so that doubts do not grow around the new Betic project.
The Chilean technician still has time to start preparing the next appointment, since It won’t be until next Monday when the match marathon starts. The starting point will be the day September 13 at Nuevo los Cármenes in the clash against Granada, which also adds two draws in this league start. The goal will arrive on October 3 at Madrigal to face Villarreal (still without a schedule), before facing a new stoppage due to the meetings of the national teams on their way to the World Cup in Qatar.
The carousel of matches will start this next Monday in Granada, just three days before receiving the Celtic at the premiere in the Europa League. He will do it at an unfavorable time, as he will receive the Scottish team at 18:45.
At a similar time will repeat at Benito Villamarín the following Sunday, September 19, since, presumably with heat, it will be measured with the Spanish at home at 6:30 p.m., already with a capacity of 60%, some 35,000 spectators, in the Heliopolitan stadium after the new measures implemented for this month of September by the authorities.
The calendar is compressed and will visit the Osasuna in Pamplona on Thursday, September 23 at 7:30 p.m., while he will close that demanding week again in his stadium, playing against Getafe at 9:00 p.m. on Sunday, September 26.
Then, travel to Budapest to face the second continental stake against Ferencvaros on 30, in the second European competition commitment, three days before visiting the Madrigal a tough match against Villarreal to close three intense weeks for Pellegrini’s men, in a level test to gauge the possibilities of their team.
The staff, almost complete
Waiting to know the state in which your internationals return, the Chilean will already have almost all his squad for these commitmentsWith the exception of the only long-term injured person, the French-Senegalese full-back Youssouf Sabaly, was out for about four months after undergoing surgery for a muscle tear in the anterior rector of his left leg.
To reinforce this position, however, it came on the horn of the market closing Héctor Bellerín, on loan until the end of the season from English Arsenal, the same commitment as William José, on loan from the Royal Society.
Pellegrini has been left with a short squad to face three competitions this season with all the guarantees, despite the final acceleration in the transfer market. And still without the Copa del Rey at stake, these three weeks with seven duels at stake will be a good test to see how competitive the Verdiblanco team can show when the calendar tightens. You will have to pull rotations and wardrobe bottoms, but without throwing any matches.
In the Europa League he is measured against the weakest rival theoreticians with whom he cannot failr if you want to tie up one of the first two positions that give you the right to move on, while in the League you play against rivals that are propitious to start adding victories after a start in which you still do not know victory.
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