Preview: Gent vs. Real Betis

Real Betis will head to Belgium for Thursday’s Conference League knockout round playoff clash against Gent at the Planet Group Arena.

The hosts finished in 17th place in the league phase with nine points to their name, while Betis were one point better off in 15th position.

Match preview

© Imago

Gent are competing in the Conference League knockout rounds for the third successive season after winning half of their six matches in the league phase.

They won all three of their home matches against Molde, Omonia Nicosia and TSC, while they lost each of their three away games against Chelsea, Lugano and Larne.

Gent are now looking forward to a playoff round tie against Betis, with the Belgian side hoping to match and surpass their run to the Conference League quarter-finals in 2022-23.

They will certainly fancy their chances of claiming a positive result in Thursday’s first leg, having avoided defeat in each of their last 17 home matches in the Conference League (including qualifying).

However, they will enter the knockout round tie without a permanent manager after Wouter Vrancken left his position as manager last month, leaving Danijel Milicevic to take over the reins on an interim basis.

The caretaker boss has overseen one win and two draws in his first three matches, including a dramatic 3-3 draw in Friday’s away league clash against Mechelen, with Andri Gudjohnsen and Hugo Gambor netting late goals to extend Gent’s unbeaten run to five matches (W1, D4).

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Betis ended the league phase in 15th place and one point adrift of the top eight after winning three, drawing one and losing two of their six matches.

After taking four points from their first four games, Betis recorded 1-0 victories over Petrocub and HJK to finish the league phase on the front foot.

Betis are now looking forward to competing in the knockout rounds of a UEFA competition for the fourth season in a row.

However, they have lost each of their last three knockout ties in European competition, including a 2-1 aggregate defeat in last season’s Conference League knockout round playoffs after they had dropped down from the Europa League.

Manuel Pellegrini‘s side will travel to Belgium off the back of a poor run of form, having lost four of their previous six competitive matches, including Saturday’s league meeting with Celta Vigo at Balaidos, where they fell to a 3-2 defeat after giving up a two-goal lead.

They can still take confidence from the fact that they have avoided defeat in six of their last seven away matches in UEFA knockout ties.

Gent Conference League form:

Gent form (all competitions):

Real Betis Conference League form:

Real Betis form (all competitions):

Team News

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The hosts are unable to call upon Noah Fadiga, while the injured quartet of Tom Vandenberghe, Aime Omgba, Andrew Hjulsager and Max Dean have all been left out of Gent’s Conference League squad.

Winter additions Leonardo Lopes, Hyllarion Goore and Dante Vanzeir have all made the cut, but there was no place for Samuel Kotto on the list for the knockout rounds.

After missing the draw with Mechelen, Tsuyoshi Watanabe will hope to recover from illness in time to take his place in central defence.

As for the visitors, long-term absentee William Carvalho has been left out of Betis’ Conference League squad, with the midfielder set to miss the rest of the season with an Achilles injury.

The Spain club have omitted winter addition Cucho Hernandez, while Hector Bellerin, Pablo Fornals and Aitor Ruibal are ruled out through injury, although the latter is also suspended for an accumulation of yellow cards.

Youssouf Sabaly will travel with the squad to Belgium after recovering from an injury which has kept him out of the last three matches.

Gent possible starting lineup:
Roef; Mitrovic, Watanabe, Torunarigha; Samoise, Kums, Ito, Delorge-Knieper, Brown; Sonko, Danzeir

We say: Gent 1-2 Real Betis

Betis may be experiencing a poor run of form, but they still boast a number of top-quality players in their squad, and after winning three of their final four matches of the league phase, we think that they will continue that positive trend by claiming a narrow win in Thursday’s away fixture.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.

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