REAL BETIS

League position: 4th
Head coach: Manuel Pellegrini
22/23 top scorer: Borja Iglesias (six)

RECENT FORM

ROMA: L W W L W
BETIS: L L W W L

The Gialllorossi’s impressive win at Inter Milan on Saturday kept Roma within four points of top spot in Serie A and, with two wins out of two so far, they’re currently also well placed in Group C.

Victory at the Stadio Olimpico would see Jose Mourinho’s side not only pull level on points with leaders Betis, but also move above them and into top spot in the group.

Pellegrini’s visitors have made an excellent start to the season, winning seven out of nine matches in all competitions and placing fourth in La Liga after seven rounds of fixtures, although they suffered a 1-0 defeat to Celta Vigo on Saturday.

They’ve made a perfect start to their Europa League competition, with Pellegrini thus far - like Mourinho - using the depth of his squad to keep his players fresh as they balance domestic and continental commitments.

Possible Betis line-up

(4-2-3-1)

Bravo; Montoya, Pezzella, Felipe, Miranda; Akouokou, Carvalho; Henrique, Canales, Joaquin; Jose

DANGER MAN
Willian Jose

As mentioned a little higher up the piece, Pellegrini has made a number of changes to his side in Europe this season and one of which is in attack.

Iglesias is the obvious man to pick out here, with six La Liga goals to his name in 2022-23, but it’s Jose who has led the line in the UEL.

He’s done so well, too, with the Brazilian scoring twice from two full 90 minute outings out of two.

Iglesias could well get the nod in Rome considering the strength of the hosts, while the scheming Nabil Fekir will prove tricky if he features following his return from injury at the weekend and 40-year-old Joaquin continues to defy his age.

MATCH STATS

These two sides have never met previously in their history in a competitive fixture, making this the first ever Roma vs. Betis fixture.

Including qualifiers, Roma are unbeaten in their last 20 home games in Europe (W14, D6) - the longest such run by an Italian outfit since Juventus went 27 matches without a loss on home soil from 2015-2018.

The Giallorossi have had more shots (48) than any other team in the UEL so far this season and faced the fewest amount of shots on goal (three), while their passing accuracy (87 per cent) is bettered by just four teams across the entire competition.

Not since 2002 have Betis had more successive European wins than their current two match run; they won six on the spin in the UEFA Cup over the course of separate campaigns from 1998 to 2002.

PLAYER STATS

• Lorenzo Pellegrini (11) has made more attempts on goal than any other player in the competition, while only Evander (three) has more assists than Pellegrini (two).
  
• Just Hugo Vetlesen (eight) has created more goalscoring chances for his teammates than Paulo Dybala and Nemanja Matic (both seven) in this edition of the Europa League.
  
• Mourinho replaced Pellegrini as Real Madrid boss in 2010 and the pair later traded Premier League titles as coaches of Chelsea (2014-15) and Manchester City (2013-14), respectively, in
  
• Joaquin is four games short of 100 European appearances for Betis.

WHAT THEY SAID

“We are delighted with this win. It was such an important game for us. We have to build on this, because on Thursday we have another big game.”

- Chris Smalling on taking momentum from the Inter win into the Betis game