Real Betis vs Manchester United

Estadio Benito Villamarín is the venue as Real Betis and Manchester United lock horns in their first-ever meeting.

It’s been an utterly impressive start to the season for Real Betis. In addition to finishing top of their Europa League group without losing (W5, D1), ‘Los Verdiblancos’ are still in the La Liga top-four picture, trailing fourth-placed Athletic Bilbao on a goal difference alone. Back-to-back winless league matches in the lead-up to the Qatar World Cup (D1, L1) were a sign of fatigue, with Betis’ underwhelming mid-season preparation only confirming those suspicions. Despite not losing a large chunk of first-team stars to international duty, Manuel Pellegrini’s men have lost all three warm-up fixtures by an aggregate score of 10-0. Having scored just once in their last five outings, Betis will be out to gather some momentum ahead of the upcoming La Liga restart.

Unlike their rivals, a large contingent of Manchester United players is currently battling it out for the Jules Rimet trophy in Qatar, forcing manager Erik ten Hag to rely on youth academy graduates and out-of-favour first-team strugglers. Then it’s come as no big surprise that the ‘Red Devils’ kicked off their warm-weather preparation in Spain with a humiliating 4-2 defeat to hot La Liga relegation candidates Cadiz a few days ago. That loss at least stayed in line with Man Utd’s proneness to producing high-scoring affairs of late, with their last four matches featuring over 2.5 goals and both teams scoring, averaging 4.75 goals per game. But after conceding 2+ goals three times across those four contests, United will be desperte to tighten up at the back, with a Carabao Cup clash against Burnley waiting in the wings.