Real Betis vs Barcelona: La Liga preview – teams, start, lineups
Who: Real Betis vs Barcelona
What: Spain’s La Liga
Where: Estadio Benito Villamarin in Seville, Spain
When: Saturday, December 6 at 6:30pm (17:30 GMT)
How to follow: We’ll have all the build-up on Al Jazeera Sport from 14:30 GMT in advance of our text commentary stream.
Defending champions Barcelona travel to Real Betis on Saturday with the chance to extend their lead to four points at the top of the La Liga table, with second-placed Real Madrid not playing Celta Vigo until Sunday.
It has been a mixed period of results for the Catalan giants, however, and Betis are a side riding the crest of last season’s wave, which saw them reach the Europa Conference final.
Al Jazeera Sport takes a look at what could be the latest stern test for Hansi Flick’s Barca.
What is Barcelona’s record in La Liga this season?
Barca completed a fifth straight league win with their 3-1 victory against title hopefuls Atletico Madrid on Tuesday.
That result moved the Catalans four points clear, only for Real Madrid to close the gap back to one point with their win against Athletic Bilbao on Wednesday.
Flick’s side had suffered a blip when they lost three matches in five games, culminating in October’s Clasico defeat at Real Madrid. It was only their second league defeat of the season and preceded the five-match winning streak in La Liga, which has netted 17 goals in that time with only five conceded.
What is Real Betis’s record in La Liga this season?
Betis are unbeaten in eight matches in all competitions – winning six – which has helped propel the Seville-based club to fifth in La Liga. The gap to the top four – and the Champions League qualification spots – is 11 points, however, making this game in hand on those above crucial for their ambitions this season.
Their last defeat came against the team immediately above them, Atletico Madrid, who won 2-0 in Seville in October. That is Betis’s only defeat in 17 matches in all competitions, of which they have won 10.
The game in hand for Betis follows their participation in the Copa del Rey in midweek, which saw them advance with a 4-1 win at Torrent of the Spanish third division.
Have Real Betis ever won La Liga?
Real have lifted the La Liga title once, in 1934-1935. They have, however, lifted the Copa del Rey title on three occasions – the last of which came in 2022.
The seven-time winners of the Spanish second division were runners-up to Chelsea in last season’s Europa Conference.
