Real Madrid owe their fans a win against a newly promoted side after they could not do the job last time out. The scoreless draw against Sporting Gijón geared a lot of criticism towards both Real Madrid and also Rafa Benitez; "There were things we need to correct. We've discussed those points and looked at the video. I'm working towards making the team more and more competitive".
On the other hand, Real Betis secured a 1-1 draw against Villarreal in the closing phase of the match and despite getting a point Pepe Mel was still not satisfied and said "I’m not happy, the score is not fair. We have been the better team, stronger and deserved to win. We can’t change the score now, but Betis should have won. Villarreal had just one chance in the first half and another in the second due a mistake we made and that’s it.”
Real Madrid's problem during scoreless draw
Real Madrid played to a 0-0 against promoted team Sporting Gijón, which was definitely not enough as they needed to win, because those points might missing in the crucial time of the title race in Primera Division. Gijón pushed a lot, wanted to show that Real was not coming to Gijón just to humiliate Sporting. Madrid was the dominate team, but they could not take advantage of it and so Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale, Isco and the rest of the squad came away without scoring a goal.
Against Gijón, Madrid's players didn't try to shot from the second line, instead they tried to carry the ball into the goal and failed against Sporting's defenders. It was just too much passing from Real near the box of Gijón and so Madrid didn't reach a deserved goal in facts.
Real Betis got the draw against Villarreal
Real Betis hosted Villarreal in their own stadium on the first matchday of the new season. Real Betis was the better team and controlled more of the play, but it was Villarreal who got the lead by new summer signing Roberto Soldado in the 32th minute. The hosts returned to their their dominant, but didn't score the deserved equalizer and so they had to survive some big chances of Villarreal.
Marcelino's team wasted their chances and so they got punished in the 87th minute by a header from Ruben Castro, who scored the deserved equalizer in the closing phase of the match. At the end, both were not happy about the result, Betis was the better team and so they thought they should have won more than Villarreal and on the other hand is Villarreal, which didn't bring the lead over the full 90 minutes.
Coaches found some words about upcoming match
Rafa Benitez found some good words for upcoming opponent Real Betis and thinks that they will be a tough one. "I'm expecting them to set up like Sporting, they'll be eager to do well. They have great fans and will be highly motivated to give a good account of themselves and get a good result. We are expecting a hard working opposition side, one that will run itself into the ground and not make life easy for us", he said on press conference.
Betis' coach Pepe Mel is optimistic and but also expect a Real Madrid, which might be "angry after the scoreless draw against Sporting Gijón". "If we do things right, we are 100 % focused, making no mistakes and creating chances, of course we have possibilities.I bear in mind that if you want to get a good result in Santiago Bernabéu you need to score", he described possible chances of a victory.
Furthermore the 52-year-old coach found also some complimentary words for Real Madrid, "the players are closer, they try to defend higher up, and if the pressure does not work they fall back very well. Now it’s harder to score against them. The attacking players are defending more, now they need to make it work when they attack. If they get it, they will be a frightening team, but people should be patient with the manager and the players.”
Previous meetings
In the last ten matches, Real won eight and lost twice. Special highlight during these matches was the home win against Betis', which ended 2-1 in February 2008, almost seven years later than the last win against Madrid. Second last season, it was Madrid's special moment against Betis and The Whites beat Sevilla 0-5 in the Estadio Benito Villamarin. This match had the same goal difference as the 6-1 humilation from 2009's end of February.