La Liga Preview: Real Betis - Sevilla

Real Betis and Sevilla square up in what should be a thrilling derby at the Manuel Ruiz de Lopera stadium on Sunday night, with local bragging rights at stake for Betis, and a potential place in the Champions League on the line for Sevilla.

Betis come into the game off the back of a 1-1 draw at home to Valladolid in midweek, while Sevilla scored an impressive 3-0 win away to Racing Santander.

Sevilla were 3-0 winners when the two sides met earlier in the season at the Sánchez Pizjuán thanks to a double strike from Luis Fabiano and another from Daniel Alves.

Local Pride

"Betis are the team of Sevilla, and of all of Andalucia," my barber declared on Friday, whilst giving me a nice two sides and back, three on top job. "Whatever our respective league positions are, it is the derby that really matters," he continued, seemingly forgetting their 3-0 defeat to Sevilla earlier in the season.

Betis are traditionally the working class team of the city, their colours - green and white - are those of Andalucia and their club name eschews the anglicized futbol, instead using the literal Spanish word Balompie in its place.

After another season of unrest and financial difficulties, the feeling within the club is that they should be content with mid-table safety, having looked on course for relegation earlier in the season before Seville-born Paco Chaparro took charge.

If they could prevent their local neighbours qualifying for the Champions League then it would go down as a successful year by current standards and give their supporters bragging rights over the summer months, or as my barber so eloquently puts it: "the chance to look down upon the rich lot for a while."

Down To The Wire

"There is still a possibility of us [reaching the top four], although our chances get worse by the week," Sevilla defender Daniel Alves admitted following Atlético Madrid's victory over Espanyol on Thursday. "We are dependent on others and that makes things difficult."

With a three point deficit to Atlético and a worse record in the head to head encounters between the two, Sevilla must win both of their remaining games and hope that Atlético win neither if they are to secure a second successive season in the Champions League.

A local derby is probably the last thing that they wanted with so much at stake, but having shown himself capable of switching up the team's tactics to suit the opposition in recent weeks, Manolo Jiménez will be hopeful of plotting another victory on Sunday.

If he is to do so then it may be an opportune time for Luis Fabiano to get his scoring boots back on having been overtaken by Mallorca's Dani Güiza in the race for the Pichichi crown after stuttering form in front of goal in recent weeks.

No Violence Please

Current Tottenham boss Juande Ramos was hit by an object from the crowd while in charge of Sevilla in the last meeting between the two sides at the Manuel Luiz de Lopera, forcing the game to be abandoned on the hour mark.

The death of Sevilla defender Antonio Puerta brought the two sides and sets of supporters together when they met at the Sánchez Pizjuán in January and everyone is hopeful that Sunday's game will follow a similar peaceful path, both on and off the pitch.

FORM

Betis

Recent MatchesMatchResultDateChampionshipBetis - Valladolid1 - 107/05/2008LA LIGAAlmeria - Betis1 - 104/05/2008LA LIGABetis - Villarreal0 - 127/04/2008LA LIGAAtletico de Madrid - Betis1 - 319/04/2008LA LIGABetis - Levante0 - 113/04/2008LA LIGAZaragoza - Betis0 - 306/04/2008LA LIGA
Sevilla

Recent MatchesMatchResultDateChampionshipRacing - Sevilla0 - 307/05/2008LA LIGASevilla - Valladolid2 - 004/05/2008LA LIGAMurcia - Sevilla0 - 026/04/2008LA LIGASevilla - Almeria1 - 419/04/2008LA LIGAMallorca - Sevilla2 - 313/04/2008LA LIGASevilla - Villarreal2 - 006/04/2008LA LIGA
TEAM NEWS

Betis

David Rivas and Branko Ilic are both sidelined through injury, while attacking three Rafael Sobis, Edu and Mariano Pavone are all doubtful.


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