After suffering defeat to bitter rivals Barcelona in the Copa Del Rey in midweek, Real Madrid will be looking for a swift return to winning ways as they travel to Real Betis in La Liga on Sunday.
Real Betis are coming off a 3-2 victory at Elche in their previous La Liga fixture. They showed great character to come from two goals down with efforts from Borja Iglesias, Juan Miranda and Willian Jose giving them the win.
That was the third straight La Liga victory for Real Betis, who are still pushing for a Champions League spot. Manuel Pellegrini’s men are currently fifth on the table, two points off Atletico Madrid in fourth place.
A slight problem for Real Betis is that they have found things difficult at the Estadio Benito Villamarin lately claiming just one win from their last six La Liga home fixtures. Another issue is that they will also be without key players Sergio Canales and Nabil Fekir, who are both sidelined with injury ahead of the visit of Real Madrid.
Real Madrid suffered a 1-0 defeat to bitter rivals Barcelona in their Copa Del Rey semi-final first leg on Thursday. Having also missed out on the Spanish Super Cup and sitting seven points off the pace in La Liga, unless they can turn things around at Camp Nou, the reigning champions appear to be running out of domestic titles to claim.
Turning his attention to La Liga matters, manager Carlo Ancelotti will be targeting a swift return to winning ways to maintain the pressure on leaders Barcelona. The good news is Los Blancos have lost just once in their last seven league matches, although they were held to a 1-1 draw by Atletico Madrid in their previous fixture.
Real Madrid have also been good travellers lately with four wins in their last five away matches across all competitions. Among their results in that run is a 5-2 Champions League victory at Liverpool while they also claimed a 2-0 victory at Osasuna in their previous La Liga fixture on the road.
How the bookies view it
Real Madrid have the upper hand among the bookies with a win priced at 11/14 by SBK. Real Betis are considered outsiders at home at 15/4 with bet365 while a draw is set at odds of 14/5 by Paddy Power.
Recent head to head
Real Madrid are unbeaten in the last five matches against Real Betis, claiming three wins in that run. Los Blancos picked up a 2-1 victory in the reverse fixture back in September and also earned a 1-0 win on their previous visit to the Estadio Benito Villamarin.
Players to watch
Borja Iglesias is the leading scorer for Real Betis this season with 10 La Liga goals and will be the one to watch on Sunday. The striker sparked the comeback last time out at Elche and could be backed to find the net at 11/4 with bet365.
Despite firing a blank in Thursday’s Copa Del Rey clash, Karim Benzema remains the biggest attacking threat for Real Madrid. The French striker has five goals in his last five matches across all competitions and is priced at 5/4 by Betfred to get on the score sheet on Sunday.
Anything else catch the eye?
Real Betis and Real Madrid boast plenty of attacking quality and both teams could be backed to score at 4/5 with William Hill. The reverse fixture produced over 2.5 goals which is priced at 17/20 by Unibet while over 3.5 goals is valued at 12/5 by BetVictor.
Real Madrid scored in both halves in the reverse fixture and can be backed for a repeat at 7/4 with Coral.
This La Liga match between Real Betis and Real Madrid will be played on Mar 5, 2023 and kick off at 20:00. Check below for our tipsters best Real Betis vs Real Madrid prediction. You may also visit our dedicated betting previews section for the most up to date previews.
