A point doesn’t cut it for Betis and Sporting

Musonda steals the first half hour

Charly Musonda is the player of the moment at Real Betis. The Belgian shone on his debut against Valencia two matchdays ago and he scored one of his team’s two goals in the last league game against RC Deportivo. Today, he was Betis’s best player. His dribbling and pace were a nightmare for the Asturian defence, especially in the early stages of the game.        

Castro is on song

Betis were awarded a corner in the 64th minute, but the set piece turned into a goal for R. Sporting. Alen Halilovic and Carlos Castro were the instrumental men in the move. The former picked up the clearance from the corner and unleashed a superb long pass to Castro. The Sporting striker advanced into the area and pulled off a wonderful lob to lift the ball over Antonio Adan.

Betis hit back in a flash

Not a single minute passed after the restart before Juan Merino's men drew things level. German Pezzella scored one of the finest goals of the matchday in the very next move. The Argentine got on the end of a wide free-kick and volleyed the ball home from the penalty spot. Two goals in the space of just over a minute.

 

Mere and Cuellar save the day

The Betis fans had their hearts in their mouths in the 37th minute of the second half. Twice, in fact. First, Jorge Mere cleared the ball off the line to deny Betis after Ruben Castro rounded Ivan Cuellar and shot. Castro was in the thick of it again seconds later. The shot by the Betis player made it as far as Sporting’s keeper, but he managed to keep it out with a fine save.

 

A point apiece

Betis were the side who really tried to go on and win it. However they ended up sharing the points with their opponents. A draw is no good for Merino's or Abelardo Fernandez's men and means that both sides remain in the battle to avoid the drop.