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Atlético Madrid have won 13 of their last 19 meetings with Real Betis, with the one loss in this period come at the Benito Villamarín three years ago. Both teams have scored in 59% of Atleti’s games this season (excluding Copa del Rey).
Both teams to score here is 7/10.
Atlético Madrid to win and both teams to score is 7/2.
Atlético Madrid to win and over 2.5 goals is 11/4.
João Félix is 15/2 to break the deadlock and 5/2 to score anytime.
Match preview
Real Betis have a date at the Estadio de La Cartuja to look forward to.
Having already won 2-1 in Madrid, Béticos were big favourites to advance but Rayo, from nowhere, levelled up the tie with ten minutes to play.
With extra time looming large, it would take a bit of magic to win it and that’s exactly what happened.
In the second minute of injury time, Joaquín’s in-perfect through-ball found Sergio Canales and his cross, from picometers out, was bundled in by Borja Iglesias.
This sparked wild celebrations as Betis reach a first Copa del Rey Final since 2005, where they’ll meet Valencia on 23 April.
Before then, the games continue to come thick and fast for Manuel Pellegrini’s men who are going strong on three fronts.
In La Liga, despite losing el Gran Derbi to Sevilla last Sunday, Betis are third, looking to cling onto a Champions League place.
They’re also involved in the UEFA Europa League and will host Eintracht Frankfurt in the round of 16 first leg this forthcoming Wednesday.
Here, in the big Sunday night clash, one of the sides looking to catch them in La Liga are in town.
Atlético Madrid, least we forget, are reigning Spanish champions but, right now, are battling just to get back into the top four.
Los Colchoneros though, finally, have found some form, beating Celta Vigo 2-0 last weekend thanks to Renan Lodi’s brace at the Metropolitano.
Diego Simeone’s side have now won five of eight La Liga matches in 2022, but have lost to Barcelona and bottom of the table Levante, showing their continued inconsistency.
Nevertheless, Atleti would travel back to Madrid in the top four, at Betis’ expense, if they win this one.
Who will win a crucial clash at Estadio Benito Villamarín?
Real Betis team news
Manuel Pellegrini may be forced to rotate his squad less than 72 hours after that momentous Copa result on Thursday.
38 year old Claudio Bravo started both games this week, the derby and the semi-final, so could keep his place in goal over Rui Silva and Joel.
In defence, Héctor Bellerín and Marc Bartra were only on the bench in midweek but could return in place of Youssouf Sabaly and Edgar González respectively.
Joaquín, who won the Copa del Rey with Betis 17 years ago, will have the chance to repeat this next month.
Willian José has been the first-choice striker in recent weeks, but Borja Iglesias could start here.
Atlético Madrid team news
Diego Simeone meanwhile has deployed a back three for their last two games against Manchester United and Celta de Vigo.
Given the vastly improved performances this yielded, he could stick with this system.
New signing Reinildo plays at left-centre-back, allowing Renan Lodi to get forward which led to the latter scoring twice last weekend.
It was confirmed this week that Héctor Herrera will join Houston Dynamo in July but, for now, he remains an important figure at Atleti.
Marcos Llorente and Geoffrey Kondogbia could continue alongside with Rodrigo de Paul out of favour and Koke injured.
In attack, João Félix and top-scorer Ángel Correa could get the nod once again, over Luis Suárez and fit again Antoine Griezmann.
Daniel Wass and Matheus Cunha are injured but Yannick Carrasco is available again.
La Liga table:
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