As the Real Betis squad prepares for its upcoming matches against Rayo Vallecano and Getafe, to take place on Jan. 23 and Jan. 26, the team is still celebrating a shutout victory against rival Real Sociedad. Of Betis’s last five games, three have ended with shutout victories, one with a 1-1 tie, and one with a 1-2 loss. Last Sunday’s game saw a final score of Real Betis 3, and Real Sociedad 0.
Game Summary
After a Betis goal at the 27-minute mark of the game, Real Sociedad was unable to put up any real fight and stage a comeback. Indeed, Betis solidly outplayed their opponent with follow-up goals at the 44-minute and 90+6-minute points to close out a contest in which they dominated from the moment they took the field.
The Sociedad players multiple times found themselves engulfed in a sea of Betis green-and-white jerseys, all of which are emblazoned with the front of shirt sponsor name, easyMarkets. The match was not a matter of who possessed the ball for the majority of the time, as each team held onto it for about equal portions of the total. In the end, the stats would show that Betis had possession for 51 percent of the time compared to Sociedad’s 49 percent.
The scoring picture tells the fuller story. Borja Iglesias put one in the net at the 27-minute mark to get things started for the eventual winners. He did so with an assist by Canales, who is having a solid season so far. Next up, at the 44-minute mark, the elder of the team, Joaquín made the score 2-0 when he scored with an assist by Emerson. There was nothing but good news for Betis from that point until the conclusion of the match. To seal the deal, Canales scored at the 90+5 minute mark with an assist by A. Guardado to make the scoreboard read 3-0.
Statistics That Made a Difference
Sociedad was fully out-played in every major statistical category as well, on the losing end of corners and shots-on-target, at 2 to 6. Fouls and offsides were about evenly matched with Betis having 9 and 5 to Sociedad’s 10 and 4.
There were no red cards in the game but Betis managed to accumulate 3 yellows to Sociedad’s 1. Betis also notched 5 offsides to their opponents’ 4. However, the eventual winners logged zero saves to their competition’s 3. It’s interesting to note that in four of the previous six Betis home contests against Sociedad, the local team has not allowed even one goal. Contrast that with the fact that Sociedad has come out victorious against Betis in four of their last five meetings and it’s easy to understand why these two clubs are fierce rivals who savor any victory against the other.