The technical secretary of Real Betis, Álvaro Ladrón de Guevara, at the time, Manu Fajardo’s right-hand man in the sports management of the Heliopolitan club, has been in charge of offering the reactions of the green and white team to the draw for the round of 16 of the Copa del King who has revealed that FC Barcelona will be the rival of the team led by Manuel Pellegrini. The duel, with a time and date yet to be confirmed, will be played at the Lluís Companys Olympic Stadium next week, between Tuesday, January 14 and Thursday, January 16.
Ladrón de Guevara began by analyzing the cupbearer pairing, which “is a very tough rival. Obviously, you have your preferences. There were much less difficult teams than Barcelona, especially in their field. We would have liked to play at Villamarín with our people, but that’s what we had to do. The important thing is that we are there, that we have been in this draw and that we are going to play in the round of 16. Because we have seen how other First Division teams have fallen to lower category teams, which has not been easy. Now, to face Barcelona with all the desire in the world.
On December 7, Hansi Flick’s team visited Benito Villamarín in the duel corresponding to matchday 16 of LaLiga 24-25. That match ended tied at two, thanks to a goal from Assane in stoppage time in the second half, although the Green and Whites had chances to have obtained an even better result. The Betis technical secretary referred to this match and said that “without a doubt we were at a high level, we played a very good match. We deserved to win, even if we tied with a goal at the last minute. Barcelona, like all teams, has its ups and downs, right now it is not at its highest peak. They will come from a demanding schedule, also with the Super Cup dispute. “We have to face the game with humility, as always, and with a great desire to believe that we can be in the next round.”
We are waiting for Barcelona to receive or not a very precautionary measure from the Higher Sports Council (CSD) to be able to register Dani Olmo and Pau Víctor in the different competitions that will be played during the second round of the championship, so it is not known. even if these footballers may be at Flick’s disposal to play against Betis (now first the Spanish Super Cup in Arabia). Álvaro Ladrón also expressed himself on this matter: «In the end, Barcelona, regardless of the situation they may have with these two players and whether they may or may not be in this match, has a great team. It has two starting teams. We expect a very difficult match, they are a cup-winning team that likes to go far in the cups and try to win them. We are not going to have an easy tie. But Barcelona will think the same. Surely they would want to go to Pontevedra or Ourense, with all due respect to these teams, but they face Betis, in their field, yes, but they know that we are not an easy team. In the Copa del Rey with Manuel we have only lost one game in the ninety minutes, so we are a tough rival. “We are going to want to be that way in that game too.”
Finally, regarding the visit to Barcelona, where many Beticos will surely support the team in this important tie, Ladrón de Guevara commented that “without a doubt we are going to go for the game. Furthermore, we are lucky that we will go to a province where there are many Beticos, who will surely support us from the moment we arrive at the airport, at the hotel… Especially in Barcelona, where there are many Betics who will do their bit from the stands. so that we are in the next round,” he concluded.
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