Madrid (DPA/Stats Perform)
In the past three seasons, expectations were largely about the four teams, who would take the top four places in the Spanish Football League.
Real Madrid, Barcelona and Atletico Madrid exchanged dominance on the top three places, while Seville imposed its dominance in the three seasons on fourth place, the last qualifying places for the European Champions League from the Spanish League.
Although the scenario is still likely to be repeated this season, Julen Lopetegui’s Sevilla faced a faltering start to the new season, as he collected only one point in his first four games of the season, to occupy the 17th place in the league table.
Real Madrid and Barcelona have fulfilled their expectations of heading towards the top since the early stages of the season, but the features in the top positions looked different after the strong start of both Real Betis and Villarreal.
Real Madrid leads the Spanish League with 12 points, followed by Barcelona with ten points, equal with Villarreal, who is in third place, while Real Betis is fourth with nine points and a goal difference against Osasuna.
Attention is drawn to the scheduled confrontation between Real Betis and Villarreal tomorrow, Sunday, in the fifth stage of the league, in which both teams seek to establish their feet among the top teams.
Before tomorrow’s match, Stats Performance highlighted the extent to which Real Betis and Villarreal can be in the top four in the league at the end of the current season.
Real Betis has made continuous progress in recent seasons, ending the 2019/2020 season in 15th place.
Then, Manuel Pellegrini took over the team and led it to sixth place the following season, then fifth place last season, as well as winning the King’s Cup.
Pellegrini’s mark was evident in the team, as he took him from the struggle to avoid relegation, to the competition for European participation and crowning titles.
This season, Real Betis has made a promising start under the same coach.
Betis scored nine points by defeating Elche, Real Mallorca and Osasuna, and then lost in the fourth match, losing to Real Madrid, the defending champion and European champion, 1/2.
Real Betis also made a successful start to its European League campaign, beating Helsinki, Finland, at home, 2-0, yesterday, Thursday.
Since the 2017/2018 season, Real Betis has not preceded Seville in the league table at the end of any season, but with its strong start this season, Real Betis fans may be able to aspire to something better now.
Villarreal also had a better start to the current season, with three wins and one draw.
Villarreal, coached by coach Unai Emery, has not conceded any goals in the league so far and has won against Valladolid 3-0, Atlético Madrid 2-0 and Elche 4-0, while it drew 0-0 with Getafe.
Villarreal became the fourth team to keep a clean sheet in the first four games of a La Liga season during the twenty-first century, after Celta Vigo in the 2001/2002 season, Barcelona in 2014/2025 and Real Madrid in the 2015/2016 season.
Like Real Betis, Villarreal also made a successful start in his European career, as he defeated Croatia’s Haiduk Split 6/2 in the aggregate of the two legs, in the role of qualifying for the group stage of the European Conference League, and then opened his campaign in the group stage by defeating Poland’s Lech Poznan. 4 / 3 yesterday, Thursday.
Villarreal’s record in past seasons is similar to that of Real Betis, as Villarreal finished the 2018/19 season in 14th place in the league, then ranked fifth in the 2019/2020 season, then seventh place in 2020/2021 and seventh place also in the 2021/22 season.
Villarreal had the third best goal difference in the league last season behind Real Madrid and Barcelona, scoring more goals by 26 goals.
Under Emery’s leadership, Villarreal added a special number to his European participation record, as he beat Bayern Munich to qualify for the semi-finals of the Champions League, and he posed a threat to Liverpool in the absence of the semi-final, but Liverpool managed to settle the confrontation with a total score of 5/2 .
These are indicators of a team that has the potential for strong competition, and may only need to continue the scoring brilliance and avoid moments of collapse in the decisive moments of the matches.
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