Man Utd - Real Betis: A chance to save face

* Man Utd - Real Betis: 3 am on Friday, 10/3 Hanoi time.

There were good words for Man Utd when they performed at their best in the Premier League after the 2022 World Cup. But those praise quickly disappeared after the disastrous defeat at Anfield. Teachers and students Erik ten Hag let their rivals concede seven times without being able to respond.

The criticism for Man Utd does not lie in the fact that they left Anfield empty-handed. The last time "Red Devils" won at Liverpool was on January 17, 2016, when former striker Wayne Rooney scored the only goal. Man Utd was criticized for a quick mental breakdown at the beginning of the second half, despite being in the squad with experienced players who played many big matches in their careers.

That face raises question marks for Man Utd when returning to the continental playground, even though they have just resonated with Barca 4-3 after two legs in the play-off round. How will Man Utd perform at home against another club from La Liga? Will this be a show of anger for the "Red Devils" to remove the face, or another bad result that can make the season of Ten Hag teachers and students more gloomy even though they have just won the League Cup.

In recent years, Man Utd often encounters Spanish clubs and achieves good results. Last year, they beat Villarreal in both Champions League group stages. But in the Europa League 2020-2021, they lost to this same opponent in the final. That same season, Man Utd eliminated Real Sociedad and Granada in the round of 16 and quarter-finals, respectively. In the group stage this season, Man Utd lost 0-1 to Sociedad at home but won 1-0 away. They are still behind the La Liga representative in Group E and have to play play-offs.

Before losing to Liverpool, Man Utd had scored at least two goals in 12 consecutive matches. If only at home, they do it in 14 games. The "Red Devils" are also in high form at Old Trafford with 20 consecutive unbeaten matches. Since March 2012, Man Utd have not lost the first leg at home in a European Cup knockout tie.

"We need to win. But Man Utd will face a strong opponent and need to be prepared for that. We understand that if we play at our best, the team has a chance to win. Man Utd hates defeat, especially a player. The loss was as strong as against Liverpool. It made us frustrated, even mad in the past few days. Now is the time to clear our minds and bounce back," Ten Hag said.

Betis marched to England after holding Real Madrid 0-0 in La Liga over the weekend. It was their fourth game in a row unbeaten, including three wins. That form puts Betis fifth in the domestic arena. In the Europa League, they played even more impressively when they topped Group C with five wins and one draw.

On the coaching chair Betis is Chilean coach Manuel Pellegrini, who is no stranger to Man Utd because he has led Man City and West Ham in the English Premier League. While working at these two clubs, Pellegrini beat Man Utd five times and became the first manager in history to win against four different Man Utd managers, including David Moyes, Louis van Gaal, Jose Mourinho and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer .

During the time at Villarreal from 2004 to 2009, Pellegrini also impressed when holding Man Utd four times with a score of 0-0. It was the golden period of Man Utd when the legendary coach Alex Ferguson was still in office. In total, Pellegrini lost only three of his 13 encounters with Man Utd, including once at Man City and two at West Ham.

"I played against Man Utd twice when I coached Villarreal in the Champions League. At that time, their coach was Alex Ferguson. When I worked at Man City and West Ham, I also played against them. If Real Sociedad won. At Old Trafford, we can too. You can see many Spanish teams beating English rivals in the Champions League. That's the motivation for us to believe in a positive result," Pellegrini said.

In December last year, Betis beat Man Utd 1-0 in a friendly match at Benito Villamarin Stadium. At that time, midfielder Nabil Fekir scored the only goal for the Spanish club. But in this confrontation, Betis will not have the service of the French player due to injury. The away team also does not have Juan Cruz while Sergio Canales is unlikely to be able to play. Four Betis players, Claudio Bravo, German Pezzella, Luiz Felipe and Aitor Ruibal, will be suspended for the second leg if they receive yellow cards.

As for Man Utd, their midfield suffered another loss when Marcel Sabitzer could not play, following Donny van de Beek and Christian Eriksen. Ten Hag hopes Casemiro, along with Victor Lindelof, Luke Shaw and Raphael Varane, will be fit to play.