Will Zenit be able to beat Betis in the Europa League 21/22?

According to the results of the draw for the 1/16 playoffs of the Europa League, Zenit will play against Betis. For some fans of the Russian team, the Spanish club may seem like a weak opponent, but this is an erroneous judgment. Maybe the name of the club is not as famous as Barcelona or Real Madrid, but this season Real Betis is showing an excellent game. Many top cappers predict the victory of Betis over Zenit.

By the end of the year, Betis is third in the La Liga table. In December, the team managed to beat Barcelona and defeat Real Sociedad with a score of 4:0. Now the club has four consecutive victories in the Spanish championship.

Betis has well-known football players, such as Fekir, Bellerín, Carvalho, Bartra. But the main asset of the team is the coach — Manuel Pellegrini. He is a well-known specialist who has worked in many clubs in the course of his career. Especially memorable are the periods in Villarreal, Real Madrid and Manchester City. At Manchester City, he even won the Premier League title in 2014.

What are the chances of Zenit beating Betis and getting into the 1/8 stage of the Europa League? Betis is the favourite because it has a high-quality squad, an experienced international coach and shows both good results and a style of play. But in football, the one who is stronger, in theory, does not always win. Zenit has a chance to win with good preparation and the right psychological attitude. The mentality is very important in such matches, especially for the St. Petersburg team, which has not shown high results in Europe for many years. If Sergey Semak and the team manage to beat such a strong opponent as Betis, then perhaps the team will even be able to win the gold medals of the Europa League.

Bookmakers prefer Betis by about 60-65%. The coefficient for the victory of the Spanish club following the results of two matches is 1.68.