Betis winger Antony will miss Girona Vs Betis on Tuesday evening after picking up his fifth yellow card of the season, leaving Real Betis to travel to the Estadi Montilivi without one of their regular wide options.
The suspension compounds a difficult run for Betis. They have failed to win any of their last seven matches, taking five points from a possible 21, and are now focused on consolidating fifth place in La Liga to secure a Europa League berth with seven games remaining. Their European campaign already ended badly: Betis were eliminated from the Europa League quarter-finals by Braga after conceding four unanswered goals, a collapse that followed a 3-1 advantage on aggregate earlier in the tie.
Girona arrive with contrasting momentum. They drew 1-1 with Real Madrid in their last La Liga match and have collected eight points while losing just once in their last five gameweeks. At Montilivi they have been in good nick too, winning three of their most recent four home matches. Those results sit against a longer record: Girona have managed only one win in 15 meetings with Real Betis across all competitions since October 2010.
Availability will shape the match. Girona are without a handful of options: Juan Carlos and Portu are sidelined with knee injuries; Abel Ruiz is ruled out with a muscle problem; Donny van de Beek is absent because of an Achilles tendon issue; and Vladyslav Vanat is out with a hamstring injury. Ricard Artero is a doubt with an ankle complaint. The absences will test Girona’s depth even as their recent home form gives them an edge.
Matchday details already show the sort of tactical tinkering both sides may need. A match text notes the second half began with Girona 1, Real Betis 1; it records Cédric Bakambu being shown a yellow card for a bad foul after coming on as a substitute — Bakambu replaced Cucho Hernández — and that Rodrigo Riquelme replaced Giovani Lo Celso. Those interventions underline Betis’s tendency this season to shuffle personnel midgame as they try to find a winning combination.
The immediate stakes are unmistakable. Betis are bent on arresting a seven-game winless streak and protecting a league position that would return them to European competition; Girona, despite the injuries, are looking to extend a run that has yielded eight points from five gameweeks and to make Montilivi a place opponents fear again. The match will be decided by which side copes better without key personnel: Betis without Antony’s presence on the wing, Girona without several of their attacking options.
With little margin for error and European qualification hanging on league form, this is a fixture that will tell you more about each club than a routine three points. How Real Betis adjust their attack in Antony’s absence — and whether Girona’s squad can absorb the string of injuries — is the clearest, most consequential question going into the game.
