LIVE STREAMING: Real Betis versus FC Barcelona [Click to watch]
The second semi-final of the Spanish Super Cup will see reigning Copa del Rey winners; Real Betis play 13-time winners; Barcelona at the King Fahd stadium in Riyadh. Despite Betis’ 2-1 La Liga win over Rayo Vallecano last weekend leaving them as a proud top four club, manager Manuel Pellegrini is taking this competition seriously, stating Betis “are going to Arabia to try to beat Barcelona.” As further motivation, he will be keen not add to his already dire 70% career losses against Barca teams!
Betis have traditionally struggled against Barcelona (74 losses from 123 meetings) but their H2H record in Copa del Rey and Super Cup competitions (W4, D1, L4) is a welcome boost. Having trailed just once at half time this season (HT: W6, D9), Betis may have another good start in them to take this game deeper.
Borja Iglesias has seen Betis win each time he scored in this league campaign (w6) and may need that lucky charm again to improve his personal record (W1, L5). His battle could be against Marc-Andre ter Stegen who has 12 clean sheets from his last 16 La Liga games for Barcelona but none in his last seven personal H2Hs.
The last nine H2Hs averaged five total goals per game.
