Ferencváros vs Real Betis

Groupama Arena is the venue as Ferencváros get their UEFA Europa League Group G home campaign underway against Real Betis.

Reigning Hungarian champions Ferencváros got their Europa League Group G journey off to a somewhat expectedly slow start, succumbing to a 2-1 away loss to Bayer Leverkusen on Matchday 1. Interestingly, after a run of four consecutive European wins over Spanish opposition, the Hungarian giants have gone winless in their subsequent seven such contests (D4, L3), including a brace of defeats to Barcelona in last season’s Champions League group stage. However, Ferencváros will be keen to put unpleasant memories from their only previous Europa League group stage appearance to bed, finishing their 2019/20 journey without a single home win (D2, L1). Peter Stoger’s men have every reason to be optimistic, at least based on their impressive home form in 2021/22 (W6, L2).

Meanwhile, Betis pulled off a stunning comeback to turn a 2-0 deficit into a comprehensive 4-2 home victory over Celtic in their Group G curtain-raiser. Though this will be their first European encounter against Hungarian opposition in the 21st century, the Spaniards will turn to their 100% win ratio in such fixtures for confidence (2/2). Additionally, ‘Los Verdiblancos’ have gone unbeaten in their last six away matches in the Europa League proper (W3, D3) since losing to Lyon in November 2013, keeping four clean sheets in the process. That said, Manuel Pellegrini’s men have failed to register a single shutout across their three La Liga trips this season, with two of their three goals conceded in that run coming before half-time.