Betis 4 - 1 Valencia: Brilliant Betis destroy Valencia

Real Betis climbed to third in the LaLiga table after a commanding 4-1 victory over Valencia at the Estadio Benito Villamarín. Borja Iglesias netted a brace, tripling his goal tally in the league in the space of 16 first-half minutes to continue his side’s excellent start to the season.

The hosts stormed into an early lead in the opening 15 minutes after Omar Alderete’s foul on Iglesias was initially given as a free-kick, but VAR intervened to award a penalty. The striker stepped up to send Jasper Cillessen the wrong way, giving his side a perfect start. Both sides were creating plenty of chances in a game that was becoming increasingly open. Jesús Vázquez and Marcos André should’ve netted from close range for Valencia, while Nabil Fekir saw a beautiful curling effort tipped onto the post by Cillessen.

Manuel Pellegrini’s men found their clinical side and doubled their lead on the half hour mark. Some nice build-up play found its way to Iglesias, with the forward this time electing to shoot outside the box, relying on a fortunate deflection to find the back of the net. The visitors ensured it wouldn’t be a comfortable HT break, however, pulling one back before the interval. José Gayà’s corner was inexplicably dropped by Claudio Bravo, leaving Gabriel Paulista to tap-in from a couple of yards out.

 Pellegrini’s side resumed their control of the game after the restart and restored the two-goal lead on the hour mark. Germán Pezzella was left completely unmarked from a corner, and the defender seized his chance, rising superbly to head into the far corner. A fourth followed moments later as Mouctar Diakhaby’s wayward header allowed Juanmi a glorious chance he was never going to squander.

Betis saw the game out with ease, extending a superb home run that contains just two LaLiga losses since November 2020, with those defeats handed out by Barcelona and Real Madrid. Meanwhile, José Bordalás’ men were left licking their wounds after failing to win for the seventh consecutive game, as well as tasting a tenth defeat on the road since January.