Real Betis vs Gent: Conference League Knockout Round Playoff Preview

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Real Betis will welcome Gent to the Estadio Benito Villamarin for Thursday's second leg of their Conference League knockout round playoff clash. The Spanish hosts already have one foot in the last 16 after cruising to a 3-0 victory in last week's first leg in Belgium. Betis are on the brink of setting up a last-16 tie against Chelsea or Vitoria de Guimaraes after producing a dominant display in the first leg of their knockout round playoff tie with Gent.

After the two sides played out a goalless first half, Manchester United loanee Antony opened the scoring within two minutes of the restart, before Cedric Bakambu and Sergi Altimira found the net to wrap up a 3-0 win. Los Verdiblancos produced a repeat of that scoreline in Sunday's La Liga clash against 10-man Real Sociedad, with Antony netting his third Betis goal before substitute Marc Roca scored twice in five minutes to secure a comfortable victory, moving Manuel Pellegrini's side up to eighth place in the league table. The Conference League campaign has been a highlight for Betis, with the team showing significant improvement since the winter break.

Gent are competing in the Conference League knockout phase for the third consecutive season after they finished in 17th place in the league phase - two points behind Betis in 15th position. The Belgian side reached the quarter-finals in 2022-23, before they were eliminated in last season's playoff round by Maccabi Tel Aviv. They are now on the verge of another playoff round exit after they suffered their first home defeat of their 2024-25 Conference League campaign. Gent managed to avoid another defeat in Sunday's league clash against Beerschot, coming from 2-1 down to record a 3-2 home victory thanks to a brace of Dante Vanzeir penalties.

The visitors may be able to draw inspiration that they have won by three goals on two occasions in this season's Conference League, recording a 3-0 away victory over Vikingur in qualifying before they offered a repeat of that scoreline in their home meeting with TSC in the league phase. Betis will be without Roca and Giovani Lo Celso after the pair picked up foot and hamstring injuries in the win over Real Sociedad. Los Verdiblancos are also expected to be without the services of Hector Bellerin, William Carvalho, Angel Ortiz, and Pablo Fornals. Winter addition Cucho Hernandez is unavailable for selection after being left out of Betis' squad for the Conference League knockout rounds. The team's depth will be tested, but they are confident in their ability to secure a spot in the last 16. A win would be a significant step forward in the competition.

Here are the possible starting lineups for the two teams:

• Real Betis possible starting lineup: Vieites; Sabaly, Bartra, Natan, Perraud; Altimira, Cardoso; Antony, Avila, Ezzalzouli; Bakambu
• Gent possible starting lineup: Roef; Mitrovic, Watanabe, Torunarigha; Samoise, Ito, Lopes, Brown; Kums; Vanzeir, Gudjohnsen

Gent will need to take risks if they are to work their way back into this tie, but we think that attacking approach could play into Betis' hands, which is why we believe that the hosts could claim another comfortable win to ease through into the last 16.