Manchester United might as well just relocate to Spain and change their name to El Manchester United. They have played Spanish opponents every year now since 2017 and with mixed results, including their recent victory over Barcelona (2:2 + 2:1), a Europa League semi-final triumph over Celta Vigo in 2017 and Europa League final loss to Villarreal.

This season, they’ll have played three of Spain’s top six teams after being drawn against Real Betis in the Europa League last 16. They played Real Sociedad and, of course, Barcelona earlier in the year - lost 0:1 at home and won 1:0 away.

Manchester United are coming off an impressive two-legged victory against Barcelona and a Carabao Cup final win against Newcastle United. Erik ten Hag was starting to implement his vision at the club and things were looking up after years in the doldrums. Then they went and got annihilated by Liverpool at Anfield in one of the worst defeats the club has ever experienced. It also ended their slim hopes of catching Arsenal at the top of the Premier League. Erik ten Hag called the display ‘unprofessional’ and the Dutch manager has a job on his hands to eradicate the memory of that performance before traveling to Spain.

Currently Manchester United doesnt have any player in good form to highlight after the shambles at Anfield on Sunday. There was not one single player who came away from the game having improved their reputation. Bruno Fernandes was labeled a ‘disgrace’ by Gary Neville for his antics, David de Gea conceded seven goals from eight shots on target, Casemiro was sloppy, Marcus Rashford lacked precision and Antony was frustrating to watch as he dallied on the ball.

Whether that was a blip in what has been an impressive season or a harbinger for bigger problems down the road remains to be seen. Real Betis are one of the in-form teams in Spain though and won’t be a pushover across the two legs.

Real Betis are coming off a heroic comeback win against Elche and a draw with Real Madrid. They found themselves two goals down against Elche and fought back to win 3-2 in the dying minutes to keep their top four hopes alive. They might have ended Real Madrid’s LaLiga title challenge with their performance at the Benito Villamarin last Sunday.

That’s not to say they aren’t without their problems. Nabil Fekir has been ruled out for the rest of the season and beyond with an ACL tear and Sergio Canales is also struggling for fitness – he is back training and hopes to be fit, which would be a massive boost for Betis. Due to injuries, Pellegrini has been experimenting with his line-ups recently too.

But Pellegrini found a nice replacement for Fekir in the academy product - Rodri, who had been filling in for Fekir at times when the French midfielder needed rest this season and was eating into his minutes. But following that ACL tear mentioned earlier, Rodri’s succession plan has been accelerated and the no. 10 role is now his full time. He will have the job of navigating his way through Casemiro at the base of United’s midfield but does tend to drift to the left and right to pick up the ball and Ten Hag will have to always account for his whereabouts.

Seeing how Liverpool destroyed Manchester United and the fact that Betis played very well against Madrid (who beat Liverpool 2:5), this game should be tight. Of course hosts are favorites, but can’t see them winning by more than 1 goal here. Must remember also how United struggled in the group stage games against Real Sociedad, a very similar team to Betis.

本译文使用有道机器翻译，仅供参考：

曼联还不如搬到西班牙去，把他们的名字改成埃尔曼联队。自2017年以来，他们每年都与西班牙对手交手，结果好坏参半，包括最近战胜巴塞罗那(2:2 + 2:1)，2017年欧联杯半决赛战胜维戈塞尔塔，以及欧联杯决赛输给比利亚雷亚尔。

本赛季，他们将与西班牙前六名中的三支球队交手，在欧联杯16强中被皇家贝蒂斯抽签。他们在今年早些时候打过皇家社会，当然还有巴塞罗那——在主场0:1失利，在客场1:0获胜。

曼联在对阵巴萨的两回合比赛中取得了令人印象深刻的胜利，并在卡拉宝杯决赛中战胜了纽卡斯尔联。埃里克·黑格开始在俱乐部实现他的愿景，在多年的低迷之后，事情开始好转。然后他们在安菲尔德被利物浦击败，这是俱乐部经历过的最糟糕的失败之一。这也终结了他们在英超联赛中追赶阿森纳的一线希望。埃里克·滕·黑格称这种表现“不专业”，这位荷兰主教练在前往西班牙之前有一项工作要做，就是消除人们对那次表演的记忆。

周日在安菲尔德惨败后，曼联目前没有任何球员状态良好。没有一个球员在比赛结束后提高了自己的声誉。布鲁诺·费尔南德斯因为他的滑稽动作被加里·内维尔打上了“耻辱”的标签，大卫·德赫亚在8次射正中丢了7个球，卡塞米罗粗心大意，马库斯·拉什福德缺乏精准，安东尼在球上磨蹭的样子令人沮丧。

这究竟是这个令人印象深刻的赛季中的一个小插曲，还是未来道路上更大问题的前兆，还有待观察。皇家贝蒂斯是西班牙状态最好的球队之一，在两回合比赛中不会被轻易击败。

皇家贝蒂斯在对阵埃尔切的比赛中取得了英勇的逆转，并与皇家马德里战平。他们发现自己在与埃尔切的比赛中落后了两球，并在最后时刻以3比2取胜，保住了前四的希望。上周日，他们在贝尼托维拉马林球场的表现本可以终结皇马对西甲冠军的挑战。

这并不是说他们没有问题。纳比尔·费基尔因前交叉韧带撕裂被排除在本赛季剩下的比赛以及之后的比赛中，塞尔吉奥·卡纳莱斯也在努力恢复健康——他已经恢复训练并希望恢复健康，这对贝蒂斯来说将是一个巨大的推动。由于伤病，佩莱格里尼最近也在尝试他的阵容。

但是佩莱格里尼在青训营找到了一个很好的替代者——罗德里，当法国中场本赛季需要休息并占用了他的上场时间时，罗德里一直在顶替费基尔。但在前文提到的前十字韧带撕裂之后，罗德里的继任计划已经加快，他将成为球队的第一名。10号角色现在是他的全职工作。他的任务是在曼联中场的底部绕过卡塞米罗，但他确实倾向于左右移动拿球，而“十妖”将不得不一直考虑他的位置。

看到利物浦是如何摧毁曼联的，以及贝蒂斯在对阵马德里的比赛中表现出色(后者2:5击败利物浦)，这场比赛应该会很激烈。当然，东道主是最受欢迎的，但在这里，他们不可能赢超过1球。一定还记得曼联在小组赛对阵皇家社会时是如何挣扎的，这是一支与贝蒂斯非常相似的球队。