Betis 1 - Alavés 0

Betis: Prats; Varela, Belenguer, Juanito, Mingo; Ito, Calado (Cañas 65'); Joaquín, Capi, César (Benjamín 73'); Casas (Joao Tomas 54'). 4-2-3-1.
Alavés: Kike (Herrera 46'); Geli, Coloccini, Téllez, Llorens; Astudillo, Pablo; Witschge (Iván Alonso 78'), Jordi Cruyff, Ibon Begoña (Mara 46'); Rubén Navarro. 4-2-3-1.

Team changes: Betis: Belenguer, Calado, Joaquín for Rivas, Cañas, Gudjonsson / Alavés: Coloccini, Witschge, Jordi Cruyff, Rubén Navarro for Karmona, Mara, Vucko, Iván Alonso.

Goals:
1-0. 80. Joao Tomas. After Joaquín was tripped from behind by Coloccini.

Betis moved back to the top of the first division with a narrow 1-0 victory over Alavés. Both teams started the day with the possibility of leading the table after Barcelona lost to Deportivo the night before, and the two managers made several changes to their sides. Betis were missing Denilson and others on international duty but recovered Belenguer after a one match ban and Joaquín who had recovered from flu, and Alavés included Jordi Cruyff in their starting line up after a long lay off through injury.

Neither side made any inroad into the opposing defence, with the only real chance falling to the visitors, Pablo shooting just over the bar with only the keeper to beat. The only goal of the game came ten minutes from the end when Spanish under-21 international Joaquín was tripped by Coloccini in the penalty area after dribbling past three players. Substitute Joao Tomas placed the penalty kick past Herrera, who had replaced the injured Kike at half time. Betis move on to 16 points, two points clear of Barcelona and Deportivo, their best position at this stage of the season since 1963.