Betis 3 - Real Sociedad 0

Betis: Prats; Tais, Juanito, Rivas, Luis Fernández; Ito (Cañas 61'), Benjamín (Varela 75'); Joaquín, Capi (Calado 71'), Denilson; Joao Tomas. 4-2-3-1.
Real Sociedad: Westerveld; López Rekarte (De Paula 50'), Luiz Alberto, Jauregui, Aranzábal; Xabi Alonso (Kvarme 61'), Aranburu (Nihat 61'); Tayfun, Khokhlov, De Pedro; Kovacevic. 4-2-3-1.

Team changes: Betis: Rivas, Joao Tomas for Belenguer, Dani / Real Sociedad: Luiz Alberto, Tayfun for Kvarme, Idiakez.

Goals:
1-0. 43. Joao Tomas. Turned on Joaquín through ball to shoot across keeper.
2-0. 47. Joao Tomas. Header from close range after Tais cross from right wing.
3-0. 60. Benjamín. After Joaquín tripped up by Jauregui as he cut inside.

Betis consolidated their sixth position with a 3-0 win over Real Sociedad, and are now almost certain to be returning to Europe next season. The only doubt is whether they can get above Barcelona and Celta, both of whom are a point above them, to occupy the fourth Champions League spot rather than taking a place in the UEFA cup. It was a hot Sunday evening in Spain, and nowhere more so than Sevilla, where the match kicked off with temperatures above 30ºC. With under-21 international Dani still injured, Joao Tomas was given a start by Juande Ramos, and he took his chance to impress with two goals either side of half time. Before he scored though Real were unlucky not to have gone in front when Kovacevic got the ball in the net after Prats failed to hold on to a long shot, only for referee Daudén Ibáñez to rule it out for offside. Television pictures showed that the Yugoslav striker was onside when the shot came in, although there was another Real player in a positional offside wide out on the right wing. Kovacevic broke through again a few minutes later but this time there was nobody there to help him, and Betis started to get into the game with a darting run from Denilson who was forced out wide in the end.

Then with two minutes to go to half time Juanito was allowed to bring the ball out of defence, and his precision through ball found Joao Tomas for him to hit a shot wide of Westerveld on the turn. A couple of minutes after the restart he got his second heading a cross from Tais down past the keeper, and Betis were on their way. Benjamín added the third from the penalty spot on the hour mark after Jauregui hacked down Joaquín in the area, and Westerveld had to tip a long shot from Cañas over the bar to prevent his side from going further behind. Real could still have saved their pride near the end when substitute Nihat got free, but Prats stood his ground to keep another clean sheet and maintain his position at the top of the goalkeeping chart. Real drop to fifteenth place in the league, two above the bottom three, and with Real Madrid visiting Anoeta next week they could be back in the drop zone once again. Another difficult season for the Basque side.