Author – Amrit Santlani
Real Betis hosted Rayo Vallecano at the Benito Villamarín in search of a Europa League place and Manuel Pellegrini’s side came away with a convincing 3-1 victory over their opponents.
Claudio Bravo was called into action early on, making a good save, and Stole Dimitrievski denied William Carvalho’s goal at the other end. Youssouf Sably opened the scoring in the fifth minute with a fine shot from outside the box following a corner, sparking an epic celebration.
Vallecano failed to defend another free-kick, and Ayoze Perez (44 mins) finished from close range after a corner to double Betis’ lead – 2:0. Santi Comesana (52 mins) scored a brilliant header to spark hopes of a comeback, but Vallecano only managed to hit the post shortly after Radamel Falcao’s opener.
Legendary veteran striker Joaquin came on at the end of the game and made an immediate impact, giving Borja Iglesias (90+6 min) the winning goal to make it 3-1 and seal the three points for Betis.
Brazilian striker Willian José had an uneven performance and was substituted in the 65th minute, while Luiz Henrique was also on the pitch for 76 minutes.
In Italy, Sampdoria, who are already relegated, missed out on their fourth win of the season thanks to a late equalizer from Roberto Piccolo that gave Empoli a much-needed point.
Alessandro Zanoli missed a glorious chance to open the scoring; Manolo Gabbiadini sent in a cross, which his colleague tipped over the bar. Răzvan Marin forced a good save from Nicola Ravaglia with his long-range shot, before Ravaglia stopped Tommaso Baldanzi’s deflected effort.
On the other side, Zanoli finally opened the scoring in the 30th minute and scored Sampdoria’s 21st goal of the campaign. Guglielmo Vicario made a smart save from Gabbiadini’s free-kick after the restart to prevent Empoli from falling further behind on the scoreboard.
Vicario made another crucial save shortly afterwards on another deflected attempt from Gabbiadini’s free-kick, before Empoli scored the equalizer in the last minute. Jean-Daniel Akpa Akpro put in a cross that was controlled by Tyronne Ebuehi inside the area and the final touch was put in by Piccoli (90+3 min) to steal a point for his team.