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The Copa del Rey comes to El Molinón-Quini with a match full of reunions. In the stands, with the public, since it will be the first time there will be fans (300 are the lucky ones) in the Gijon stadium for almost a year; and on the grass, because the duel will measure two teams united by different circumstances in the last decades (follow the meeting live on As.com).
It will also be a reunion match for players from both teams. Both Sporting and Betis recover players today who were in isolation at the beginning of the year either because they were infected with coronavirus. And they also recover injured.
Thus, David Gallego can already count on Pablo Pérez, Manu García, Pedro Díaz, Nacho Méndez, Gragera, Gaspar, Guille and Pelayo at Sporting. Goalkeeper Diego Mariño is the only one missing to rejoin. The coach said that everyone, with the exception of the Galician goal, has trained normally and is available.
Betis, meanwhile, comes after a good run of results and better imagen that culminated in the victory against Huesca, led by a great Canales, who after overcoming his injury has returned to greatly relieve his team. Precisely the Cantabrian’s contest from the beginning is Pellegrini’s great doubt for this afternoon, because he is still not at his peak physically and next week there are two important league commitments.
In any case, the Chilean coach has recovered this week several of those footballers who have managed to overcome the coronavirus (Joaquín, Guardado and Montoya) or an injury (Carvalho and Tello). Saved and Tello are the ones who have entered the call for Gijón and have options to play at the beginning.
The favorite is Betis, but Sporting wants to show why it has been the revelation team of the first round of the league. It is not in David Gallego’s plans to waste opportunity which gives the field factor for sneak into the round of 16 of the Copa del Rey.
The keys to the game
Ambition: David Gallego wants to continue ahead in the Cup and is committed to presenting an uncomfortable match to Betis, with his best weapons.
Betic improvement: The return of Canales and the inclusion of some worthy ones has given Betis a more competitive air. It will be necessary to see what happens with the foreseeable changes that Pellegrini makes today.
Minimareona: El Molinón will once again receive sportinguista fans. La Mareona will be represented by 300 lucky people who will follow the game from the stands.
The following
Djurdjevic: He is the top scorer for Sporting and the Second Division, along with Raúl de Tomás. The options of the Gallego team go through their level of success.
Joel: The Madrid goalkeeper, who does not play in the league if he is well Bravo, should return to three suits. Another test for him.
Ups and downs
Pedro Díaz, Gragera, Manu García, Nacho Méndez, Gaspar, Guille Rosas and Pelayo return to Sporting. The only absence is Mariño.
Pellegrini once again counts on Guardado and Tello. The injured Bartra, Camarasa and Asturian goalkeeper Dani Martín, who operated this week precisely in Gijón, are still out.