Antony's Real Betis fades, big teams struggle in Europa League

(Dan Tri) - Despite having many dangerous opportunities, Real Betis players still had to leave with 1 point after drawing 0-0 with Genk in the 3rd match of the UEFA Europa League group stage on the morning of October 24.

Antony and his Real Betis teammates traveled to Cegeka Arena (Belgium) hoping to win 3 points to have a chance to enter the top 8 of the Europa League. With the determination to win, the Spanish team dominated the game throughout the first 45 minutes.

Despite dominating the game, Real Betis still had to accept a 0-0 draw against Genk (Photo: Getty).

However, Real Betis players still appeared completely deadlocked and lacked sharpness in the decisive situation. Notably, the expected star Antony had to leave the field at the end of the first half, after an ineffective and lackluster performance.

The stalemate continued throughout the second half. Genk were very close to scoring the decisive goal, but Oh Hyeon Gyu's decisive shot in the 80th minute hit the Real Betis goalpost and bounced back regretfully. The two teams eventually drew 0-0.

With this result, Real Betis ended the 3rd round of Europa League with 1 win and 2 draws, ranking 16th on the rankings.

The race for the top spot is tight between Midtjylland, Braga and Lyon. All three teams are on nine points, but Midtjylland's 3-0 win over Maccabi Tel Aviv has seen them move up to first place.

Midtjylland players celebrate their third consecutive win in the Europa League (Photo: Getty).

Meanwhile, Braga and Lyon are the two teams that have not conceded a goal after 3 matches. They easily won 2-0 against Red Star Belgrade and Basel respectively to stand in 2nd and 3rd place in the rankings.

Among the 8 teams that have directly qualified for the round of 16, Dynamo Zagreb (Croatia) had their winning streak broken when they were held to a draw by Malmo (Sweden) away from home. Currently, the remaining positions in the top 8 belong to Viktoria Plzen (Czech Republic), Freiburg (Germany), Ferencvaros (Hungary) and SK Brann (Norway).

With shock defeats to Go Ahead Eagles and PAOK, both Aston Villa and Lille saw their winning streaks snapped and they dropped out of the top eight. Although they are currently in 10th and 11th place, the shock defeats were a wake-up call for both teams. Likewise, Porto, despite winning their opening two games, were beaten by Nottingham Forest and dropped to 15th place.

On the contrary, many famous teams such as Nottingham Forest and Bologna had a difficult start and had to wait until this round to get their first win. Notably, two teams that won the Champions League, Celtic and Feyenoord, also had to wait until the third round to taste victory after a series of difficult matches.

Celtic, with two losses, are in 21st place. However, AS Roma are even worse, finishing second to last in the group (23rd) after a shocking 1-2 defeat to Plzen at home.

AS Roma disappointed with their second consecutive defeat in the Europa League (Photo: Getty).

Despite the win, Feyenoord are still not out of the danger zone. Stuttgart, despite being stable in the Bundesliga, have been a constant failure in the European arena.

The four teams without points are Nice, Salzburg, Rangers and Utrecht. Salzburg are having a difficult time both in Europe and domestically. The worst are Rangers, who scored just one goal and lost to SK Brann, showing a huge decline since the end of the Russell Martin era.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/the-thao/real-betis-cua-antony-mo-nhat-cac-doi-bong-lon-chat-vat-o-europa-league-20251024065518240.htm