In a curious twist of football fate, the Europa League occasions a Seville derby. Sevilla should start as favourites to win the pre-quarterfinal game against Real Betis for two reasons. First, Betis is at the rock bottom of the La Liga – a sure-fire relegation candidate. Second, Betis's last two visits to the Estadio Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan stadium have resulted in big wins for Sevilla.

The team will be fairly confident of another big win, which would put more pressure on the struggling Betis ahead of the return leg in a fortnight’s time. But the passion and regional pride associated with the derby make this much more than a mere Europa pre-quarter match.

Sevilla are seventh in the La Liga, having produced a mixture of winning and losing streaks all through the season. Still, their Europa campaign has been remarkably consistent. They have not lost a match yet in the league. With two games against Betis coming up, they are well-placed to extend the unbeaten run into the quarterfinals of the tournament. They have a 5-2 H2H advantage over Betis in the last 10 games.

Real Betis have had a poor domestic season: four wins in 27 matches. But their Europa performance was better, having won three, drawn three and lost only one match. They face a monumental task against Sevilla who knows their strengths and weaknesses pretty well.

The Betis side is further weakened by the injury of striker Jorge Molina. Rubén Castro, their other striker, could face tough marking. Seville would trust Carlos Bacca, Kevin Gameiro and Ivan Rakitic to exploit the Betis defence, which has conceded no fewer than 56 goals in 27 La Liga games.

Sevilla-Real Betis Prediction

Sevilla 1.55 @ Bet365.com