UD Leiria and Farense, the first touchstones for Betis

Betis ' 25-26 season gets underway today with its first friendly. Manuel Pellegrini's team will play a triangular match against Farense (8:00 PM) and UD Leiria (9:00 PM) , each with 45-minute matches at the Estadio de São Luís that will kick-start the summer. Two matches in a row, as the Betis will play each opponent in succession to conclude the first part of the preseason, which has been held in Portugal.

Everything went smoothly in Almancil, the town chosen for the first summer training camp. With a large number of youth players present, as is usual at this point in summer, Pellegrini has been working with his players intensively, in good temperatures, and also in a relaxed manner. The Chilean has all the players currently in Portugal available , after Diego Llorente and Marc Roca stayed in Seville and Abde went to Alicante to see a trusted physiotherapist.

Even the internationals , with Isco and Lo Celso at the head, and Rodrigo Riquelme, who began preseason last Monday, would also be available to Pellegrini, although they have accumulated fewer training sessions than the rest of their teammates , something always taken into account by the Chilean coach to distribute the minutes and workloads.

There will, however, be a large number of youth players present for the opening match . Up to thirteen youngsters, plus Ángel Ortiz, who will now be part of the first squad following his contract renewal, have been called up for the first part of preseason. Goalkeeper Manu González; defenders Rudy Kohon, Jorge Oreiro, Carlos de Roa, and Moha; midfielders Mateo Flores, Mawuli Mensah, Ismael Barea, Dani Pérez, and Carlos Reina; and forwards José Antonio Morante, Pablo García, and Rodrigo Marina will all get playing time in this first friendly, in which Pellegrini will field two different lineups for each match.

To start, Betis will face Farense, a team from the second tier of Portuguese football who already played a friendly this summer against Santa Clara (1-1); in the second 45-minute match, the Verdiblancos will face UD Leiria , also from the second tier of Portuguese football and who have played two matches this week with victories against Ceuta (4-1) and a surprising thrashing of Cádiz (1-5) . Two modest rivals who will be the first test of this new Betis under Pellegrini, who will then return to Seville, where they will train next week before facing Córdoba on Friday at the Nuevo Arcángel.