Europa League
2025-09-24 - Real Betis vs Nottingham Forest
A Sports Betting Pick by Auls
Football: UEFA Europa League
Wednesday 24th September 2025 - Kick Off 8pm
This game is live on TV
Real Betis
Rivals Sevilla have been able to take their domestic successes and bring home some serious European silverware, but Real Betis came up short in the Conference League Final in May. They actually scored early and led until the 65th minute, but the power of Premier League Chelsea was too much for Betis and the 4-1 defeat ended the latest bid to earn a UEFA trophy.
They finished 6th in the Spanish top flight, which meant missing out on the Champions League and instead earning direct entry into the Europa League Group Stage. Another positive start has been made domestically with Real Betis up in 6th place again, while the side did win 5 of the 8 home Conference League games played last season with a sole defeat suffered.
Real Betis had not won any of 3 games before scoring a couple of second half goals to beat Real Sociedad 3-1 at home this past weekend. The side have opened the season with 2 wins in 3 games played at home, although the exception was a 1-2 defeat to Athletic Bilbao.
Early injuries will mean Real Betis are without some key figures for this fixture, including Isco.
Nottingham Forest
A late season collapse proved fatal to Nottingham Forest's hopes of playing in the Champions League this season, but a return to European Football for the first time in thirty campaigns has to be considered a big achievement. This did not prevent Nuno Espirito Santo and the board remaining on the same page though and the manager was Sacked in the last international break.
In his place Ange Postecoglou has been given the chance to win back to back Europa League titles, albeit with different clubs having led Tottenham Hotspur to success in May. His start with Nottingham Forest has been far from the best and there is already going to be one or two fans outwardly concerned, even if they are all going to be very excited about this opening Europa League fixture.
Nottingham Forest have not won any of their last 5 games in all competitions since the opening weekend of the season, but the draw with Burnley this past weekend snapped a run of 3 consecutive defeats. Two of those losses have been under Ange Postecoglou, who has yet to manage at the City Ground, and Nottingham Forest had conceded three goals in defeats at Arsenal and Swansea City before the 1-1 draw at Turf Moor.
Oleksandr Zinchenko and Omari Hutchinson have not been registed with the Europa League squad for the League Phase. Ange Postecoglou is likely going to make one or two changes to the starting eleven, but should be well experienced in this competition having won it last time.
Head to Head
This is the first competitive fixture between Real Betis and Nottingham Forest.
Prediction
The opening fixture in the Europa League features two of the leading contenders to win the competition next May.
Out of the two teams, Real Betis have shown stronger form but this is a club that were thumped 4-1 by English Premier League Chelsea in May. Granted that was on neutral field in the Conference League Final, but in recent seasons British clubs like Celtic and Manchester United have also given Real Betis big problems.
Two English clubs competed in the Europa League Final at the end of last season and it was Ange Postecoglou who was the manager holding the trophy aloft with Tottenham Hotspur.
It is an experience that Nottingham Forest will hope can see them go very deep in the competition and the squad is capable of heading to Spain to make an early statement.
Recent results have not been the best, but Nottingham Forest have been a little unfortunate at Swansea City and Burnley over the last few days. Ange Postecoglou will note that and his team have enough squad depth to earn a positive result on Wednesday in their bid to finish in the top eight of this League Phase.
The Pick :
Real Betis 1-1 Nottingham Forest
