It took Real Betis 70 minutes to break Leganes’ resistance on Friday night, but against Getafe, they were keen to make inroads in double quick time.
The opening stages saw wave after wave of Betis attack, but as Lo Celso found out when his 25-yard effort whistled over the bar, finding a breakthrough wasn’t likely to be straightforward.
A huge stroke of luck almost helped them on their way though, as a lightning quick Betis break concluded with Abde Ezzalzouli’s deflected cross heading into the back of the net, but a stunning reaction save from David Soria kept Getafe on level terms.
Betis continued to probe for an opener, but they simply couldn’t get past Soria in the Getafe goal. Even when he was sat on the floor in a hopeless position he was somehow denying the hosts, as Ezzalzouli found out when he pounced on a loose ball in the area, but despite Soria being down and out, his effort incredulously hit the stopper and bounced to safety.
The visitors were lucky to get into half-time on level terms, as one more chance came and went for Betis before the break when Lo Celso’s lung-busting run ended with him arrowing an effort inches wide of the post.
The second half opened in much similar fashion, with Betis on the front foot and Getafe having Soria to thank for still being in the game. He produced another stunning stop ten minutes into the second half, reacting from point-blank range to beat away Diego Llorente’s acrobatic effort.
Their hard work was undone in incredibly unfortunate fashion though, when Luis Milla was adjudged to have handled Vitor Roque’s goalbound header.
Lo Celso, who had been unlucky not to have broken the deadlock in the first half, made no mistake from the spot, sending Soria the wrong way.
Betis’ second goal was all their own work though, with Lo Celso thumping home from the edge of the area to double the hosts’ advantage.
That second goal visibly sucked the life out of Getafe, whose coach Jose Bordalas was dismissed from the touchline in stoppage time.
They did at least snatch a late consolation through Mauro Arambarri, but the night belonged to Betis though, who celebrated Manuel Pellegrini’s 490th managerial outing in LaLiga in style.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Giovani Lo Celso (Real Betis)