As close followers of Spanish football will know, there's one respect in which La Liga is very carefully structured: the season is divided into two clearly marked halves (vueltas), with each team playing the same rivals in the same order for both. In other words, because Betis opened the season facing Granada at home and then Recre away, as soon as they'd taken on the other 20 sides it was time for Granada away followed by Recre at home. Etcetera.
The league table (available in full here) shows how things would stand if we were to ignore the first vuelta altogether. As you can see, Barcelona B are leading the way over the second half of the season, having scored an impressive nine goals more than their nearest rivals. In just 13 games they've made up seven points on Betis (whose record is a little less worrying if you take into account that they lost the first four games in this period).
Put simply, Barcelona B are a good side playing well. Their coach, Luis Enrique, could pretty much have the pick of any medium-profile management job in Europe this summer and several of their players have had first-team experience. Sunday morning's task is about as difficult as Betis could wish for at this stage of the season.
The fact they're going into it without two of their best players - suspended Achille Emaná and injured Salva Sevilla - obviously only makes things trickier still. The word is that Pepe Mel will switch to 4-4-2, with Juanma replacing Salva on the right-hand side and either Jonathan Pereira or Ezequiel providing the width on the left.
Still, at least they know won't be alone. Estadio Deportivo is reporting that as many as 4,000 Béticos - most of them living in Catalonia - will be in the 15,000-capacity Mini Estadi where Barcelona B play, with every chance of outnumbering the home support. In fact, although in theory Betis have four away games remaining, this will only be true geographically speaking. With two in Catalonia and one in Andalucía (against Córdoba in a fortnight's time), the verdiblancos will be able to count on thunderous support in each of their last eight fixtures.
Which brings us to the Thursday Song. Simple and to the point, Te Quiero Betis (I love you, Betis) is sung to the tune of Can't Take My Eyes Off You, with scarves twirled around in the air. Important pronunciation point: "Betis" is somewhere between "Betty" and "Bait-y", or "BET-eece" if you're from Madrid - just never "Betiss" like they say it on Sky Sports. So, something like this...
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