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Betis run-in awaits Rijeka

Real Betis Balompié are certain of a place in the UEFA Europa League round of 32 and can unseat Group I leaders Olympique Lyonnais when they take on HNK Rijeka.

Sevilla and local rivals Betis are both competing in this season's UEFA Europa League
Sevilla and local rivals Betis are both competing in this season's UEFA Europa League ©Getty Images

Qualified Real Betis Balompié can take top spot in UEFA Europa League Group I from Olympique Lyonnais when they host eliminated HNK Rijeka on matchday six.

• Betis need to win and hope Lyon lose at Vitória SC if they are to finish top. Betis can finish no lower than second.

Previous meetings
• The sides drew 1-1 on matchday two, with Cedric's goal for Betis cancelling out Leon Benko's tenth-minute volley. It was Betis's first game against a Croatian club.

• Rijeka's seven encounters with Spanish opponents stand at W2 D2 L3 (W2 D1 L1 at home – W0 D1 L2 in Spain). Real Valladolid CF (4-1) and Real Madrid CF (3-1) came unstuck at the Stadion Kantrida in successive games in the 1984/85 UEFA Cup, although Madrid did recover to win the return leg of their second round tie 3-0 and went on to lift the trophy that season.

Match background
• Betis are unbeaten in three home games in Europe this season (W2 D1) and have yet to concede a UEFA Europa League goal at the Estadio Benito Villamarín this campaign. Rijeka have yet to avoid defeat – or score – away from home in Group I.

• Betis are in this group stage for the first time, though they reached the latter stages of this competition in 2005/06 after finishing third in their section in their maiden UEFA Champions League group stage campaign. They eventually bowed out to FC Steaua Bucureşti in the round of 16.

• Rijeka made it to their first UEFA group stage campaign with an unexpected 4-3 aggregate victory against VfB Stuttgart in this season's play-offs.

Team facts
• Seville is the only city to have two representatives in this season's UEFA Europa League, with Betis's neighbours Sevilla FC competing in Group H.

• Croatian sides have traditionally come off worse in games against Spanish clubs, with the record W6 D8 L18 (W6 D5 L6 at home – W0 D3 L12 in Spain). Croatian outfits have scored just five goals between them in 15 visits to Spain.

Coach information
• Betis dismissed coach Pepe Mel on 2 December with his side bottom of the Liga. The former striker had been in charge of the club since 2010, winning promotion the following year.

• Juan Carlos Garrido has taken charge of the club for the remainder of the season. A full-time coach since he was in his 20s, Garrido was in charge of Villarreal CF's B team before taking command of the senior selection, leading them to the semi-finals of the 2010/11 UEFA Europa League and a fourth-place finish in Spain. More recently, he led Club Brugge KV to a bronze-medal finish in the 2012/13 Belgian league.

• Hired in February 2013, Slovenian coach Matjaž Kek led Rijeka to a third-place finish at the end of that season and into Europe. Famous for taking Slovenia to the 2010 FIFA World Cup finals, Kek started and ended his playing career as a defender at NK Maribor – where his father played, and now his son – either side of a long spell in Austria. He returned home to Maribor for his first coaching roles, and more recently had a spell in Saudi Arabia with Al-Ittihad.

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