Real Betis beat HJK 1–0 in the Conference League.
Real Betis took an easy victory over HJK. AOP
HJK’s Euro adventure last fall went as expected. It still had a slim chance for the spring playoffs when it went on a game trip to Andalusia for the last round of the Conference League.
In Sevilla, it was strongly expected by substitute Real Betis, who also wanted more points.
Of course, Betis’ reserves are also players, because the club operates with an annual budget of around 143 million. The different starting points of the teams became very clear right from the start of the match. Betis kept the ball, and HJK had great difficulty getting out of their own defensive area.
Since the opponent was a team of a completely different size, HJK would not have had to give it any extra equalizer.
At less than half an hour, however, Klubi-veskari Thijmen Nijhuis carelessly passed to his own defender. Johnny Cardoso smelled carelessness and swooped in to grab the ball and drive it into the goal.
In the second period, the superiority of the hosts continued. HJK would have had to win in order for its European games to have continued in the spring as well, but at no point did it get very close.
Georgios Antzoulas certainly had a few seconds to fan a wonderful offside goal, but the Greek’s hit was rejected as a clear offside.
It was telling that the number of shots for the home team was 19–2.
No more acceptable goals were seen. Betis got one of the easiest wins of the season and thanks to it they reached the top 16. In other words, as a seeded team, it gets a small advantage for the next playoff round.
HJK’s season ended with a loss.