Questionable refereeing and sending off
The first half saw match referee Antonio Mateu Lahoz make a set of questionable bookings as he awarded seven yellow cards in total to both sides. The level of inconsistency in refereeing raised quite a few eyebrows as the official was quite picky with his bookings at times. The ref himself seemed to be quite worked up for some reason as he also issued a warning to Real Betis manager Juan Merino in the first half.
Real Betis’s German centre-back Heiko Westermann was sent off in the 35th minute as he received his second yellow card for a rash challenge on Ivan Rakitic, eight minutes after he was first booked for a foul on the same player.
Juan Merino’s side still stayed compact and defended well during the entire course of the game. But the sending off inevitably came back to haunt Betis as a couple of defensive errors led to goals for both Rakitic and Suarez.
