Betis has vital European game ahead of big city derby

Real Betis plays at home to Utrecht in the Europa League on Thursday night although Manuel Pellegrini's players could be forgiven for having other things on their minds.

The game comes just three days before Betis faces Sevilla in the Seville derby - which is arguably the most bitter rivalry in La Liga and with that game kicking off at 16:15 local time, Betis has very little time to recover after Thursday's match.

However, although Pellegrini is likely to make changes to his starting 11 on Thursday, with players such as Cedric Bakambu coming into his side, he has to keep his eye on the ball as Betis currently sits just outside of the top-eight in the qualification group and needs a win if his side is to avoid an extra qualification round in February.

Pellegrini is also in the news in Spain as it appears the veteran coach is on the verge of signing a new contract to stay at the club for another year after his current deal expires at the end of June.

Penning a new contract would end speculation that Pellegrini could become Chile national team coach after the World Cup.

Celta currently sits fourth in the qualification group with three wins from its four games so far in the tournament and now faces a long trip to play the Bulgarian side Ludogorets that has lost its last three games.

Williot Swedberg returns for Celta after injury to add to Claudio Giraldez's options in attack, although the Celta coach is likely to name a team similar to that which won in Zagreb earlier in the month with Bryan Zaragoza and Pablo Duran leading his side's attack, with Borja Iglesias on the substitutes' bench.

Meanwhile in the Conference League, Rayo Vallecano travels to play a Slovan Bratislava side looking for its first points in the tournament.