Levante vs Real Betis preview - Calderon warns against mistakes

Posted Thursday, March 27, 2014 by PA

Real Betis coach Gabriel Calderon acknowledges his side now have very little margin for error in their fight to avoid relegation as they prepare for another "final" against Levante.

Sunday's 2-0 home loss to Atletico Madrid left rock-bottom Betis eight points adrift of Real Valladolid immediately above them and a further two points away from safety.

With only eight matches left after Thursday's trip to Levante, Betis face a major task to prolong their three-year stint back in the top flight, and Calderon needs no reminding just how serious their plight is.

"We're well aware of the situation we're in," he said. "I'm still taking it game by game and, for me, every match is a final.

"This is another final. We've spent two months playing decisive matches but time is running out to get the wins."

Betis had been unbeaten in three matches heading into the clash with title-chasing Atletico, and were on course to pick something up from that match before losing Braian Rodriguez to a red card in the 55th minute.

Atletico took full advantage to net twice in the next 10 minutes through Gabi and Diego Costa to seal the win and leave Betis nursing an 18th league defeat of the season.

Despite the loss, Calderon has been encouraged by his side's performance in that match and in recent weeks.

He said: "Against Atletico we did well until the sending-off and we need to play like that to try and get off the bottom. If we play like we have recently, we can win."

Opponents Levante are in 10th spot and are still in with an outside chance of a European spot, lying nine points adrift of sixth-placed Real Sociedad.

However, having only earned one point from their last three matches, Levante are still not completely safe from the relegation dogfight either - third-bottom Getafe now just eight points away.

Therefore, Thursday's clash against Betis could go a long way to determining what Levante will be fighting for over the remainder of the season.

Defender Juanfran said: "If we get the three points against Betis it would be a very big step towards our first objective. It would take us to 40 points.

"We must not set ourselves the target of getting into Europe - you can't talk about one thing when you still haven't achieved the other."