Deservedly, at the Sanchez Pizjuan Stadium, Real Betis won the big derby over Sevilla FC in the 14th round of the Spanish League with a score of 25-26, thus painting, or rather, the city of Seville green again. … Because Manuel Pellegrini’s men won their second derby in a row in this calendar year 2025 and managed to win the Nervion almost eight years later. Derby is always more than just football. It is passion, dedication and love of colours, white and red in Nervión, green and white in Heliópolis. These characteristics were tested again yesterday throughout the Sunday of the great 109th derby in the history of the entire Primera Division between Sevilla and Real Betis. The Estadio Sánchez Pizjuan and all its surroundings were the focus of attention, given that in the first Caenilla clash between Sevilla’s top teams of the 25-26 season, the match was played on Sevilla’s home soil. It was a calm day and there were no clashes between fans of the two teams. The Radicals would have grown tired of the denigration of the beauty and difference that surrounded this type of match in the earlier days – they had fought on two occasions in the streets of Nervion during the week.
The early scheduled start time of the meeting, 4:15pm, meant that there was action in the city from early on, and it was somewhat quieter in Nervion at the start of what was an environmentally hot day. Because the weather was freezing while the duel was being played.
Starting at 12pm, the 600 Betis winners who received tickets to support their team in the visiting Sánchez-Pizjuan were due to begin collecting their seats in the Benito Villamarín. The fact that Betis is undertaking a complete redesign of the preferred stand has not prevented the club, after a local security meeting held on Wednesday, from opening the lower area of the Fondue (the stand facing Avenida de la Palmera) so that Fireblancos fans can get their tickets to watch the matchday at the site. At the appointed time, the Green and White Club’s security personnel opened the gate so that fans could enter the ticket offices to obtain the appropriate ticket for them. It was a non-stop stream of Betis fans, the majority concentrated on Tajo Street, until minutes before 2pm. They had already left on foot, accompanied by a strong police force, towards Nervion Stadium. This transfer was made faster than on previous occasions.
Meanwhile, in Nervion, the day was getting hotter as the hours passed. As has been the norm in recent years, the bulk of the fans gathered in the square near Santa Justa station, although they had to eat lunch before Sanchez Pizjuan entered, as many of the bars around the Sevilla stand were filled with flags and scarves in the run-up to the match. Little by little they also approached the Los Lebreros Hotel where the bus would leave for the stadium to play the match.
At about two o’clock in the afternoon. The Betis bus left for Nervion. An amazing farewell from Betis fans to their players. A large crowd of fans in green and white gathered at the doors of the Focus Hotel and the surrounding streets to give the last possible breath to the team, which had already received speeches inside the center of the hotel from leaders, such as Angel Haro, Manu Fajardo and Joaquín Sanchez. The color was brutal, with green flares accompanying the official Heliopolitan vehicle on its first meters around Benito Villamarin towards Sanchez Pizjuan.
The Sevilla coach’s farewell from the Los Lebreros Hotel was also very striking. As is usually the case in this type of meeting. A large crowd of Sevilleans gathered at the gates of the center of the hotel to encourage the group led by Matias Almeida before the football battle, and who received all the support in the world from his followers for trying to win against Betis, although he did not succeed.
Fifteen minutes suspended
With the match on the line, the feud didn’t stop. Whether by Sevilla who tried to lead their team to victory, or by the 600 peticos who left their throats so they could be heard as if they were the local fans. The Nervionenses began to fade as they watched Fornals and Altimira score the second-half goals that gave Betis the win, which caused the Verdeblancos to grow, not only because of the celebration of the goals, the spirit and the chants.
But around the 87th minute, an image occurred that would distort the derby day, as happened recently. Nathan celebrated the clearance of the corner kick after a cross from Pique and from the northern goal of Sanchez Pizjuan’s creatures began to fall towards the field of play. Munuera Monteiro, the referee with whom the Regional Football Association ended the match, stopped the match and after consulting with the police, sent the players to the locker rooms and temporarily stopped the match.
This was announced over the public address system and many Sevilla fans began to leave. The derby lost. He commented through the microphones that the derby had been temporarily stopped and that “if things continue to be thrown onto the field, it will be stopped permanently.” After the fifteen minutes of protocol in which nothing was thrown on the field again, the players began to go out onto the field again and Munuera Monteiro restarted the match with the remaining three minutes of normal time and the six minutes of stoppage time he had given.
Nothing happened in those last nine minutes of this great derby, Betis won 0-2 and the party began in green and white. The entire team jumped onto the field and headed to the height of the grass, where they were able to celebrate with the Betis fans who accompanied them and encouraged them to win the match. Everyone danced, everyone jumped. Even leaders, such as Joaquín or Manu Fajardo, the sporting director who even wore the Betis shirt from this season, also enjoyed another victory on the pitch of Sevilla.