1997–98 Real Betis season
# 1997–98 Real Betis season

During the 1997–98 season, Betis competed in La Liga, Copa del Rey and UEFA Cup Winners' Cup.

## Summary

In the summertime Llorenc Serra Ferrer left the club and signed with FC Barcelona prompting President Manuel Ruiz de Lopera to hire Luis Aragonés as its new manager. The club transferred in several players such as centre back Roberto Solozabal from Atlético Madrid, right back Jorge Otero from Valencia CF, midfielder Fernando from Real Valladolid, forward Oli from Real Oviedo and after a two-year stint in FC Barcelona striker Ángel Cuéllar got back to the squad.

The team finished in a disappointing 8th place in La Liga and reached barely the classification for the UEFA Cup next season. Meanwhile, the squad was eliminated in Copa del Rey Quarterfinals by Real Zaragoza and defeated in two legs by Chelsea F.C. in UEFA Cup Winners' Cup Quarterfinals stage.

## Squad

    Squad at end of season

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| - | - | - | - |
| 1 | GK | ESP | Toni Prats |
| 2 | DF | ESP | Jaime |
| 3 | DF | ESP | Luis Fernández |
| 4 | DF | ESP | Juan Antonio Ureña |
| 5 | DF | ESP | Josete |
| 6 | DF | ESP | Juan Merino |
| 7 | MF | ESP | Alexis Trujillo |
| 8 | MF | ESP | Luis Márquez |
| 9 | FW | ESP | Oli |
| 10 | MF | ESP | Juan Cañas |
| 11 | FW | ESP | Alfonso |
| 12 | DF | SRB | Albert Nađ |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 13 | GK | ESP | Valerio |
| 14 | DF | ESP | Jorge Otero |
| 17 | DF | CRO | Robert Jarni |
| 19 | DF | ESP | Roberto Solozabal |
| 20 | DF | ESP | Tomás Olías |
| 21 | DF | BIH | Risto Vidaković |
| 22 | MF | ESP | Fernando |
| 23 | FW | ESP | Ángel Cuéllar |
| 24 | FW | ESP | Ivan Perez |
| 25 | MF | NGA | Finidi George |
| 29 | GK | ESP | José Manuel Pinto |

### Transfers

In :

| Pos. | Name | from |
| - | - | - |
| DF | Roberto Solozabal | Atlético Madrid |
| DF | Jorge Otero | Valencia CF |
| MF | Fernando | Real Valladolid |
| FW | Oli | Real Oviedo |
| GK | Valerio | Albacete Balompié |
| GK | Pinto | Betis B |
| FW | Ángel Cuéllar | FC Barcelona |
| FW | Ivan Perez | Extremadura CF |

Out :

| Pos. | Name | To |
| - | - | - |
| DF | Roberto Ríos | Athletic Bilbao |
| FW | Pier | Real Zaragoza |
| GK | Pedro Jaro | Atlético Madrid |
| DF | Fernando Varela | Betis B |
| MF | Capi | Betis B |
| DF | Juan Redondo | Hércules CF |
| FW | Wojciech Kowalczyk | UD Las Palmas |
| MF | Nenad Bjelica | UD Las Palmas |
| FW | Juan Sabas | CP Mérida |

## Competitions

### La Liga

**League table**

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 6 | Celta de Vigo | 38 | 17 | 9 | 12 | 54 | 47 | +7 | 60 | Qualification for the UEFA Cup first round |
| 7 | Atlético Madrid | 38 | 16 | 12 | 10 | 79 | 56 | +23 | 60 | Qualification for the UEFA Cup first round |
| 8 | Betis | 38 | 17 | 8 | 13 | 49 | 50 | −1 | 59 | Qualification for the UEFA Cup first round |
| 9 | Valencia | 38 | 16 | 7 | 15 | 58 | 52 | +6 | 55 | Qualification for the Intertoto Cup third round |
| 10 | Espanyol | 38 | 12 | 17 | 9 | 44 | 31 | +13 | 53 | Qualification for the Intertoto Cup second round |

* 1 2 MLL: 9 pts; CEL: 5 pts; ATM: 2 pts

**Results by round**

| Round | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Ground | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | H | A | A | H | A | H | A | H | H | A | H | A | H | A |
| Result | W | D | L | D | W | D | L | W | L | D | D | L | W | W | W | W | L | W | D | W | D | W | L | L | W | W | D | W | L | W | L | L | W | L | W | W | L | L |
| Position | 2 | 6 | 12 | 14 | 7 | 9 | 9 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 10 | 12 | 11 | 10 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 8 |

## Statistics

### Players statistics

| No. | Pos | Nat | Player | Total | Total | La Liga | La Liga | Copa del Rey | Copa del Rey | Cup Winners' Cup | Cup Winners' Cup |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| No. | Pos | Nat | Player | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| 1 | GK | ESP | Prats | 45 | -55 | 36 | -44 | 3 | -5 | 6 | -6 |
| 6 | DF | ESP | Merino | 38 | 0 | 28+2 | 0 | 1+2 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
| 20 | DF | ESP | Olias | 32 | 1 | 26 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| 19 | DF | ESP | Solozabal | 35 | 0 | 24+2 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
| 17 | DF | CRO | Jarni | 37 | 6 | 28 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 6 | 0 |
| 7 | MF | ESP | Alexis | 42 | 5 | 31+1 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 6 | 1 |
| 22 | MF | ESP | Fernando | 38 | 2 | 22+9 | 2 | 1+2 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| 10 | MF | ESP | Cañas | 35 | 3 | 19+8 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 4+1 | 1 |
| 25 | FW | NGA | Finidi | 43 | 12 | 34 | 9 | 4 | 2 | 5 | 1 |
| 9 | FW | ESP | Oli | 45 | 11 | 29+6 | 9 | 4 | 1 | 4+2 | 1 |
| 11 | FW | ESP | Alfonso | 41 | 15 | 30+1 | 10 | 4 | 1 | 6 | 4 |
| 13 | GK | ESP | Valerio | 4 | -5 | 2+1 | -4 | 1 | -1 |
| 12 | DF | SRB | Nadj | 31 | 1 | 17+8 | 1 | 2+1 | 0 | 1+2 | 0 |
| 14 | DF | ESP | Otero | 25 | 0 | 19+3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 21 | DF | BIH | Vidakovic | 25 | 2 | 19 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| 8 | MF | ESP | Márquez | 27 | 1 | 12+11 | 1 | 1+1 | 0 | 1+1 | 0 |
| 29 | GK | ESP | Pinto | 1 | -2 | 0+1 | -2 | 0 | 0 |
| 2 | DF | ESP | Jaime | 23 | 0 | 15+4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0+2 | 0 |
| 3 | DF | ESP | Fernández | 17 | 0 | 6+7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1+3 | 0 |
| 4 | DF | ESP | Ureña | 19 | 1 | 10+5 | 0 | 1+1 | 0 | 2 | 1 |
| 5 | DF | ESP | Josete | 3 | 0 | 1+1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 23 | FW | ESP | Cuéllar | 20 | 1 | 9+10 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 |
| 24 | FW | ESP | Pérez | 22 | 1 | 1+16 | 0 | 0+3 | 1 | 0+2 | 0 |
| 18 | MF | CRO | Bjelica | 5 | 0 | 0+3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0+2 | 0 |
| 19 | FW | ESP | Sabas |

* Source: https://www.bdfutbol.com/en/t/t1997-988.html
