Betis look to Pamplona with an eye on getting closer to a position that would mean direct promotion

Real Valladolid and Girona FC, first and second in the league respectively, will face each other at the José Zorrilla Stadium

Almost six months later, Real Betis will return to the El Sadar Stadium, the venue of the team's last match in the 'Liga' BBVA. This time, they will play there in the 'Liga' Adelante (the second division), and there objective is to get back into the top tier of Spanish football after a bad showing last season. The same applies to the team from Navarre, who after being relegated in the last match of the 2013/14 season are anxious to regain their place in the First Division.

It will be a special match given what happened there on the 18th May. After Oriol Riera's goal in the 12th minute, part of the south stand at the Navarre ground collapsed requiring a diligent and swift intervention to get the 40 injured to hospital. Real Betis Balompié players and technical staff helped to evacuate the injured, a collaboration that received the gratitude of the Club Atlético Osasuna supporters and will certainly be remembered at Sunday's match between the two teams.

From a football perspective, CA Osasuna lost their last match 2-0 against Real Sporting de Gijón, this setback has momentarily curtailed Jan Urban's team's chances of gaining promotion, who are currently 15th in the league standings with 11 points, 7 points away from Velázquez's Betis and 10 points from direct promotion.

Without a doubt this will be one of the most complicated matches of the season for the Valladolid manager's pupils, whose objective is to strike a blow on the current standings against a rival whose objective is the same, hoping to get closer to the positions allowing direct promotion. The diverse results in the 10th matchday of the Liga Adelante leave Betis 4 points form the team in second place, Real Valladolid, and with the same points as SD Ponferradina, a team that is currently sixth in the table and in a position to participate in the play-offs at the end of the season (from the third to the sixth in the standings).

A matchday in which we would highlight RCD Mallorca's third consecutive victory, who beat CE Sabadell 1-0. Real Zaragoza's progress also deserves special mention, who after gaining 17 of the last 21 points available to them, have climbed to fifth place in the Liga Adelante. For their part, Real Valladolid (3-4 against Albacete Balompié) and Girona FC (2-0 against CD Mirandés), prolong their run of positive results in the initial stages of the league. So, the only Betis opponent who lost out on points last weekend was UD Las Palmas, who managed a valuable draw (2-2) against one of the teams on best form in the category, SD Ponferradina.

Equality amongst these teams in addition to the unexpected emergence of Girona FC, have marked the start of the tournament. All of which makes the task all the more difficult, that of direct promotion, which was expected to be difficult but both the Real Betis Balompié team and the technical staff are convinced they are going to pull off. It is for these reasons that the match in Pamplona takes on even greater significance. On the one hand, the possibility of hurting a direct rival for promotion. On the other, a chance to get closer to positions of direct promotion as the teams that are first and second in the league, Real Valladolid and Girona FC, will play at 5pm on Sunday at the José Zorrilla Stadium.