The cold night in Villamarín in the first leg of King's Cup round of 32 helped the score that Real Betis came up against in the 5th minute. A convincing 0-2 after two defensive bungles and an Almería laid the ground in a match saw Betis unable to respond in the first round. Mané scored the first from in front of the goal off a corner with a crossing shot, and Teerasil scored the second with a one-on-one with Dani Giménez off a pass from Corona in the midfield. 


The green-and-whites meandered around the field of play with a lack of purpose and were not able to recover from the harsh blow. Almería comfortably managed to get through the lines that attempted to put pressure on them and their ability to create danger did not diminish in the whole of the first half. But the worse was to come. In the 28th minute the team from Heliopolis was wounded again. Quique put the ball away on the far post off a corner kick that Edgar deflected slightly with his header. 


The third goal represented not just a physical barrier but a psychological one too, that stripped the team of their resources right up until the end of the first half. Pacheco and Rennella managed to approach their rival's goal but with little chance of getting a prize and Perquis could have reduced the gap off a corner, but his shot went wide. 


Real Betis found Julián's crossbar at the beginning of the second half. Caro's shot off Pacheco's corner struck wood. Just as he had done in Palamós, Merino made some early moves on the bench, Chuli and Matilla were replaced by Molina and Kadir and the formation changed to a 4-4-2. Molina was focussed when he came on and his initial activity got the green-and-whites on the attack. They were playing more in their rival's half and the team looked different but, once again, a mistake led to a counterattack by Almería and Edgar scored the fourth goal in the 16th minute of the second half. So heavy were the odds stacked against them that it seemed that the match was doomed. Only set pieces and the odd play by Molina seemed to harry Julián. Merino put Rubén on in place of Rennella and the forward from the Canary Islands responded as only he knows how, with a goal. Maybe it wasn't the best match to make history becoming the highest goal scorer in the history of Real Betis with 95 goals but the '24' has a special relationship with the goal and he doesn't often fail. Rubén's goal spurred Betis on. Pacheco was taking good corner kicks and Perquis took advantage of one of them to score the second. The team bounced back and they believed in themselves.


Betis were back, and how, in a counterattack Kadir could have reduced the gap but Julián saved. Merino's team continued to put the pressure on. Rubén invented another piece of play in the area but Molina was unable to finish off his centre and appealed for a penalty. Betis gave it their all in the final minutes and Molina had his reward for a good match. Again, Pacheco took a perfect corner kick and Molina put the ball into the back of the net for the third time. There was just one goal between them when the 45 minutes came to an end and the referee only added three minutes of injury time.

Finally, the green-and-whites were unable to change the result despite having opportunities in the crazy final stages; they were unable to level a match had taken them too long to get a grip of. 

3- Real Betis: Dani Giménez, Piccini, Caro, Perquis, Casado, Pacheco, Lolo Reyes, N’Diaye, Matilla (Kadir, minute 53), Chuli (Jorge Molina, minute 53) and Rennella (Rubén Castro, minute 73).

4- UD Almería: Julián Cuesta, Michel, Antonio Marín, Dos Santos, Mané, Verza, Corona (José Ángel, minute 67), Iván Sánchez (W. Silva, minute 59), Edgar, Quique and Teerasil (Dani Romera, minute 67).

Goals: 0-1, minute 4: Mané. 0-2, minute 6: Teerasil. 0-3, minute 30: Quique. 0-4, minute 61: Edgar. 1-4, minute 79: Rubén Castro. 2-4, minute 85: Perquis. 3-4, minute 90: Jorge Molina.

Referee: Martínez Munuera, (Valencia). Bookings for Perquis, Iván Sánchez, Teerasil, Caro and Casado.