Real Betis Balompie suffered a setback in their bid to qualify for Europe when they had to come from a goal down to rescue a 1-1 draw at home to La Liga strugglers RC Deportivo de La Coruna on Monday.
Depor forward Riki galloped through to open the scoring in the seventh minute at Betis’ Estadio Benito Villamarin in Seville, before Jorge Molina leveled for the home side four minutes after halftime.
The result left Betis in seventh on 49 points, four adrift of sixth-placed Valencia, while Depor are 17th, one above the relegation places.
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The fifth and sixth-placed teams automatically qualify for the Europa League, Europe’s second-tier club competition.
Betis last took part in continental competition in 2005-2006 when they finished third in their UEFA Champions League group behind English sides Liverpool and Chelsea.
They are one of many Spanish clubs to have suffered severe financial problems after years of living beyond their means and were relegated in 2008-2009, before winning promotion back to the top flight two years later.
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Depor have fallen on hard times since their league triumph in 1999-2000 and a thrilling run to the last four of the Champions League four years later.
The Galician club were relegated for the first time in two decades at the end of the 2010-2011 season, but they came straight back up by winning the second division last season.
Shohei Ohtani and his wife arrived in South Korea with his Los Angeles Dodgers teammates yesterday ahead of their season-opening games with the San Diego Padres next week. Ohtani, wearing a black training suit and a cap backwards, was the first Dodgers player who showed up at the arrival gate of Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul. His wife, Mamiko Tanaka, walked several steps behind him. As a crowd of fans, many wearing Dodgers jerseys, shouted his name and cheered slogans, Ohtani briefly waved his hand, but did not say anything before he entered a limousine bus with his wife. Fans held placards
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