# 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 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, midfielder Fernando from Real Valladolid, forward Oli from Real Oviedo and after a two-year stint in Barcelona striker Ángel Cuéllar got back to the squad.
The team finished in a disappointing eighth place in La Liga and reached barely the classification for the UEFA Cup next season. Meanwhile, the squad was eliminated in the Copa del Rey quarter-finals by Real Zaragoza, and defeated in two legs by Chelsea in the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup quarter-final stage.

## Squad

    Squad at end of season
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. 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 | YUG | 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 |
| MF | Fernando | Real Valladolid |
| FW | Oli | Real Oviedo |
| GK | Valerio | Albacete |
| GK | Pinto | Betis B |
| FW | Ángel Cuéllar | Barcelona |
| FW | Ivan Perez | Extremadura |
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 |
| FW | Wojciech Kowalczyk | Las Palmas |
| MF | Nenad Bjelica | Las Palmas |
| FW | Juan Sabas | Mérida |

## Competitions
### La Liga
#### League table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 6 | Celta 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 | Real 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 |

#### Matches
### UEFA Cup Winners' Cup
#### First round
#### Quarter-finals
## 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 |
| 25 | MF | NGA | Finidi | 43 | 12 | 34 | 9 | 4 | 2 | 5 | 1 |
| 10 | MF | ESP | Cañas | 35 | 3 | 19+8 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 4+1 | 1 |
| 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 |
| 17 | MF | CRO | Jarni | 37 | 6 | 28 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 6 | 0 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 12 | DF | SRB | Nadj | 31 | 1 | 17+8 | 1 | 2+1 | 0 | 1+2 | 0 |
| 2 | DF | ESP | Jaime | 23 | 0 | 15+4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0+2 | 0 |
| 8 | MF | ESP | Márquez | 27 | 1 | 12+11 | 1 | 1+1 | 0 | 1+1 | 0 |
| 4 | DF | ESP | Ureña | 19 | 1 | 10+5 | 0 | 1+1 | 0 | 2 | 1 |
| 23 | FW | ESP | Cuéllar | 20 | 1 | 9+10 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 |
| 3 | DF | ESP | Fernández | 17 | 0 | 6+7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1+3 | 0 |
| 24 | FW | ESP | Pérez | 22 | 1 | 1+16 | 0 | 0+3 | 1 | 0+2 | 0 |
| 5 | DF | ESP | Josete | 3 | 0 | 1+1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 18 | MF | CRO | Bjelica | 5 | 0 | 0+3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0+2 | 0 |
| 29 | GK | ESP | Pinto | 1 | -2 | 0+1 | -2 | 0 | 0 |
| 19 | FW | ESP | Sabas |
* Source: https://www.bdfutbol.com/en/t/t1997-988.html