This is the first meeting between Panathinaikos and Real Betis in any European competition – the Greek side have just one win in their last 18 games against Spanish teams (D3 L14), a 2-0 home win against Villarreal in September 2023 in the UEFA Europa League.
Real Betis have played two away UEFA Europa League matches in Greece and failed to win or score in either – a 0-0 draw with Olympiakos in September 2018 and 0-2 defeat to PAOK Salonika in January this year.
Panathinaikos have drawn their last five UEFA Europa League matches, the longest run of draws in major European football since Lyon drew six games consecutively in the 2018-19 UEFA Champions League.
Real Betis have lost just one of their last 12 away major European knockout matches (W5 D6), a 4-1 defeat to Manchester United in March 2023 in the UEFA Europa League.
Panathinaikos manager Rafael Benitez has only lost one of his last 18 UEFA Europa League matches (W8 D9), a 1-0 away defeat with Napoli against Dnipro in the semi-final second leg in 2014-15. He’s also never lost a home Europa League match (P21 W14 D7).