After a successful first season with Real Betis, Wales international Rhiannon Roberts is ready to take on her second campaign with Los Verdiblancos.
Having spent five seasons with Liverpool, Roberts decided to make the move to the south of Spain in the summer of 2023, and after a battle at the bottom, Betis survived in Liga F.
“There was a big turnover of players when I arrived at the club, and things were a little different to what a lot of people were used to,” Roberts began.
“There was a lot more freedom with our play, and as a result our defending style was a little different, and it took us a while to get used to some of the styles of play.
“We had a change of manager in the middle of the season too and he took us back to basics a little bit, but he did a very good job and obviously kept us up.
“We took a lot of points from those last eight or so games, and while it wasn’t good to go on a long losing run, we survived comfortably in the end.”
Now attention turns to her second season with Betis.
The newness and the excitement of the move has perhaps died down now, and the reality of the situation starts to set in.
A visa issue meant Roberts missed the opening few games, but now she’s back and ready to help her side, who haven’t picked up a win yet, and sit in the relegation zone.
“The newness has worn off a little now heading into this season. We’ve had players leave and new ones come in, but the challenge for us at the minute is scoring goals. We get to a certain point up the pitch, but we can’t seem to find that final pass.
“However, the togetherness within the group is really good and we’ve kept the parts of last season that worked well for us from the psychological side to the stuff we’re doing on the pitch.”
And there is an expectation when you play for a club like Real Betis.
Fans on these shores may not be aware of the sheer magnitude of the club, who are in many ways a sleeping giant of Spanish football.
As soon as Roberts came through the doors of the Estadio Benito Villamarín, she knew that this was an incredibly unique club.
“Betis is a huge club. We all know the Spanish love their football, they live and breathe it. Our derby is against Sevilla, and it’s one of the biggest derbies in the whole country, probably bigger than the Madrid derby.
“This club has won everything, and you realise quickly just how big of a club this is to be a part of, and I’m loving it over here.”
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Liga F competitiveness
The one accusation levelled at the Spanish league is that it is not a competitive league.
WSL fans will boast that their league is open, and anyone can beat anyone, but they will look at Liga F and say Barcelona walk to the title every year, with an occasional challenge from Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid.
While admitting the league does have its stronger teams, just like any across the world, Roberts says the gap is closing between the top and the bottom.
“This is a really competitive league. You do have your outstanding teams at the top, but that’s what it used to be like in the WSL when Arsenal would win the league every year.
“Yes, those three are challenging at the top, but I don’t think the rest of the league is far off. I do think it’s a mentality thing sometimes too.
“There’s a lot of teams with small squads and there’s always talk about rotation, and maybe they’ll give that game a bye and focus on the next one. I thought that when I came over, and I said to the girls, you know you can beat anybody!
“It’s eleven against eleven on the pitch, and if you bring you’re A-game, there’s no reason whatsoever you can beat these teams.”
However, one thing Liga F has is an unbelievable array of forward talent.
Caroline Graham Hansen, Ewa Pajor, Linda Caicedo, and two Ballon d’Or winners in Alexia Putellas and Aitana Bonmati, all call Spain home and defending them can be an impossible task.
Roberts, however, relishes the challenge of facing the world’s best, and likes to be a physical difference in a league known for its trickery.
“I love the challenge! Those players are difficult to read sometimes, but I like that. Maybe it’s something the Spanish need to bring into their game a little more is that physical side, but in possession, these players are so good.
“But I like being that difference in the team and playing against these big players. It’s what you play football for is to test yourself.”
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Hiraeth
While Roberts is enjoying her Spanish adventure, it’s Wales that still brings a huge smile to her face.
However, that smile was not there over the last four games. For both ties against Ukraine, and the final games against Croatia and Kosovo, the defender revealed she played with a slipped disc in her neck.
“I played with a slipped disc in my neck for the last four Wales game, and I couldn’t raise my arms at all. I was really struggling a lot, and I’ve never been in so much pain in my life. It was awful, but I got through it!”
Now fully healed, Roberts is preparing for what many hope to be a long playoff run, and that begins with two games against Slovakia later this month.
The word playoff is enough to bring a shudder to the spine of many players, with memories of Switzerland still lingering. Yet, the players who were there in Zurich are ready to use that disappointment, and hopefully turn it into jubilation come December.
“The experienced players and the ones who have been through it the last couple of campaigns, we know we’ve come closer and closer, and it’s heartbreaking when we don’t get there.
“The game against Switzerland was really hard to take, but you have to bottle those feelings sometimes, utilise them and take them into games like these.”
But when this campaign is all said and done, what happens next for someone like Roberts?
The former Red is one of the squad’s more experienced players, and this qualification cycle has been touted by many as being, potentially, the last for many Welsh stars.
Roberts has admitted having a mental battle with herself over the dreaded ‘R’ word but says there is nothing better than playing for Wales, and that her country will always pull her back.
“There have been so many times when players say, this is it, this is my last campaign. But we get so close, and they go, bugger it, let’s give it one more go, and the mentality of the group and how much we love our country shows through in moments like that.
“I’m the same, I’m like that all the time, but I never want to give up. It could be my last, but I don’t know, I’ve not made that decision. But when I talk about qualifying, it gives me goosebumps, because I know how hard the girls work.”
Whether this is her last campaign or not, Roberts has always been and will continue to be one of Wales’ greatest servants, and in the south of Spain, she’s making sure the Welsh identity is still alive and kicking.
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