Real Betis will head to Belgium for Thursday's Conference League knockout round playoff clash against Gent at the Planet Group Arena.

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Gent are competing in the Conference League knockout rounds for the third successive season after winning half of their six matches in the league phase.

They won all three of their home matches against Molde, Omonia Nicosia and TSC, while they lost each of their three away games against Chelsea, Lugano and Larne.

Gent are now looking forward to a playoff round tie against Betis, with the Belgian side hoping to match and surpass their run to the Conference League quarter-finals in 2022-23.

They will certainly fancy their chances of claiming a positive result in Thursday's first leg, having avoided defeat in each of their last 17 home matches in the Conference League (including qualifying).

However, they will enter the knockout round tie without a permanent manager after Wouter Vrancken left his position as manager last month, leaving Danijel Milicevic to take over the reins on an interim basis.

The caretaker boss has overseen one win and two draws in his first three matches, including a dramatic 3-3 draw in Friday's away league clash against Mechelen, with Andri Gudjohnsen and Hugo Gambor netting late goals to extend Gent's unbeaten run to five matches (W1, D4).

Betis ended the league phase in 15th place and one point adrift of the top eight after winning three, drawing one and losing two of their six matches.

After taking four points from their first four games, Betis recorded 1-0 victories over Petrocub and HJK to finish the league phase on the front foot.

Betis are now looking forward to competing in the knockout rounds of a UEFA competition for the fourth season in a row.

However, they have lost each of their last three knockout ties in European competition, including a 2-1 aggregate defeat in last season's Conference League knockout round playoffs after they had dropped down from the Europa League.

Manuel Pellegrini's side will travel to Belgium off the back of a poor run of form, having lost four of their previous six competitive matches, including Saturday's league meeting with Celta Vigo at Balaidos, where they fell to a 3-2 defeat after giving up a two-goal lead.

They can still take confidence from the fact that they have avoided defeat in six of their last seven away matches in UEFA knockout ties.

Gent possible starting lineup:

Roef; Mitrovic, Watanabe, Torunarigha; Samoise, Kums, Ito, Delorge-Knieper, Brown; Sonko, Danzeir

Real Betis possible starting lineup:

Adrian; Sabaly, Llorente, Natan, Perraud; Altimira, Cardoso; Antony, Lo Celso, Ezzalzouli; Roque