While FC Barcelona is also in great shape, Real Madrid were expected to continue their excellent start to the season on the pitch at Betis Sevilla. And José Mourinho’s men quickly took control of operations, creating several clear chances. After an initial alert from Kylian Mbappé, Dean Huijsen forced Álvaro Valles to make a superb save from close range (13th). A few minutes later, Vinicius Jr had the best opportunity of the start of the match, but the Brazilian found the post after excellent work from Arda Güler (15th).
Dominated, Betis gradually raised their heads under the leadership of Antony. The former Manchester United player notably forced Thibaut Courtois to intervene (22nd). But the clearest opportunities remained in Madrid. Mbappé notably missed a big opportunity by being blocked twice in the same action (44th), and just before the break, Huijsen even found the crossbar on a corner from Güler (45th+1), who was notably preferred to Yan Diomandé on the right. But despite this domination, the two teams returned to the locker room with a goalless draw.
Kylian Mbappé too messy
Upon returning from the locker room, Mbappé immediately tried to break the deadlock with a curling shot passed very close to the post (66th). But Real lost their grip and Betis began to gain more confidence. José Mourinho then made several changes, notably launching Bernardo Silva, Diomandé and Trent Alexander-Arnold. And by missing each other, Real Madrid was surprised. Parrott found the fault on a corner hit on the right side, perfectly following a ball pushed back by Courtois to explode La Cartuja (1-0, 81st).
A cruel scenario for Real Madrid, who had multiplied the opportunities without managing to deceive an imperial Álvaro Valles. And a few minutes before the end, Espí thought to offer the equalizer to the Merengues, but was finally caught by an offside position. A first disillusionment for José Mourinho and his team, who suffered a defeat before starting their European campaign against Inter Milan, notably after a final penalty missed by Mbappé (90th + 5). For their part, the Andalusians achieved the big blow of the day by returning to the level of Barça and Real Madrid at the top of the ranking.
