He Real Madrid did not go from a tie to one against the Real Betis this Saturday at the Benito Villamarín stadium, putting the lead in danger after the Englishman Jude Bellingham made it 0-1 in the 53rd minute after a good finish against the Portuguese goalkeeper Rui Silva and, thirteen later, Aitor Ruibal launched a spectacular shot from outside the area that meant the final 1-1.
The Madrid team failed again in the Andalusian capital, after their visit to the Ramón Sánchez-Pizjuán stadium to face Sevilla also ended in a 1-1 draw, and now Girona has the opportunity to take the lead if they win on Sunday as visitor to Barcelona.
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Real Madrid faced the defense of the leadership on this sixteenth day with the already recurring plague of injuries, with up to seven casualties when Dani Carvajal joined this week to those of Thibaut Courtois, Eder Militao, Aurélien Tchoauméni, Eduardo Camavinga, Vinícius Junior and Arda Güler .
Despite this, Italian Carlo Ancelotti’s team had endured these adverse circumstances well and arrived in Seville with five consecutive wins, three in LaLiga and two in the Champions League, to maintain the streak against a Betis that had only given up two draws in the seven dates he had in front of his fans in this tournament.
⏸️ @RealBetis 1-1 @RealMadrid
⚽ 53′ @BellinghamJude
⚽ 66′ Aitor Ruibal#RealBetisRealMadrid | #Emirates pic.twitter.com/1SUgG7A1pc— Real Madrid CF (@realmadrid) December 9, 2023
Losses from Real Madrid and Real Betis
The Chilean Manuel Pellegrini, like his colleague on the Madrid bench, accumulated seven casualties for this event, since the sanction that weighed on Héctor Bellerín was added to the injuries of Claudio Bravo, Youssouf Sabaly, Nabil Fekir, Marc Bartra, William Carvalho and Guido Rodríguez, this one after the distal fracture of the right fibula that occurred in training last Thursday.
With these premises, and with the ex-Madrid player Isco Alarcón as one of the attractions of the clash after he has rescued in this Betic stage the great football that he treasures, the visitors wanted to be protagonists from the beginning, but the locals pressed well and high to balance the adversary’s purpose.
Despite this, the Brazilian Rodrygo Goes was the first who wanted to show that he is in great shape and his forays down the left were a headache for Aitor Ruibal, to the point of claiming that the Betic gave him a penalty at nine minutes, which the referee did not consider.
After a quarter of an hour, another play by Rodrygo ended in a goal by Brahim Díaz, but it was annulled due to a prior offside by the Brazilian striker, although by then Ancelotti’s team had tipped the game in their favor.
🐻🐮🐶🐰🐨
𝐍𝐨 𝐞𝐬 𝐬𝐨́𝐥𝐨 𝐟𝐮́𝐭𝐛𝐨𝐥.#LALIGAHighlights #RealBetisRealMadrid pic.twitter.com/quk72u3AXK
— Real Betis Balompié 🌴💚 (@RealBetis) December 9, 2023
Isco to the rescue
It was Isco who came to the rescue of Betis and, the moment he had contact with the ball, he gave play to his team so that Ayoze Pérez could make the Ukrainian goalkeeper Andry Lunin work and the Brazilian Willian José, who turned a century this Saturday of matches as a green and white, he finished close to a post.
That encouraged the Sevillian team, but the Madrid team did not give up trying until the break with the mobility of Luka Modric, although also in that section with less participation from Rodrygo and an intermittent Bellingham.
The second half began with the scare that Isco gave Lunin after a good pass from Ayoze, but the reply came very shortly after, eight minutes after the restart. A great pass into the hole by Brahim was not wasted by Bellingham to make it 0-1 and confirm that he is the great sensation of this season with his ability to score.
Betis had no choice but to take a step forward and speed up their game, something that paid off with a shot from Aitor Ruibal from outside the area, a goal that came thirteen minutes after the Real Madrid player and that opened a new game.
In the final phase of the clash, the locals redoubled their confidence in not leaving Villamarín empty and the visitors were not so fluid to do damage, so the scoreboard no longer moved, although a shot by Isco in the ninetieth minute ended the game. with the ball repelled by a post.
