Matchday 4 Review

Real Madrid CF Vs. Real Betis Balompie

Santiago Bernabeu, 01 September 2024

Final Score: Real Madrid CF 2 - 0 Real Betis Balompie

Matchday 4 brings us to the capital once again for league holders Real Madrid to play against a strangely out of form Real Betis. The visitors have only drawn matches up until this point and have really struggled in front of goal with only a single strike in their opening two games to show for anything. The hosts are also having a rocky start at this incredibly early stage with two draws and a win for the start of their campaign to retain the title. Real Madrid's summer signings also haven't really seemed to have clicked as of yet but, if last season was anything to go by, Real Madrid always figure it out.

The match kicks off and immediately Real Betis go on the offensive, they weren't ready to let Real Madrid to sit comfortably at home. Within 2 minutes of the game, Ruibal had put Courtois under pressure in the Madrid net, which led to the Belgian taking the striker out inside the box. The referee waved the challenge away and nothing came of this tackle, spoiler alert - this was about as attacking as Betis got for the opening minutes. Vini Jr turns on the speed as he runs down the middle of the park, he then plays the ball wide to Carvajal who sends it back into the box for Mbappe to meet but Silva in the Betis goal is behind the effort, this was the start of the warning signs. Perraud strides forward for Betis and swings in a cross that takes out most of the defensive line, it's met by a Betis head but it is hit narrowly over the bar, we are seeing domination from the home side but this was a reminder that Betis are still here to play. Valverde has a shot from range but it is deflected out for a corner, in the resulting corner, Militao heads the cross but it's too close to the Betis goalkeeper who manages to keep it out. We are only 20 minutes in but the game is starting to take it's shape and it's looking a lot more like the Real Madrid of last season, absolutely relentless. Minutes later, Vini Jr links up with Mbappe (a common theme of the night), who scuffs his shot but that makes it difficult for Silva to deal with as it loops towards the goal, well dealt with by the Betis keeper, who has been busy so far! We had one more effort from Mbappe who fires wide from a really fine angle and then we headed into the drinks break, here's what we've learned from the opening half an hour:

"Madrid are looking dangerous in the final third but Betis have been able to break the defensive and midfield lines quite a lot, down the wings or even down the center, good contest so far."

(@LaLigaRoundUp on X)

Although the report to this point hasn't really shown much to talk about for Betis, they have been solid in the middle of the park, winning quite a lot of yards when needed and stretching the Madrid defensive line often, but the sheer attacking power of the front 3 or 4 Madrid players are looking ready for a match tonight and making it really difficult for the visitors to really get a foot in. The rest of the half is much the same, at around 40 minutes, Sabaly tries to break through the Madrid defensive line but is blocked which led to a Vini Jr breakaway with a resulting shot that went wide. The hosts reminding Betis that they can also do their own breakaway chances. The end of the half was finished by Rodrygo's shot into the side netting in extra time, half of the Bernabeu had thought that had gone in! By the end of the first half, this was still 0-0 but it seemed to be only a matter of time before one of these sides, probably the home side, to find the breakthrough goal.

Second half kicks off, Betis start the way they started the first, immediate pressure. Ceballos, who has had a great game taking up the Tony Kroos role at Madrid, was caught out with the ball at his feet, the chance, luckily, didn't get any further than that. This was a real showing of the intent of the away team as they mean to go on as they started. After this though, Vini Jr strikes the ball of the the post and it cannons back to Mbappe who can't figure his feet out fast enough from point blank range and he skies the ball over the open net. This was the beginning of the onslaught from the home side, after some back and forth in the middle of the pitch, Valverde strikes from distance again, this time it was met by Silva who parry's the ball away with his fists. The next real attack comes from Betis, as Ceballos is caught out again, Sabaly plays the ball through to Abde who hits the ball into the side netting, Courtois was not going to get beaten at his near post. The move seemed to be shifting into Betis' favour when Roque also had a chance on goal 5 minutes later on the hour mark, Courtois again, deals easily with this attempt. This is the first real clear chance that Betis has had throughout the hour of the game. All of this good work from Betis to try and get a foothold in the match was undone by a piece of individual brilliance by Valverde however - the ball was played to him on the edge of the Betis box, he somehow managed to see the space for Mbappe and cheekily backheels the ball through three defenders, wrongfooting each of them and allowing the Frenchman to have a 1 on 1 with the goalkeeper. Mbappe does what we have expected him to do since joining Madrid in the summer, and opens his account with a ball past the advancing silva, finally we have a goal in this game and finally Mbappe has started his Real Madrid goal tally. 1 - 0 to the home side. This seemed to have opened the floodgates because not 10 minutes later, Vini Jr goes on a signature run into the box from a wide position, takes on defenders at speed but is then taken down by the goalkeeper, let's have a look at VAR...Penalty! Vini hands the ball to Mbappe and well, we know what happens next. The ball rockets into the opposite corner of the diving Silva to double the lead and also double his goal count, from 0 goals to 2 in one match, if he keeps this up, the golden boot will be an interesting race this season. After this goal the home side, much like their city rivals Atletico Madrid, locked the game down pretty comfortably. At the 85 minute mark, the Betis legs and minds were looking tired and they were struggling to counter as well as they did in the first half. The tired minds also leading to mistakes as well, too many passes in advanced positions, too many men taken on in the dribble, it was exhaustion. The most exciting parts of the closing minutes came in the final 5 minutes - Endrick had come on and with his first touch, tested Silva, an instant impact and a near goal with his first touch. Countryman Roque went down the other side and gets the ball played to him but Rudiger and Carvajal team up to tidy up the defensive line. Betis weren't giving up at all but Madrid also stayed alert until the end of the match. This was the final action of the match and when the referee blew the final whistle, the Betis players looked dead on their feet, it was a hard fought game against a very organised and star studded home side who came away as the victors and have started to look like their season will be one to watch (as always).

MVP of the Match - Kylian Mbappe

La Liga Round Up's MVP - Vinicius Junior

La Liga Round Up's Honourable Mentions - Valverde, Brahim Diaz, Sabaly, Carvalho, Vitor Roque