{"id":22443,"date":"2025-03-01T22:50:10","date_gmt":"2025-03-01T22:50:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/?p=22443"},"modified":"2025-03-01T22:50:10","modified_gmt":"2025-03-01T22:50:10","slug":"la-liga-iscos-penalty-stuns-real-madrid-in-betis-victory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/?p=22443","title":{"rendered":"La Liga: Isco\u2019s penalty stuns Real Madrid in Betis victory"},"content":{"rendered":"

Agency Report<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

La Liga champions Real Madrid suffered a setback in their title defence with a 2-1 defeat at Real Betis on Saturday.<\/span><\/p>\n

Isco scored the winner from the penalty spot against his former side, who are level on points with league leaders Barcelona, who face Real Sociedad on Sunday.<\/span><\/p>\n

Atletico Madrid, in third, host Athletic Bilbao later on Saturday and can move top with a victory.<\/span><\/p>\n

Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti picked a strong line-up, with no room for error in the title race, despite the impending Champions League clash against city rivals Atletico.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIf we play like this on Tuesday (against Atletico), we will not win,\u201d said Ancelotti.<\/span><\/p>\n

The visitors took the lead at the Benito Villamar\u00edn Stadium through Brahim D\u00edaz, but Betis struck back with a Johnny Cardoso header, as Real Madrid missed the suspended Jude Bellingham.<\/span><\/p>\n

Isco secured the Andalusian side a deserved victory with a penalty early in the second half.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a big blow. We have to react,\u201d Ancelotti continued.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe started well, but later we did not have the same level of commitment. The game got out of control against a side that played better than us and deserved to win.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Isco returned to action in December after missing several months with a broken leg and has hit top form in recent weeks.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m dead\u2026 it takes so much work to win games. Against Madrid, who have so many options, it\u2019s very hard,\u201d an exhausted Isco told Movistar.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAbout halfway through the first half, we stepped up our game, and I\u2019m happy with the win against the best team around these days.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The 32-year-old playmaker said he always has \u201cMadrid in my heart\u201d after winning several major trophies with the Spanish giants before departing in 2022.
\nMbapp\u00e9 Subbed
\nMadrid started the stronger and opened the scoring after just 10 minutes, putting together a fine team move with 19 passes before D\u00edaz tucked home.<\/span><\/p>\n

Kylian Mbapp\u00e9 sliced open the Betis defence with a ball to Ferland Mendy in front of goal, and the defender squared for D\u00edaz to convert.<\/span><\/p>\n

Betis found their footing, and neither team was able to create danger until the hosts levelled midway through the first half.<\/span><\/p>\n

Cardoso powered a header past Thibaut Courtois from Isco\u2019s corner after escaping the attention of Madrid\u2019s defence.<\/span><\/p>\n

Manchester United winger Antony, on loan at Betis, was sent off last
\nweekend, but his red card was revoked, enabling him to face Madrid, and he was increasingly involved.<\/span><\/p>\n

Courtois pulled off a superb save after a ball bounced towards his goal off the back of Aur\u00e9lien Tchouam\u00e9ni.<\/span><\/p>\n

Madrid began to lose possession frequently, and without Bellingham\u2019s dynamism in midfield, they were outfought by Betis.<\/span><\/p>\n

Manuel Pellegrini\u2019s side were in the ascendancy and took the lead early in the second half from the penalty spot when Antonio R\u00fcdiger crashed into Jes\u00fas Rodr\u00edguez as he ran in on goal.<\/span><\/p>\n

Isco, enjoying a resurgence at Betis, smashed home from the spot against his former side for his sixth goal across all competitions.<\/span><\/p>\n

Tchouam\u00e9ni was fortunate to escape punishment after clipping Ricardo Rodr\u00edguez inside Madrid\u2019s area, and Cucho Hern\u00e1ndez dragged a shot wide of Courtois\u2019 far post when well placed.<\/span><\/p>\n

For the final 15 minutes, Ancelotti replaced Mbapp\u00e9, who had dental trouble ahead of the game, with Brazilian teenager Endrick, who had scored in the Copa del Rey in midweek.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHe had that (tooth) problem; he hadn\u2019t trained a lot,\u201d explained Ancelotti.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHe was not at his best level, and to avoid problems, I took him off and put on Endrick, who has been doing well.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Endrick fired wide, and Betis goalkeeper Adri\u00e1n kept out a stinging drive from range by Vin\u00edcius as Madrid came up short.<\/span><\/p>\n

AFP<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

La Liga champions Real Madrid suffered a setback in their title defence with a 2-1 defeat at Real Betis on Saturday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22444,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[6345,10217,586,6610,58,263],"class_list":["post-22443","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-betis","tag-isco","tag-la-liga","tag-penalty","tag-real-madrid","tag-victory"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22443"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=22443"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22443\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22445,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22443\/revisions\/22445"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/22444"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=22443"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=22443"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=22443"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}