In April, Real Madrid has only won once. In fact, Bayern Munich kicked Arbeloa’s side out of the Champions League after beating them in both legs. In La Liga, the defeat against Real Mallorca and draws against Girona and Real Betis made Real Madrid trail Barcelona by 11 points, which skyrocketed the odds of another trophyless season for the second year in a row.
Real Madrid’s game against Real Betis was extracted from the book of Los Blancos’ misery across the 2025/2026 season. Statistically, the numbers
were close between both teams, which was mirrored by the final score, as well.
There were plenty of negatives to draw from the clash. Nevertheless, Real Madrid was capable of cutting through Real Betis’ zonal block, but problems of positioning and final decisions across the last line prevented the white team from creating enough threat.
In settled possession, Real Madrid lined up in a 2-3-5 shape, in which Arnold indented into the right half-space and tended to switch positions with Bellingham. On the left, Vinicius Junior hugged the touchlines, with Thiago Pitarch roaming inside.
Real Madrid had Dean Huijsen to slide line-breaking passes to Pitarch between the lines. To elaborate, Antony kept tabs on Ferland Mendy, with Hector Bellerin ready to step out on Vinicius. Marc Bartra took charge of Kylian Mbappé, with Soufiane Amrabat attempting to withdraw toward the French striker.
Hence, Pitrach was free between the lines to receive. However, Amrabat and Antony doubled up on the Spanish midfielder, dispossessing him to regain possession. This result seemed inevitable to occur, as Thiago Pitrach’s options were limited and he had no space to keep advancing.
The main reason was that Kylian Mbappé didn’t challenge Real Betis’ backline to push them deeper toward their goal, which would put the hosts in a dilemma, whether to follow Mbappé, so the space between the lines would get stretched, or, they would ignore his movement and risk the space behind the defensive line getting exposed. However, Mbappé preferred the ball to his feet, which left Betis’ defenders in comfort, and they shrank the space between the lines with the support of the midfield line, swarming around Pitarch to recover the ball.
In this scene, Bellingham and Valverde, operating slightly close to the backline, drew Amrabat and Fidalgo’s attention. Meanwhile, Brahim Diaz, pushing on, dragged Natan and Rodriguez backward, whereas Pitarch’s position down the left half-space forced Fornals to cut off the passing lane between Fede Valverde and the Spanish midfielder. As a result, the Uruguayan midfielder was able to slice Real Betis open to access Mbappé in a space between the lines. The latter, standing on the ball longer, allowed Fidalgo to recover and dispossess Mbappé:
When depth and width were secured properly, Pitarch found himself free down the left half-space. Below, Mbappé pins the center-backs, with Vinicius Junior pulling out Bellerin. Antony attempts to block off the passing lane between Mendy and Pitarch. However, the latter advancing toward the space between Bellerin and Bartra unlocks a diagonal passing lane for Mendy to slide the ball to Pitarch. Again, the latter finds no options around him and decides to wait for Vinicius Junior. Pitrach dummies his backward movements to drag his marker and vacate the space behind Barta for Vinicius. That puts the Brazilian winger in a 1v1 situation against Bellerin. With Mendy’s underlap and Mbappé operating around the penalty area, Real Betis’ backline is pushed toward the goal. As a consequence, Brahim Diaz roams in free space at the edge of the box, readying himself to receive Vinicius’s cutback. Rodriguez cuts off Diaz’s pass to Arnold and initiates the counterattack. Arnold’s advanced position makes Real Madrid vulnerable as Rodriguez bypasses Bellingham and releases Ezzalzouli in the vacated space. The Moroccan winger spots Antony on the far side. Fortunately, Pitarch’s recovery run allows him to stop Real Betis’ proceedings.
In this sequence below, Mbappé and Vinicius’s positions anchored Real Betis’ backline. Brahim Diaz and Jude Bellingham swapped positions, which distracts Fidalgo and draws him forward. As the ball keeps moving backward, Betis’ midfield line pushes on. As a result, Real Madrid stretches Pellegrini’s team vertically. Valverde drops between the center-backs, which overloads Betis’s front line and allows him to advance around Bakambu. Valverde slides a line-breaking pass into the free Pitrach down the left half-space. From there, the latter accesses Vinicius Junior near the flanks. Betis’ backline is pushed deeper thanks to Mbappé and Bellingham’s forward movements. The English midfielder slightly withdraws at the edge of the box to receive Vinicius’ square pass and ship the ball to the right, where Diaz and Arnold outnumber Rodriguez. Arnold spots his compatriot around the penalty area; however, Fornals comes from behind, intercepting the pass.
Below, Pablo Fornals dropped to the midfield line to block off the passing lane toward Pitarch. However, Huijsen had another alternative, as he enticed Fornals to jump on and made use of the latter’s movement to break down Betis’s lines and find Mbappé in space between the lines. The French striker acted as a third man to link Huijsen and Pitarch. Additionally, Mbappé dropping in pulled Natan out of his position, which gave room for Bellingham to come from behind and exploit Natan’s evacuated area. Pitarch sent a through ball to set up the Englishman; however, the latter’s touch prevented him from continuing toward the goal:
Valverde and Huijsen added quality with their line-breaking passes behind Real Betis’s block. Moreover, Pitarch perfectly positioned himself between the lines to receive those deliveries. However, the attacks usually stopped at this point, because there were no forward movements or enough runs to disrupt Betis’ backline. The balance was off with the increase in ball-to-feet tendency from the likes of Vinicius and Mbappé.
