Real Madrid crashed to their first defeat of the season as they lost 1-0 to Real Betis at La Cartuja in Seville on Friday night, with Troy Parrott becoming the fourth Irishman to score in La Liga and the first to score against Real Madrid in the competition.
6 – Of the last 8 meetings where Real Madrid have dropped points against Betis
Betis have become something of a bogey team for Real Madrid in recent years, only winning two of their last eight fixtures against the Verdiblancos from Seville. Over the last 10 seasons, Betis have been the team with the most matches in which
it earned points against Real Madrid with 12, level with Atlético Madrid, the team with the most clean sheets against Real Madrid, eight, and the second-highest-scoring team against Real Madrid in terms of points with 22.
12 – Years since Real Madrid last lost a game on Matchday 4 or earlier
Defeat on matchday four is Real Madrid’s earliest league defeat since 2014, when there was a 4-2 away defeat to Real Sociedad on matchday two. But… the last time they lost their first game on matchday four was 1-0 vs Levante in 2011. That was the year Los Blancos went on to win La Liga under José Mourinho with 100 points. Less positively, a 1-0 defeat to Real Betis was also the score in Real Madrid’s first defeat of the campaign in 2017/18, when they finished third in La Liga, coming on matchday five.
3.16 – xG, the highest Real Madrid xG without scoring on record
With xG stats available dating back to the start of the 2020/21 season, Real Madrid have never failed to score after recording 3.16 expected goals in a single game. That is 0.98 higher than any other xG recorded without scoring over the last six seasons. Kylian Mbappé led the way with 1.78 xG on Friday night despite failing to score, taking his tally for the season to 5.99 xG, almost two goals expected more than his actual goal return of four.
5 – Yellow cards to José Mourinho as Real Madrid coach
For the first time in 13 years, José Mourinho was shown a card in the Real Madrid dugout. This was his fourth in La Liga, his first since February 7th, 2013, as he was shown a yellow card by referee Alejandro Hernández Hernández for dissent. It was one of five yellow cards to Real Madrid players on the night, including Vinícius Júnior for his protests after the final whistle.
7 – Chances created by Arda Güler
One of Real Madrid’s brightest sparks was coming from Turkish sensation Arda Güler. He created seven chances in total, worth 0.68 expected assists, three more and 0.19 more than his next most creative team-mate, Jude Bellingham. Even so, he was hooked on 64 minutes for Yan Diomande, with Mourinho pointing to ““a risk situation” with his yellow card.
5 – Players to miss a decisive penalty in injury-time for Real Madrid
Kylian Mbappé enters the record books as the first player ever to miss an injury-time penalty for Real Madrid when it could have given the team an equaliser. There have been four others to miss decisive penalties when the scoreline was level, including Alfredo Di Stéfano twice, Paul Breitner, Raúl and Ronaldo Nazario, the last man to do so in a draw with Valencia in 2006.
