Real Betis vs Real Madrid Preview: The One Away Trip Madrid Keep Failing to Solve

Real Madrid arrive in Seville with a perfect record and ten goals from three matches. They also arrive at the away ground where they have not won in four years. Something has to give on Friday night at La Cartuja.

Perfect Against Everyone Except This Ground

Three league matches, three wins, ten goals, two conceded. José Mourinho's second spell in Madrid could hardly have started better: 4-1 against Real Sociedad on the opening night, a harder-fought 2-1 at Espanyol, then a 4-0 dismissal of newly promoted Málaga last Sunday in which Jude Bellingham opened the scoring and Kylian Mbappé and Arda Güler finished the job. Madrid are level with Barcelona on nine points at the top of the table and look like the most complete side in the division through three rounds.

And yet this fixture keeps biting them. Madrid have not won any of their last four visits to Betis, a run that stretches back to a 1-0 win in August 2021. The most recent trip, in April at La Cartuja, ended 1-1 after Héctor Bellerín's late equaliser cancelled out a Madrid lead. Betis, for their part, know exactly what is coming and have the results to suggest they can handle it: 1-0 against Real Sociedad and 1-0 at Valencia either side of a 5-2 defeat at Levante that exposed a defence Madrid will immediately test.

Head-to-Head: Betis 1, Madrid 2, 2 Draws in the Last Five

Across the last five the aggregate is 9-5 to Madrid, but almost all of that damage was done at the Bernabéu. In the two meetings played on Betis soil, Betis have won one and drawn one without ever trailing at full time. Friday is the first time this fixture is played at La Cartuja as a league match since April, when it produced the equaliser Betis fans will still be talking about.

Four Things to Watch in Seville

1. Can any defence live with Mbappé right now?

Four goals in three league appearances, a league-leading fourteen shots on target, and goals in each of Madrid's last two league games. Mbappé is the early top-scorer favourite and the reason Madrid's perfect start has looked comfortable rather than lucky. Betis conceded five at Levante last weekend; whatever else Pellegrini fixes before Friday, that is the number that will be circling in the home side's planning meetings.

2. Betis's answer runs through Riquelme and Isco

Rodrigo Riquelme is Betis's leading scorer with two goals from three matches and scored in the defeat at Levante, and he remains their most reliable route to goal in transition. Behind him, Isco's ability to receive between the lines is the one thing that consistently destabilises Madrid's midfield in this fixture. If Betis are to extend Madrid's winless run in Seville to a fifth match, it will likely come from those two combining on the break.

3. Two exhausted injury lists, one shared European Tuesday

Both squads are stretched. Betis are without Diego Conde, Giovani Lo Celso and Aitor Ruibal, and Dani Ceballos, who rejoined from Madrid this summer, is racing to be fit to face his former club. Madrid's list is longer: Raúl Asencio, Ferland Mendy, Thiago Pitarch and Rodrygo are out, Éder Militão is still working back from a serious hamstring problem, and both Endrick and Aurélien Tchouaméni face late fitness tests. Add the fact that both clubs open their Champions League campaigns on Tuesday, Betis away at Lille in their first appearance in the competition for 21 years, and rotation is a live possibility for both managers.

4. The first twenty minutes and the set-piece trade

Madrid have scored early in consecutive league games, and Vinícius Júnior in particular has a habit of striking inside the opening quarter-hour. Betis, for their part, have kept two clean sheets in three and conceded three of their five league goals in a single collapse. Whoever scores first on Friday probably decides how the night is spent: Betis chasing an equaliser against a side that has won every time it led this season, or Betis sitting in and letting La Cartuja do the rest.

Predicted Lineups

Key Battle: Mbappé vs the Betis Back Line

The single most important contest of the night is on Madrid's left, where Mbappé will attack whichever of Betis's centre-backs steps out first. Betis conceded five at Levante partly because the line was pulled apart in transition, and Madrid's front four is the most expensive transition unit they will face this season. If Natan and Llorente hold their spacing and Bellerín and Fran García tuck in quickly, Betis can survive the first half and make the crowd a factor.

The reverse duel matters just as much. Isco drifting into the pocket between Madrid's double pivot is where Betis have hurt Madrid in each of the last two meetings in Seville, and with Tchouaméni a doubt, the screen in front of the Madrid back four may be thinner than usual. Isco's positioning against Valverde is the tactical chess match underneath everything else.

What to Wear on Friday Night

Seville on a Friday night is green and white in the stands and white in the away end. Here are the shirts that fit the occasion, whether you are backing the hosts or the visitors.

Real Madrid 26/27

Swipe to browse 4 shirts

Real Madrid 26/27 Home Shirt

$38.90

Real Madrid 26/27 Away Shirt

$38.90

Real Madrid 26/27 Third Shirt

$38.90

Women Real Madrid 26/27 Home Shirt

$38.90

Real Betis

Swipe to browse 3 green-and-white shirts

Real Betis Home Jersey 2026/27

$35.99

Real Betis 2026/27 Away Unisex Jersey - Green & Gold Soccer Shirt

$38.90

Real Betis Third Shirt 2025/26

$35.99

Around La Liga

Swipe to browse 2 more Spanish-club shirts

Atletico Madrid Home Shirt 2026/27

$35.99

Villarreal Home Shirt 2026/27

$35.99

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