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Sports / Sat, 05 Sep 2026 Managing Madrid

Five Bullet Points From Real Madrid’s Loss To Real Betis

We just happened to play the freak version where Kylian Mbappe missed a penalty, three big chances, and then Vinicius missed a big chance, Espi had bad luck, and Real Madrid squandered an xG of nearly four. The math checks out: Real Madrid were mostly good but didn’t score, somehow. What should’ve happened was Real Madrid go up one or two goals by half-time, Bellingham and Güler get a deserved assist each, then Real Betis open up in the second half and get cooked. Also: Real Madrid are generally terrible at the Benito Villamarin in the last few years. How many league titles do Real Madrid have in the past 20 years again?

I’m not pushing a panic button. I realize that what I’m about to say will come across as ‘low standards’, ‘acceptance of mediocrity’, ‘a moral victory’, etc — but I will say it anyway and with my chest: If you replay this game 10 more times, Real Madrid wins it 10 times. We just happened to play the freak version where Kylian Mbappe missed a penalty, three big chances, and then Vinicius missed a big chance, Espi had bad luck, and Real Madrid squandered an xG of nearly four. The math checks out: Real Madrid were mostly good but didn’t score, somehow. What should’ve happened was Real Madrid go up one or two goals by half-time, Bellingham and Güler get a deserved assist each, then Real Betis open up in the second half and get cooked. But also, all that to say: Real Madrid didn’t deserve to win just because they created more chances, and I just made up a scenario to make myself feel better — possibly because I feel numb to the way the last two seasons have gone. Also: Real Madrid are generally terrible at the Benito Villamarin in the last few years. But, at some point, you have to stop using past precedence as an excuse to lose. How many league titles do Real Madrid have in the past 20 years again? Answer: Not enough.

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