Real Madrid's Frustrating Night Against Betis: Valles Shines
Real Madrid discovered the hard way what a real test feels like this season. The problem wasn’t creating chances. It was finishing them.
They hit the woodwork three times. They missed a penalty. And every time it looked like the net was about to bulge, Álvaro Valles threw himself in the way and ripped the script to pieces.
At the centre of it all: Kylian Mbappé. And a 94th-minute penalty that summed up his night.
Valles’ masterpiece, Mbappé’s torment
Mbappé had chances of every flavour. One-on-ones, shots from angles he usually devours, runs in behind that leave defenders for dead. He kept finding space, kept pulling the trigger. He also kept finding Valles.
The Betis goalkeeper denied him “in almost every way imaginable” across the night, and the final act came deep into stoppage time. Mbappé stepped up from the spot with the game hanging in the balance. Valles guessed right, saved, and La Cartuja erupted.
For a few seconds, the drama didn’t end there. Mbappé looked close to being handed a lifeline, with the possibility of the penalty being retaken hovering over the stadium. But Hernández Hernández made his decision. No repeat. No rescue. The referee’s call will be argued over for hours.
Madrid’s No 9 walked away as the clearest image of his team’s frustration: a star forward with a “good handful” of gilt-edged chances and nothing to show for it.
Offside flag adds fuel to the fire
Valles didn’t just shut the door on Mbappé. He also got in the way of two dangerous headers, one from Jude Bellingham and another from Espí, stretching his frame and his night into something close to career-defining.
Even then, Madrid thought they had finally broken him near the 90th minute. The Valencia forward did find a way past the keeper, only for the celebrations to be cut short. The move was pulled back for an earlier offside. Goal disallowed, tension amplified.
Between the late offside and the penalty decision, the post-match debate writes itself. Two key moments, both going against Madrid, both guaranteed to dominate the conversation.
Bellingham fades in the heat
Bellingham, so often the heartbeat of this Madrid side in the opening weeks, never quite found his rhythm. From almost the first whistle he looked heavy-legged, as if the suffocating heat at La Cartuja had wrapped itself around him and refused to let go.
He still ran. He still tried to knit play together and arrive in the box. But the usual sharpness wasn’t there. The touches that normally slice teams open became half-moments. Aside from a couple of flashes, he was far from the ruthless, decisive figure Madrid have leaned on.
Even then, he came close. Only Valles and the crossbar stopped him from adding another goal to his early-season tally.
Vini vs Bellerín: a duel with a twist
On the left, Vinícius also lived a complicated night. He repeatedly squared up to Héctor Bellerín and, more often than not, the Betis full-back came out on top. One-on-ones that Vini usually wins ended with Bellerín stepping in, clearing his lines, and growing in confidence.
Yet the Brazilian refused to disappear. He kept driving at his marker, kept forcing situations, and that stubbornness paid off when he won the late penalty that could have changed everything for Los Blancos.
Earlier, he too had rattled the woodwork after one of Madrid’s best attacking moves of the first half. Another near-miss. Another reminder that the performance was there, but the finish was not.
By the final whistle, Madrid had a catalogue of chances, three efforts off the frame, a disallowed goal, and a last-gasp penalty saved. Valles walked away with one of the finest nights of his career. Madrid walked away knowing that on evenings like this, wastefulness doesn’t just hurt. It defines you.
