Joaquin breaks into the Madrid half after some good short passing from Betis to get through the press. The ball gets out to Tello on the left, who wins a corner for the hosts.
90'
There are four added minutes.
88'
Loren Morón enters the game and replaces A. Sanabria.
Dani Ceballos has scored a goal for Real Madrid!
Sanabria has had a very quiet evening. He is replaced by Loren.
GOAAAAAL! CEBALLOS! Ceballos gives Real Madrid a 2-1 lead against his former team with a brilliant, low free-kick into the bottom-right corner. Late drama!
86'
William Carvalho gets yellow.
Carvalho clumsily fouls Casemiro as Madrid counter-attack. He is immediately shown a yellow card.
85'
R. Boudebouz enters the game and replaces A. Guardado.
Barragan crosses from the right and finds Tello in space on the far side of the area. Tello goes for the spectacular with a first-time left-footed volley and slices it horribly wide.
Boudebouz comes on for Guardado as Setien looks for a winner.
83'
Joaquin receives the ball with the chance to break and plays it back to his defenders. Madrid press high yet again and force a misplaced pass from Bartra, which goes out for a throw.
82'
Brahim Díaz enters the game and replaces F. Valverde.
Diaz, who arrived from Manchester City earlier this month, is introduced in place of Valverde.
81'
Betis opt to put this corner into the area and it is headed clear. The ball quickly ends up back with Lopez.
80'
Barragan is making the Madrid defenders work hard down the flank. He wins another corner.
Minute
Description
78'
Navas reads the corner delivery well and catches it cleanly.
Lo Celso is given a bit of time on the edge of the area. He shoots and it is blocked. Shortly after, Betis force another corner.
76'
Tello delivers a scuffed left-footed cross and Madrid make a mess of clearing it. Varane is forced to put it behind for a corner.
75'
Ramos covers a lot of ground to stop Canales getting a cross in from the right. It goes out for a corner and Betis take it short.
74'
Dani Ceballos enters the game and replaces Sergio Reguilón.
Reguilon is taken off and replaced by former Betis man Ceballos.
73'
Bartra tries an ambitious pass down the left and overhits it. The ball goes out for a throw.
72'
Barragan is left in space on the right again and delivers a low cross. Ramos is at the near post to clear it.
71'
Betis counter rapidly after clearing a Modric free-kick, but Madrid get behind the ball quickly and prevent the hosts from getting off a shot.
70'
There is brief confrontation between Bartra and Vinicius after the defender challenged the teenager for an aerial ball.
68'
GOAL! Canales makes it 1-1! VAR overrules the on-field decision and gives Betis the goal. Canales timed his run to perfection, took a touch and toe-poked it past Navas as he rushed out.
67'
Cristian Tello enters the game and replaces Francis.
Sergio Canales has scored a goal for Real Betis! Assist by G. Lo Celso.
Francis comes off for Tello, who will slot in on the left flank.
Lo Celso was given time and space between the lines to slide a pass behind the defence for Canales to run on to.
64'
Francis tries to play Canales in down the wing with an outside-the-boot pass. He misjudges it, and Madrid win the ball back.
62'
F. Valverde gets yellow.
Valverde goes into the book for pulling Lo Celso back on the halfway line.
61'
Another Francis cross is cleared, but it only gets as far as Guardado on the edge of the box. The midfielder sets himself and unleashes a left-footed volley, which goes just wide.
60'
Francis cuts back onto his right to cross from the left. No Betis player challenges for the ball, though, and Madrid head it to safety.
58'
Joaquin gets a rare opportunity in behind. He carries the ball to the byline and hits it across goal, but there is no Betis player in the six-yard box to tap it into the net.
57'
Francis and Joaquin exchange passes out on the left flank. Modric is back supporting Carvajal and neither try to take on a defender.
55'
The game is taking a similar pattern in the second half to the first. Betis have had nearly 80% possession, but they are not doing a great deal with it.
53'
Vinicius spins his defender to chase a throughball. It is marginally overhit, though, and Lopez slides out to claim.
51'
Guardado gets a cross in at the near post, which Sanabria attacks. Varane tries to clear, but his feet are in a mess and the ball goes behind for a Betis corner.
Barragan goes to ground as he competes for a header from the corner. He appeals for a penalty, but the referee is not remotely interested.
49'
Lo Celso beats a couple of players in midfield and picks out Joaquin on the left flank. Madrid get back behind the ball, though, and Joaquin is forced to pass back into midfield.
47'
The resulting corner is met by Varane, but his header hits a defender and loops in the air. Lopez catches it and distributes to his defence.
46'
Cristo González enters the game and replaces K. Benzema.
Gonzalez replaces Benzema, who suffered a finger injury in first half stoppage time.
The referee blows his whistle and we are back underway!
Reguilon gets into Betis' half almost straight from the kick off and has a shot from range. It is blocked and goes behind for a corner.
45' +3
HALF-TIME: REAL BETIS 0-1 REAL MADRID
45'
There are two added minutes.
44'
Francis is played in down the left by Joaquin and decides against a first-time cross. He squares up Carvajal and eventually gets in a weak cross. It is easily cleared.
42'
Sergio Ramos gets yellow.
Canales takes the free-kick with his left and it goes a couple of yards wide of Navas' goal.
Ramos is shown a yellow card for taking down Lo Celso as Betis try to counter-attack.
41'
Guardado receives the ball on the half-turn between the lines and runs towards goal. Ramos and Casemiro quickly close on the Betis midfielder and foul him. The free-kick is central and around 25 yards from goal.
39'
Valverde clears the ball and Modric tries to chase after it, but he is blocked off as he begins to sprint. No free kick is given.
37'
Varane won the header from the following corner. He was challenged, and did not make great contact. His effort went well wide.
36'
Vinicius plays Reguilon in on the overlap down the left. Barragan is the man again as he blocks the cross behind for a corner.
35'
L. Modrić gets yellow.
Modric clatters Joaquin with a hard sliding challenge. Joaquin is unimpressed with the tackle. Modric is shown a yellow card.
34'
What a challenge! Valverde goes clear on goal and gets the ball trapped under his feet. Barragan does brilliantly to get back and make a perfect slide tackle before he can shoot.
33'
Casemiro is slightly late with a slide tackle to concede a free-kick inside the Madrid half. Canales and Joaquin are over the ball again.
31'
Valverde takes the ball forward as Madrid break yet again. He plays it out to Benzema, but his pass is mishit, which slows down the move. Betis get enough men back to avoid conceding a goal scoring opportunity.
29'
Modric takes the resulting corner and fails to beat the first man.
28'
Francis wins a throw-in off of Carvajal after some high pressing from Madrid as Betis try to play out from the back. Betis then concede a throw-in to Madrid which leads to a corner for the visitors.
27'
Betis have a brief period of possession in Madrid's third. Carvalho and Joaquin decline attempting a final ball and take the safe option. Joaquin eventually tries to cross to Barragan, but it is overhit and goes out of play.
26'
Lo Celso gets a minor applause from the home crowd for a weak shot from distance. It was Betis' first shot.
25'
Modric shapes to shoot with his right from 25 yards. He shifts the ball back onto his left and goes for goal, but it sails high over the bar.
24'
Lopez takes a risk with a pass into midfield, but Guardado accelerates to beat Modric to the ball and avoid an interception.
23'
Canales and Joaquin stand over a free-kick on the left. Canales takes the set piece and it is headed clear by Nacho. Vinicius chases Francis after the clearance and wins a throw for Madrid up the pitch.
21'
Vinicius beats a couple of defenders on the left and cuts the ball onto his right foot for a curling shot. It is easily saved by Lopez.
18'
Madrid are looking very comfortable once they can sit deep in their own half. Betis' build-up has been very patient so far.
16'
Vinicius beats his man out on the right flank and delivers a cross to Reguilon at the back post. The wing-back attempts a first time volley. It goes straight into the ground and bounces wide for a corner.
13'
L. Modrić has scored a goal for Real Madrid!
GOAAAAAL! MODRIC! The ball bounces to Modric on the edge of the area after a Carvajal shot. The midfielder takes a step to the ball and smashes it into the net with his left.
12'
Madrid play themselves into a bit of trouble in their own half. Valverde does well to get to the ball first and maintain possession.
11'
Barragan is found in space on the right. He gets the ball out of his feet to cross quickly. It is poorly executed, though, and is headed clear.
9'
Betis are quickly looking for the pass in behind the defence. They have been well-directed thus far, but Madrid's offside trap is working well against Sanabria.
8'
Modric is playing in a slightly more advanced role than expected. The Croatian is alongside Vinicius, playing behind Benzema.
6'
Canales and Sanabria try to link up in the final third after Modric lost the ball in midfield. Canales tries a flick to Lo Celso, but he loses possession.
5'
Madrid have a free-kick in a good position after Guardado's foul. Ramos steps up to take it and it goes into the wall.
4'
A. Guardado gets yellow.
Vinicius wins possession in midfield and runs at the Betis defence. Guardado chases the youngster down and makes a sliding challenge from behind that sees him shown a yellow card.
3'
Navas rushes out to claim a throughball, but the linesman's flag is raised as Sanabria was offside.
1'
The referee blows his whistle and we are underway!
Real Madrid start with a very high press as Betis play out from the back. Carvalho spins on the ball to keep possession from Valverde.
Good evening and welcome to the live commentary of the LaLiga match between Real Betis and Real Madrid.
Real Betis have enjoyed a good season so far but have had a blip of late. A draw with Eibar was followed by a shock loss to Huesca, which has dropped them down to seventh. Los Verdiblancos boast a strong record at home, having not lost in their last seven matches at the Benito Villamarin in all competitions. Quique Setien will fancy his side’s chances against an underachieving Real Madrid.
Real Madrid are down in fifth, though they can move back into the Champions League places with a victory tonight. A poor performance and defeat at home to Real Sociedad last time out has heaped pressure on the European champions. Madrid have been terrible away from home this season, winning just three of their nine matches on the road in LaLiga. Santiago Solari’s tenure started well, but he needs a result here after the loss to Sociedad.
SUBS: Sergio Leon, Loren Moron, Zouhair Feddal, Joel Robles, Ryad Boudebouz, Javi Garcia, Cristian Tello.
REAL BETIS (4-3-3): Pau Lopez; Antonio Barragan, Aissa Mandi, Marc Bartra, Francis; Giovani Lo Celso, William Carvalho, Andres Guardado; Joaquin, Antonio Sanabria, Sergio Canales.
REAL MADRID (3-5-2): Keylor Navas; Raphael Varane, Sergio Ramos, Nacho; Daniel Carvajal, Luka Modric, Casemiro, Federico Valverde, Sergio Reguilon; Vinicius Junior, Karim Benzema.
Real Madrid are dealing with a lot of injuries at the moment, including to Gareth Bale and Toni Kroos. Solari still makes three changes to the side that beat Leganes in the cup, however, with Varane, Modric and Carvajal starting in place of Lucas Vazquez, Odriozola and Ceballos. Vazquez is suspended for this one, but that is still not enough for Isco to get a rare start. Thibaut Courtois is out for a couple of weeks with injury, which allows Navas to retain his place in goal. January signing Diaz made his debut against Leganes and is on the bench again for this one.
Real Madrid lead Real Betis 1-0 at half-time thanks to a great strike from Modric. Betis have dominated possession but have lacked creativity with Madrid happy to sit very deep in their own half.
Solari will be very pleased to see his change of system working so well. The back five has limited Betis to just a handful of shots, and Vinicius looks a constant threat on the break. Setien’s change of formation has not had the same impact. Betis have been pedestrian in possession and have not caused the visitors any problems. Setien might be considering bringing Tello off the bench to add some pace to an attack that has been very short of ideas.
That concludes our coverage of the LaLiga match between Real Betis and Real Madrid. Until next time, goodbye.
Solari will be absolutely delighted with the result and a solid defensive performance. It’s the second leg against Leganes up next for Madrid, after that they face a challenging home LaLiga clash with Sevilla. This victory puts Madrid back into the Champions League places and level on points with third-placed Sevilla. Setien will be pleased with his side’s improvement in the second half, though creativity is still a massive issue. Betis have picked up one point in their last three league outings and will drop down to seventh if Espanyol win on Monday. They face Girona, who are only two points behind them, in their next league match.
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