Real Madrid were forced to settle for a 1-1 draw as they made a visit to Real Betis and the Estadio Benito Villamarín in Seville on Saturday afternoon.
The visitors were the first side on the scoresheet as Jude Bellingham added another goal to his record for the season, linking up with Brahim Díaz to make it 1-0 in the second half. Shortly after, with Real Madrid seemingly in control, Betis hit back as Aitor Ruibal smashed a rocket into the back of the net from distance.
Here are three stats that help to tell the tale of the game.
12: Number of consecutive wins when Jude Bellingham scored, until Saturday
This was the first time that Jude Bellingham has not been on the winning team when he’s been on the scoresheet for Real Madrid. It seems hard to believe given quite how prolific he has been, but it’s a stat which follows him throughout his career and you’d have to go back to November 2022 for the last time he scored but his team failed to win, as Borussia Dortmund secured a 1-1 draw against Sevilla in the Champions League group stages.
Since then, he has scored 24 goals in 19 different games. Of those, 15 have been for Real Madrid and all in games which have ended in victory for Los Blancos. From 40 games in which he has scored in his career to date for club and country, 33 have ended with a win, while three have been draws and four have resulted in defeat.
In Seville on Saturday afternoon, he added another to his tally for the season in LALIGA to 12. That is three more than the next highest scorer, Atlético Madrid’s Antoine Griezmann, who is on nine.
0.54: Goals prevented by Andriy Lunin, according to xG
There was a lot of talk leading up to this game regarding which of the two shotstoppers would be the one to start between the sticks for Carlo Ancelotti. The Italian had previously claimed that Kepa would start following his return to fitness, but has been on the bench against Granada and now Betis.
Lunin continued for his sixth game in a row and was highly unfortunate not to keep a fourth clean sheet during that run. Aitor Ruibal’s effort from outside the box was unstoppable, even for an in-form Lunin who could do nothing about the goal.
In total, he faced 1.54 xGoT, a measure used to reflect how likely a shot is to be a goal taking into account its placement and speed. Lunin was only beaten by one goal, with Ruibal’s effort worth 0.39 xGoT, and as such is deemed to have prevented 0.54 xGoT.
Kepa will be looking to Union Berlin on Tuesday as an opportunity for Ancelotti to rotate, otherwise he will be waiting even longer for a chance to return to action.
70: Minutes for Luka Modrić for the third start in a row
Luka Modrić returned to the team after a knock against Cádiz saw him miss the game against Granada, and as such, he made only his eighth start of the season. What is notable is that he has completed 90 minutes only once. In this game, Carlo Ancelotti withdrew him on 70 minutes for the third time in a row, following his withdrawals in the same minute against Cádiz and Rayo Vallecano on his two latest starts.
The veteran looked far from happy as he failed to complete the full 90 minutes yet again. The only time he has done so at club level this season was against Braga in the Champions League, while he has completed the full 90 for his country four times since the start of the 2023/24 campaign.
Coming back from a knock, it makes sense that Ancelotti may not wish to risk playing him for longer, and he also knows that his midfield options are limited and that there will be a game in Berlin and another back in Madrid to play in the next eight days.
