La Liga: Real Madrid seal hard-fought victory against Real Betis

Although Real Madrid weren’t at their fluid best, a goal from Daniel Carvajal sealed a gritty 1-0 win for Los Blancos against Real Betis in the La Liga encounter at Seville on Saturday.

While Real Madrid through Vinicius Jr. looked sharped in the opening minutes of the first half, the Green and Whites slowly grew into the game as they outclassed the capital city club in the middle of the club till the half-time whistle.

However, coming out after the break, Madrid upped their tempo as Vinicius kept causing the Betis backline world of problems. Finally, it was through the Brazilian’s effort, Real Madrid managed to take the lead when fullback Carvajal volleyed home a Karim Benzema cross at the 61-minute mark.  

After Vinicius’ exploits in the last game against Levante, where he came off the bench to score two goals and rescue Real Madrid, Carlo Ancelotti handed a start to the 21-year-old. 

Meanwhile, Eden Hazard lost his spot in the starting 11 amid rumours that he could be on the move to Juventus to fill the hole left by Cristiano Ronaldo’s return to Manchester United in this summer’s shuffle of soccer’s top stars.

Although Madrid had taken the lead, they were far from dominant in possession as Betis continued to create half-chances and failed to convert them. Their best opportunity to level the scores came in the final minute of the second-half injury time when Cristian Tello found himself with acres of space with just the goalkeeper to beat, but shot straight at Thibaut Courtois. 

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With the win, Los Blancos have amassed seven points from their first three away games and will return to a renovated Santiago Bernabeu in their next fixture against Celta Vigo in September.

The match was Madrid’s last before the summer transfer window closes Tuesday night. Meanwhile, Paris Saint-Germain acknowledged this week that it had rejected an offer from Madrid to sign Kylian Mbappé.

But the French club added that it was still open to negotiations over a blockbuster move for the player seen by many as football’s leading talent for years to come.