Betis Stun Real Madrid In Injury Time

Real Madrid 0-1 Real Betis

A 94th minute free-kick from Argentine attacking midfielder Juan Pablo Caffa handed Bernd Schuster's Real Madrid yet another pre-season defeat.

Ruud van Nistelrooy returned from injury, and Wesley Sneijder and Royston Drenthe also started in a rather attacking formation sent out by Schuster, that included Fernando Gago, Raul and Javier Balboa.

However, Los Merengues were still unable to break through the Real Betis defence, being made to look surprisingly benign once again in the final third of the pitch.

There were a few half chances for Van Nistelrooy in the first half, but by and large, it was a display that failed to inpire much confidence.

In fact, it was Real Betis who had the better of the exchanges, Odonkor testing Casillas in the 15th minute, and then Rafael Sobis charging up the right but failing to finish from a tight angle.

Real Madrid had their first chance in the 24th minute, when Van Nistelrooy received a good long pass from Pepe, but failed to get power into his shot. He had another in the 38th minute, but fired wide from a tight angle following a pass from Balboa.

Chances has been few and far between before the break, and that continued in the second half, thanks also to the large number of substitutions.

Once again, it was Betis who had the first chance, albeit almost 20 minutes in. Casillas was alert, and just about palmed away a Mark Gonzalez header, after Rafael Sobis had flicked a corner on.

There was one more chance, after another fifteen slow minutes, once again for the Andalucians. However, Fernando failed to finish past Casillas following a quick counter-attack, and the dull story continued.

With ten minutes to go, the focus was already turning towards the penalty shoot-out. People wanted some excitement, and maybe that was the only option. However, that was not to be, as Real Betis decided to make Madrid pay the penalty for looking too far ahead.

It was a good free-kick from Caffa, but it had to be said that it flew past a rather static and unruly Madrid wall, and a slow Dudek. Ironically, the Pole had just come on for Iker Casillas in the 90th minute, specifically for the shoot-out!

Madrid were stunned, but to be fair, Real Betis had enjoyed a lion's share of the chances, and actually made their opponents play according to their plans. With ten days to the start of the season, Schuster still has plenty of work to do.