Difficult Win for Real Madrid, Men Walk Away with 3-Points

Betis (10' Molina, 55' Montero) 2 – 3 (25' Pipita, 52', 73' Cristiano) Real Madrid

Tonight, Real Madrid plays at the Benito Villamarin Stadium, three years after their last match against Betis at the arena.  Betis currently stands as the only team in the Liga that Portuguese all-star Cristiano Ronaldo has not scored against, but in all fairness, he has only played one game against them.  Betis have only lost one of their home games this season.  Statistically, los Blancos have the highest number of clean sheets in away games in the top five European league championships.  José Mourinho has called up 21 men for the match, including Karim Benzema, who has recovered in time for the clash.

Betis opened up the scoring at the 10' mark.  Jorge Molina scored with a right-footed shot to the top left corner, Rubén Castro at the assist with a through ball following a fast break.  However, should it have counted?  According to all the replays – there were five in the span of two minutes on ESPN Deportes – there was a handball from Betis.  Handball aside, our defenders should have been more alert.  Conspiracies began to flood my Twitter timeline with fellow Madridistas feeling quite miffed – that's putting it mildly – with tonight's referee, Eduardo Iturralde González.  Then again, my Madridista friends have not hidden how much they dislike Iturralde given his horrible call track record.

Venting aside – for now – we had something to celebrate at the 25'.  Gonzalo "Pipita" Higuaín scored Madrid's equalizer with a right-footed shot to the bottom right corner, Mesut Özil at the assist with a through ball following a fast break.  What a special goal for Pipita.  As some of you may not know, the Argentine debuted with Real Madrid five years ago at the Benito Villamarin. So ¡felicidades, Pipa!.. even when Betis seemed intent on taking you down.

The second half began with a substitution, but not what you think.  Iturralde suffered a hamstring injury and was replaced by Gorka Sagués.  Yes, the referee needed a substitution.  Cristiano finally got his goal at the 52' with a left-footed shot to the center of the goal, Marcelo at the assist.  The Portuguese international has now officially scored against all sides in La Liga.  ¡Felicidades, crack!

Celebrations were short lived, however.  Betis equalized minutes later at the 55', Jefferson Montero with a right-footed shot to the center of goal following a corner.  Up until that point, the game had been riddled with tit-for-tat.  First with yellow-for-yellow, it seemed that it would be goal-for-goal as well.  All I can say is... Defense, what the hell?  Surely I was not the only Madridista watching the match frustrated with the lack of defending on our defenders' parts.  (Looking at you, Arbeloa.)  The only one I could say doing his job was mon capitan, Iker Casillas.  As @janinatoys tweeted, "Sorry, but what defense? Haven't seen any. I thought Iker was IT."  Well said, Janina, well said.

Cristiano saw the back of the net a second time tonight at the 73' with a left-footed shot to the center of goal following a corner.  He was hungry for goal, or shall I say hattrick, coming so close at the 81', but the attempt was saved in the bottom right corner.  He made one last attempt at the 88', taking a free kick, but the ball went sailing high over the crossbar – must be in orbit by now.  Then there were the three minutes of added time.  These were the longest three minutes of my life.  Thankfully, nothing came of it.

Real Madrid leave Sevilla with three points and look forward to their upcoming matches.  Los Blancos play CSKA Moscow in the Champions League at the Santiago Bernabeu.  The two sides will meet on Wednesday, March 14.  The next La Liga match will be a home game against Malaga, Sunday, March 18.  Until then, ¡Hala Madrid!

written by Gail Hidalgo