Antonio Sanabria’s 94th minute winner stunned the Bernabeu as Real Betis shocked Real Madrid on their own patch.
The 21-year-old’s last-gasp headed goal from an incisive team passing move was a tough one to take for Zinedine Zidane’s side, who had dominated the game for large spells.
Indeed, the reigning La Liga champions – who are now seven points adrift of Barcelona at the top of the table – will be wondering how they didn’t score having registered 27 attempts at goal.
Here, we look at the key numbers in wake of another disappointing result on home territory for the Spanish giants.
Failure to score on Wednesday night meant the Whites’ all-time Spanish record of scoring in 73 successive matches came to an end. A quite incredible run.
You have to go back to April 2016 to find the last time when Real drew a blank in front of goal. Manchester City were the side to keep them at bay during a 0-0 draw in the first-leg of their Champions League semi-final clash at the Etihad Stadium.
During the 73-game run, Real scored 200 goals and won 54 matches – and in the process – scooped a La Liga title and two Champions League crowns, among other trophies.
Real couldn’t find a way past Joe Hart in the first-leg that night.
Real Madrid have yet to win any of their opening three La Liga home matches – with defeat to Betis compounding more misery following lacklustre draws against Valencia and Levante.
It is their worst run of form since April 2011 – where they also had the same sequence of results for three consecutive outings in their own backyard.
There was no Isco Disco on Wednesday.
Making his first La Liga appearance of the season following the five-match domestic ban he attained for shoving a referee in the first-leg of Real’s Spanish Super Cup win against Barcelona back in August, there was a real buzz to see Cristiano Ronaldo’s name on the teamsheet again.
But it didn’t turn into the evening he would have wanted.
The club legend had 12 shots on goal throughout, with only two of them hitting the target. It was a frustrating night and he has a lot of catching up to do if he is to chase down Lionel Messi’s goal haul so far this term – the Argentine has nine to his name.
Ronaldo was Real’s biggest threat but couldn’t get on the scoresheet.
Trips to the Bernabeu haven’t been fruitful for Real Betis down the years but the team from Seville turned the tables this week – winning their first match at the famous stadium in 19 years.
Few expected the Green and Whites to come away with victory – bringing back memories of the last time they did just that in October 1998, when Finidi George netted the winner in another 1-0 triumph.
Sanabria heads home past a hapless Keylor Navas.
You have to trawl through the archives to find the first time Real failed to win in each of their opening three league games at home – that came during the 1969-70 season.
Since then, it has only happened twice again in the club’s history. Aside from Wednesday, the second instance it occurred was way back in the 1995-96 campaign.
So, you could say Madrid made it a hat-trick of sorts this week.
Zidane cuts an isolated figure on the touchline.
Real Madrid’s lowly points total in La Liga this season is less than Messi’s total in the league – 9.
To rub salt into the wounds, many Barcelona fans were happy to tell all about this stat as Madrid went down to a sucker punch of a late goal.
Messi has more goals than Real have points.
While the pressure on Zidane may have gone up a few notches, perspective is needed once again.
The French maestro has still only lost just eight times in the 96 matches he has been in charge – which is the lowest defeat percentage (8.3%) of any manager in the history of the Whites.
That’s well below recent bosses Jose Mourinho (13.4%) and Carloe Ancelotti (14.6%).
Since joining as manager in January 2016, Zidane has also delivered seven trophies – including back-to-back European Cups.
Zidane has been Real’s lucky charm.
