Kylian Mbappé's Missed Penalty Costs Real Madrid in Loss to Betis
Kylian Mbappé walked to the spot in stoppage time in Seville with the game on his boot and all the usual certainty in his stride. Real Madrid trailed, the clock was almost gone, and this was the moment their new era under José Mourinho was supposed to flex its muscle.
Instead, Álvaro Vallés guessed right.
The Real Betis goalkeeper hurled himself low to his right, pushed away Mbappé’s penalty, and with that single, decisive save sealed a 1-0 win at the Estadio La Cartuja on Friday night. Three points for Betis. A first defeat of the season for Mourinho’s Madrid. And a storm of controversy already brewing.
The drama didn’t end with the save. As Madrid crowded the box for the ensuing corner, officials delayed the restart to check whether Vallés had kept at least one foot on the goal line and that his body wasn’t illegally advanced over it when Mbappé struck the ball. The review stood in the keeper’s favour. No retake. No late reprieve for Los Blancos.
Betis had already done the hard part. They had their lead, and it came from a man who has made a habit of seizing big moments.
With 81 minutes gone, Ireland international Troy Parrott struck what proved to be the winner, finishing the move that tilted the night green and white. His goal gave Betis something to defend, and they did it with ferocious discipline and just enough luck.
The tension ramped up as Madrid chased the equaliser. In the 87th minute, they thought they had found it — and in some style.
Vinícius Jr., drifting in the box, produced a delicious outside-of-the-boot pass that floated perfectly into the path of Carlos Espí. The forward met it with an overhead kick, acrobatic and clean, sending the ball past Vallés and into the Betis net. Madrid players wheeled away, convinced they had rescued a point.
Then came the VAR check.
Replays showed the first movement into the area had started from an offside position. The build-up, the artistry, the finish — all wiped away with one ruling. The goal was chalked off, the score stayed 1-0, and the frustration on the Madrid bench was immediate and obvious.
Those two flashpoints — the cancelled equaliser and the Mbappé penalty — will dominate the Spanish headlines. Officiating is never far from the centre of any Real Madrid post-match debate, and this weekend will be no different.
Strip away the noise, though, and one fact remains: this is Mourinho’s first loss since his bombastic return to the Bernabéu. The aura of early invincibility has gone, punctured by a fiercely committed Betis side and a goalkeeper who refused to blink.
There is no time for Madrid to wallow.
The club that has lifted the UEFA Champions League a record 15 times now pivots straight into continental duty. On Sept. 8, Inter Milan arrive in the Spanish capital to open Madrid’s 2026-27 UCL campaign.
A missed penalty in Seville is one thing. A misstep in Europe would be something else entirely.
