Troy Parrott's 81st-minute winner and a saved Mbappé penalty give Real Betis a 1-0 upset over Real Madrid

Real Madrid did almost everything you'd want against Real Betis on matchday 4 — 18 shots to 11, the bulk of the possession — and still walked out of the Estadio de La Cartuja with nothing. That is what one bad rebound and one missed penalty will do.

The breakthrough came late. On 81 minutes, Nelson Deossa met a corner with a header that Thibaut Courtois somehow got a hand to, but the Belgian could only push it into the path of Troy Parrott, who reacted first and steered it home from close range.

VAR takes one goal away, Valles takes one penalty away

Madrid thought they had an equaliser in the 87th minute when Carlos Espí finished an acrobatic effort, but the goal was chalked off by VAR for offside. Kylian Mbappé also crashed a shot against the crossbar in the closing stages before being handed a stoppage-time penalty — his effort was saved by Betis goalkeeper Álvaro Valles, sealing the upset.

The shot count Madrid still lost

The numbers explain why the result felt fluky, and also why it wasn't entirely one. Betis had 11 shots to Madrid's 18, but seven of theirs were on target against Madrid's six — the meeting point of quality and quantity swung to the home side, even with Real Madrid producing more than three times the expected goals, 3.16 to 0.96. Álvaro Valles saving Mbappé's stoppage-time penalty was the last of Madrid's misses on a day when the visitors had already hit the crossbar and seen a goal chalked off.

Three straight wins before the run ended

Real Madrid had won every match they had played this season before La Cartuja. The rearranged matchday-1 fixture produced a 4-1 win over Real Sociedad at the Bernabéu, Kylian Mbappé scoring a hat-trick either side of a Vinícius Júnior goal. Away at Espanyol on matchday 2, an early Jude Bellingham header needed a stoppage-time Carlos Espí finish to see off a 2-1 scare at Cornellà. Back at the Bernabéu for matchday 3, Bellingham dribbled past three defenders to open the scoring inside 19 minutes and Madrid were 3-0 up by the half-hour against newly promoted Málaga, cruising to a 4-0 win in which the visitors did not manage a single shot on target. Ten goals scored, two conceded, three wins from three — that was the record José Mourinho's side carried into this defeat.

Betis's bounce-back, three weeks after a five-goal defeat

Betis arrived off their own uneven month. They opened with a pair of 1-0 wins — Pablo García's 83rd-minute goal at Valencia in a postponed matchday-1 fixture, then Rodrigo Riquelme's 63rd-minute strike at home to Real Sociedad on matchday 2. Matchday 3 undid that unbeaten start: Levante, who had lost their first two games without scoring a goal, came from 2-2 at the break to beat Betis 5-2, Roger Brugué scoring twice in a 14-minute spell and Jon Ander Olasagasti heading a fifth in stoppage time. Three weeks and an international break later, Betis went into La Cartuja and beat the form team in Spain.

Match facts

• 81' — Troy Parrott (Real Betis)
• 87' — Carlos Espí (Real Madrid) goal disallowed, VAR offside
• 90+4' — Kylian Mbappé (Real Madrid) penalty saved by Álvaro Valles

What's next

The result moves Real Betis up to 4th on 9 points, level with Real Madrid, who drop to 3rd also on 9 points after their first defeat of José Mourinho's second spell in charge. Betis have now taken points off the champions-elect favourites twice in four rounds; Madrid will look to respond when the international break ends.

Both clubs still sit inside the Champions League zone, which runs to five places this season under Spain's expanded allocation, and it is goal difference that separates them — Madrid's +7 to Betis's level mark. Barcelona have pulled clear at the top of LaLiga with 12 points from four straight wins, two ahead of Alavés on 10, with Madrid and Betis making up the rest of the top four on 9 points each.