At a ground where Manuel Pellegrini has never won as the opposition manager, he could’ve done without Real Madrid being all over his Betis side in the opening 10 minutes, with Fede Valverde and Vinicius Junior causing all sorts of problems.
Los Verdiblancos rarely got out of their half for long periods of the first period, and pressure from the hosts eventually told in the 20th minute, as Gonzalo Garcia rose highest from a Rodrygo free-kick to power home the opener for his first LaLiga goal for the club.
Los Blancos continued to pour forward, and as if to evidence the imbalance in the game, it wasn’t until the 28th minute that the visitors managed to earn their first corner.
The lion’s share of possession remained with Madrid, with Jude Bellingham and Aurelien Tchouameni controlling the tempo, but Betis held firm, packing out their defence to make life as difficult as possible for the hosts. The boos which rang out around the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu at half-time therefore told its own story.
The first chance of the second half came five minutes in when Betis’ Cucho Hernandez got the better of Antonio Rudiger and Raul Asencio, but lost his footing, and the visitors were made to pay directly afterwards.
Gonzalo Garcia received Valverde’s lofted pass on his chest before swivelling and volleying home a delightful second for the hosts.
The game was over as a contest before the hour when Asencio was left totally unmarked to head home his first of the season from a corner.
Giovani Lo Celso’s free-kick against the upright for Betis, and two on-target efforts from Marc Roca and Aitor Ruibal saw the visitors belatedly coming back into the game, and once Hernandez finally breached Thibaut Courtois’ goal, it offered hope for the visitors.
Rodrigo Riquelme had a thunderous shot kept out by the Belgian stopper before seeing an audacious effort crash off the post.
Any thoughts Betis had of a late comeback were over once Gonzalo Garcia grabbed his hat-trick goal with a cheeky backheel, before Fran Garcia netted a fifth in stoppage time.
The result means that the hosts remain unbeaten across the last seven meetings with the visitors played in the Spanish capital (W3, D4), whilst Betis stay in sixth and miss the chance to make up ground on Espanyol.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Gonzalo Garcia (Real Madrid)
