{"id":101387,"date":"2026-04-25T13:48:26","date_gmt":"2026-04-25T13:48:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/bellerin-undermines-real-madrids-title-aspirations"},"modified":"2026-04-25T13:59:22","modified_gmt":"2026-04-25T13:59:22","slug":"bellerin-undermines-real-madrids-title-aspirations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/bellerin-undermines-real-madrids-title-aspirations","title":{"rendered":"Bellerin Undermines Real Madrid’s Title Aspirations"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Namibia. <\/strong><\/span>Former Barcelona defender Hector Bellerin snatched Real Betis a late point in a 1-1 La Liga draw against Real Madrid on Friday to do his former side a favour in the Spanish title race.<\/b><\/p>\n

Alvaro Arbeloa\u2019s Madrid seemed set to chop down Barca\u2019s lead but the Catalans sit provisionally eight points ahead of Madrid after Bellerin cancelled out Vinicius Junior\u2019s opener.<\/p>\n

Hansi Flick\u2019s defending champions, shorn of injured teenage winger Lamine Yamal, visit Getafe on Saturday and now have the chance to move 11 points clear of Los Blancos with a victory.<\/p>\n

Vinicius\u2019s 17th-minute strike seemed set to bring his team victory and boost their slim chances of overhauling the leaders and finishing the season with a trophy.<\/p>\n

However, Madrid were rocked in stoppage time as Bellerin finally provided the breakthrough his side\u2019s performance had deserved.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe suffered another blow in the final minutes, as has already happened to us many other times, and we end up with a result I don\u2019t think we deserved, because we had chances (to win),\u201d Arbeloa told reporters.<\/p>\n

The Madrid coach complained about refereeing decisions which \u201cheavily influenced the game\u201d, although Betis arguably had the more legitimate grievances.<\/p>\n

The hosts, fifth, appealed in vain for a penalty against Brahim Diaz early on, after the Madrid midfielder appeared to touch the ball with his hand in his own box as he tried to control it.<\/p>\n

A few minutes later the visitors took the lead, when Betis goalkeeper Alvaro Valles could only push Federico Valverde\u2019s drive back into Vinicius\u2019s path and the Brazilian swept home.<\/p>\n

England international Jude Bellingham almost doubled Madrid\u2019s advantage but Valles did well to tip over his fierce effort.<\/p>\n

Betis push on<\/p>\n

Betis earned a foothold in the game and Madrid had their goalkeeper Andriy Lunin, playing in place of the injured Thibaut Courtois, to thank for getting them in ahead at half-time.<\/p>\n

Lunin pushed Antony\u2019s low strike around the post and then denied the Brazilian winger again, having just thwarted Cedric Bakambu as he ran through on goal.<\/p>\n

Alvaro Fidalgo also lashed narrowly over as Betis pushed Madrid back, albeit without finding a way through.<\/p>\n

On an otherwise quiet night for the league\u2019s top goalscorer, Madrid striker Kylian Mbappe polished off Trent Alexander-Arnold\u2019s cross early in the second half but his goal was chalked off for offside.<\/p>\n

Lunin was soon the hero again for Madrid as he pushed Cucho Hernandez\u2019s powerful effort over and defender Dean Huijsen blocked well from Antony.<\/p>\n

The former Manchester United winger was Betis\u2019s biggest threat and he hit the deck in the area towards the end, saying he was blocked by Ferland Mendy\u2019s arm, although no penalty was forthcoming.<\/p>\n

Madrid forward Mbappe appeared to ask for a substitution with 10 minutes remaining, creating worry over a possible injury for the French striker ahead of the World Cup.<\/p>\n

Betis snatched a point right at the death, with Bellerin in the right place at the right time to smash home a loose ball in the area after Antonio Rudiger blocked a cross.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn these situations you have very little time to think,\u201d Bellerin told DAZN of his goal.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had a lot of chances, during the game I had the feeling that we had a lot of control and we were getting opportunities and we didn\u2019t have the luck of them going in \u2014 and then look, it happened to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Betis trail Atletico Madrid, fourth, by seven points having played one extra game.<\/p>\n

However Diego Simeone\u2019s side are focused on the Champions League and have played the reserves in many of their recent Liga games, giving the Andalusians a glimmer of hope of overhauling them to finish in the top four.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Namibia<\/span> Follow Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Namibia. Former Barcelona defender Hector Bellerin snatched Real Betis a late point in a 1-1 La Liga draw against Real Madrid on Friday to do his former side a favour in the Spanish title race. Alvaro Arbeloa\u2019s Madrid seemed set to chop down Barca\u2019s lead but the Catalans sit provisionally eight points ahead […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":101386,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,17],"tags":[233],"class_list":["post-101387","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-sport","tag-namibia"],"yoast_head":"\nBellerin Undermines Real Madrid's Title Aspirations - Namibia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Former Barcelona defender Hector Bellerin snatched Real Betis a late point in a 1-1 La Liga draw against Real Madrid ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/bellerin-undermines-real-madrids-title-aspirations\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Bellerin Undermines Real Madrid's Title Aspirations\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Former Barcelona defender Hector Bellerin snatched Real Betis a late point in a 1-1 La Liga draw against Real Madrid ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/bellerin-undermines-real-madrids-title-aspirations\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Namibia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-04-25T13:48:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-04-25T13:59:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2026\/04\/sm_1777112922.396954.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"683\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/bellerin-undermines-real-madrids-title-aspirations#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/bellerin-undermines-real-madrids-title-aspirations\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Bellerin Undermines Real Madrid’s Title Aspirations\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-04-25T13:48:26+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-04-25T13:59:22+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/bellerin-undermines-real-madrids-title-aspirations\"},\"wordCount\":648,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/bellerin-undermines-real-madrids-title-aspirations#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2026\/04\/sm_1777112922.396954.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"namibia\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"sport\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/bellerin-undermines-real-madrids-title-aspirations#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/bellerin-undermines-real-madrids-title-aspirations\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/bellerin-undermines-real-madrids-title-aspirations\",\"name\":\"Bellerin Undermines Real Madrid's Title Aspirations - 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