Three matchdays, three wins, and now the first real away test of the season. The Real Madrid Betis team news ahead of Friday night in Seville is dominated by an injury list that has barely moved since the season began: seven players are still working their way back, and Jose Mourinho is expected to travel without every one of them.
Los Blancos open matchday four at the Estadio de La Cartuja on Friday 4 September, kick-off 21:00 CEST, live on Movistar LaLiga. Madrid go into it top of the table and unbeaten, but La Cartuja is not a ground where the white shirt guarantees anything.
Real Madrid Betis team news: seven still in the treatment room
As Mundo Deportivo reported, Aurelien Tchouameni, Raul Asencio, Ferland Mendy, Eder Militao, Rodrygo, Thiago Pitarch and Endrick all continued their individual recovery programmes this week rather than joining full training. None of the seven is expected in the squad for Seville.
Endrick is the closest to the group. The Brazilian’s problem is muscular, and once it settles the plan — if the timelines hold — is to have him available for the Champions League opener against Inter at the Santiago Bernabeu on Tuesday 8 September rather than rush him into a Friday night in Andalusia. Rodrygo, by contrast, remains a long way off; he has only recently been back out running on the grass at Valdebebas.
There was one new face in Wednesday’s session. Sergio Martinez, the 19-year-old midfielder signed from Racing for Castilla, trained with the first team for the first time under Mourinho. He is registered with the reserves, but he is being kept in first-team rhythm. The club described a session built around physical work, a tactical phase, then possession, carrying and combination drills, finishing with small-sided games.
La Cartuja: a fixture with almost nothing in it
The historical record in Seville is about as level as a head-to-head gets. Across all competitive home meetings with Real Madrid, Betis have twenty-five wins, twenty draws and twenty-six defeats, per Mundo Deportivo’s breakdown of the series. A home win on Friday would square it up completely.
Recent history is tighter still. Last season ended 1-1, Vinicius Junior putting Madrid ahead before Hector Bellerin equalised in stoppage time. The season before that, Betis came from behind to win 2-1, Johnny Cardoso and Isco overturning Brahim Diaz’s opener. That was only the fifth home win Betis have managed over Madrid in twenty-four visits this century — the one before it was another 2-1, in March 2020, settled late by Cristian Tello.
Pellegrini’s Betis, and a familiar face in green
Manuel Pellegrini is still in the home dugout. Betis have also added a name Madridistas know well: Mundo Deportivo reported that the club announced the signing of Dani Ceballos, whose Real Madrid contract was terminated by mutual agreement in June. Whether the midfielder is involved on Friday is another question, and Betis have not indicated either way.
What is at stake
Madrid’s business is done. The club consider the window shut on six arrivals and seven departures, and there were no first-team moves on deadline day. That leaves Mourinho with the squad he wanted and a run of fixtures that suddenly gets serious: Betis away, then Inter at home four days later, with captain Federico Valverde anchoring a midfield that will be without Arda Guler, Bernardo Silva and Eduardo Camavinga for the European opener through suspension. All three are available in Seville.
A fourth straight league win would extend the best start of Mourinho’s Real Madrid career and keep Los Blancos clear at the top before Europe begins. Doing it a man light in every department, on a ground where the numbers say it is a coin flip, would tell us rather more about this team than the first three did.
