Real Betis vs Real Madrid: Mourinho’s perfect start faces first major away test

Real Madrid head to Seville on Friday night with a perfect LaLiga record to protect, but José Mourinho has warned that Real Betis will provide the most demanding test of his side’s early-season momentum.

Madrid have collected nine points from their opening three league matches and arrive at La Cartuja after an emphatic 4-0 victory over Málaga at the Bernabéu. Jude Bellingham opened the scoring in that game, Kylian Mbappé added another before half-time and Arda Güler completed the result in stoppage time, extending an impressive opening run under Mourinho.

Mbappé has been central to that start and travels to Seville having scored four times across Madrid’s last two matches. The French forward’s form gives Mourinho an obvious attacking reference point as his team attempts to maintain maximum points before a demanding September schedule that will also bring the start of their Champions League campaign.

Mourinho, however, has been careful to frame Betis as a significant obstacle rather than another opportunity to extend Madrid’s run. Speaking before the match, he said his team would need to be “at your best” to win in Seville, pointing to the difficulty Madrid have faced in recent visits against Manuel Pellegrini’s side.

Betis enter the fourth round with six points from three matches. Pellegrini’s team began the campaign with successive 1-0 victories against Real Sociedad and Valencia, keeping clean sheets in both, before suffering a sharp reversal in a 5-2 defeat away to Levante last weekend. Their only previous home fixture at La Cartuja this season ended in victory over Sociedad.

That contrast gives Friday’s meeting a clear early-season storyline. Madrid are trying to turn a flawless opening into sustained control near the top of LaLiga, while Betis need to show that the collapse against Levante was an isolated setback rather than the start of a more difficult spell.

For Mourinho’s side, it is the first major away examination of a season that has so far produced three wins and ten league goals. Betis, meanwhile, have the opportunity to reset immediately against one of the division’s strongest opponents — and to test just how durable Madrid’s perfect start really is.