Injury Time Goal Ex-Barcelona Defender Prevents Real Madrid from Winning 

JAKARTA - Barcelona deserves to thank their former defender, Hector Bellerin, who thwarted Real Madrid's victory. Almost getting three points in the Spanish La Liga match at the De la Cartuja Stadium, Saturday, April 25, 2026 early morning WIB, Madrid was only able to play a draw 1-1 against Real Betis. Bellerin forced a draw after breaking into the Madrid goal in injury time.

It's a shame for Madrid. The hope of reducing the points gap with Barca did not go smoothly. When visiting Betis' home, the team coached by Alvaro Arbeloa actually almost brought home three points. In fact, they not only scored one goal because they created many opportunities that should have increased the lead.

When he was about to close the match, suddenly Bellerin appeared as Betis' savior. He managed to defeat goalkeeper Andriy Lunin in injury time and only two or two minutes later the match was over.

The disappointing draw because Madrid failed to approach Barca who are strong at the top of the standings. With 74 points, Los Merengues are still eight points behind Barca. Even Hansi Flick's team has the opportunity to get away from Madrid's pursuit if they beat Getafe, Saturday night.

Not only leaving Madrid, but Barca who lost star player Lamine Yamal due to a hamstring injury so they had to end the competition earlier had a great chance to retain the league title.

Meanwhile, Betis who managed to score one point at home remained in fifth place with 50 points. Manuel Pellegrini's team also kept the opportunity to appear in the Europa League next season.

The failure to win at home due to the goal in the last minute made Arbeloa disappointed. The reason is, Madrid deserved to win in the match.

"We got a big blow in the last minute. We have experienced it many times and finally got a result that we really didn't expect. The reason is that we have the opportunity to win," Arbeloa said as quoted by france24.

Arbeloa also criticized the referee's decision which was to the detriment of Madrid and that it 'affected the final result of the match'. However, Madrid actually benefited from the referee who let Brahim Diaz's incident when touching the ball in the penalty box. The Betis player had raised his hand which indicated that Diaz had handball. However, the referee ignored it.

After the incident, Madrid managed to take the lead through Vinicius Junior. It started with the action of captain Federico Valverde who fired a hard shot into the goal but could be stopped by goalkeeper Alvaro Valles. Only the ball rebounded to Vinicius Jr who immediately grabbed it.

The 1-0 advantage made Madrid more intense in applying pressure. In fact, they almost increased the lead when Jude Bellingham got a chance and fired a shot at the goal. But the English national team player's kick could still be stopped by Valles so that the score did not change until the first half was over.

Entering the second half, Betis showed a resurgence by creating a number of opportunities that threatened Madrid's goal.

At least, Antony almost scored a goal if not stopped by Lunin. The former Manchester United player got another chance when he greeted the ball from striker Cedric Bakambu. However, Antoni's kick still didn't produce results.

When under pressure, Madrid actually managed to break the Betis goal in the 53rd minute. Forward Kylian Mbappe managed to finish off a cross from defender Trent Alexander-Arnold. However, the referee canceled the goal because Mbappe was in an offside position.

Betis again got a chance through Antony, but his shot was blocked by defender Ferland Mendy. Although it hit Mendy's arm while blocking Antony's ball, the referee did not give a penalty.

When the match was about to end and entered injury time, Madrid was expected to win. However, Bellerin was in the right place and time when there was a crisis in front of the Madrid goal and he got a loose ball from defender Antonio Rudiger.

Bellerin immediately snatched the ball to defeat Lunin. The score changed 1-1 for both teams and lasted until the end of the match.