European football: Isco stuns former club Real Madrid in win for Real Betis

• Real Betis recover to claim 2-1 victory over champions
• Jos? Mourinho?s four-match suspension halved

Real Madrid stumbled in the three-way race for the La Liga title as Isco guided Real Betis to a 2-1 comeback win over the defending champions on Saturday.

The former Madrid player delivered a corner kick that was headed in by fellow midfielder Johnny Cardoso in the 34th minute, canceling out Brahim D?az?s opener for Madrid.

Isco then put Betis ahead from the penalty spot in the 54th minute after he passed to Jes?s Rodr?guez and the Madrid defender Antonio R?diger knocked the Betis forward down in the area.
Kylian Mbapp? was back starting for Madrid after missing one game because of a dental problem. Their head coach Carlo Ancelotti substituted him with 15 minutes left, possibly looking ahead to Tuesday?s Champions League round-of-16 game against Atletico.

?We weren?t able to keep our initiative and the result got away from us,? Ancelotti said. ?This is a hard blow, and we have to react. Today we didn?t play well.?
This story will be updated
Continue reading...

More...