Real Madrid stunned by late Betis winner in Cristiano Ronaldo's return

Updated: May 17, 2023, 05:41 am

Cristiano Ronaldo's Real Madrid return ended in frustration after a shock 1-0 home defeat by Real Betis.

The Portugal superstar was making his long-awaited comeback after completing a five-match ban for shoving a referee against Barcelona last month.

But he and his Real teammates, looking to recover from an unconvincing start to the season, could not find a way past a stubborn Betis outfit.

And in injury time, Antonio Sanabria stunned the Bernabeu with the winner to condemn Real to their first league defeat of the season.

Ronaldo's first touch of the match was sublime as he latched on to Luka Modric's pass and turned back inside, but his effort was blocked.

Ronaldo also tried a backheel from Sergio Ramos' header across goal but that was kept out by a sea of green shirts.

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His first real effort on goal came after linking up with Gareth Bale, firing low and hard from outside the box only to see goalkeeper Antonio Adan make a comfortable save.

Modric fired into the side-netting after ignoring Ronaldo's screams for the ball, before the Portuguese attacker flicked a header over the crossbar.

The hosts were dominating but Betis provided the odd scare, not least when Casemiro was caught in possession and the ball fell to Sanabria inside the box.

Dani Carvajal had to scramble back to his goal line to prevent the forward's shot from nestling into the back of the net.

Carvajal blotted his copybook by giving the ball straight to Fabian Ruiz Pena, who fizzed his shot towards the top corner only to find Keylor Navas at full stretch to fingertip it behind.

As the hosts pressed in the second half Adan had to get down low to keep out a fierce Isco effort.

Bale then hared down the left and delivered a low ball into the path of Ronaldo, who ballooned his first-time effort from inside the box.

But as the second half wore on, and the Bernabeu crowd grew more restless, Betis sensed they could actually leave with more than a point.

And they were proved right in the third minute of stoppage time when Sanabria eluded his marker and thumped a far-post header beyond Navas.