Kylian Mbappé's Missed Penalty Costs Madrid in Seville

Kylian Mbappé walked to the spot in stoppage time in Seville looking exactly how Real Madrid fans expect him to look in that moment: calm, sure, inevitable.

He wasn’t.

Álvaro Vallés guessed right, sprang to his right and clawed away the Frenchman’s penalty, sealing a 1-0 win for Real Betis at the Estadio La Cartuja on Friday night and handing José Mourinho his first defeat since returning to the Madrid bench.

As the ball flew clear and the stadium erupted, the officials briefly froze the chaos. The ensuing corner was delayed while VAR checked whether Vallés had kept at least one foot on his line and not encroached. He had. No reprieve, no retake. Madrid’s last lifeline vanished with that decision, and with it their unbeaten start.

Drama, disallowed brilliance and a Betis breakthrough

The controversy did not start with the penalty. It had been simmering.

In the 87th minute, Madrid thought they had produced a stunning equaliser. Vinícius Júnior, dancing inside the box, clipped an outrageous outside-of-the-boot pass towards Carlos Espí. The forward improvised, launching into an overhead kick that flashed past Vallés and into the Betis net. For a few seconds, it looked like a classic Madrid escape act.

Then came the check.

VAR re-ran the move and spotted the first movement into the box had started from an offside position. The goal was wiped out, the score stayed at 1-0, and the noise inside La Cartuja shifted from disbelief to defiance. Expect the freeze-frames and offside lines to dominate Spanish sports shows all weekend.

Betis had earned the right to suffer late. Their lead arrived in the 81st minute, when Ireland international Troy Parrott struck what proved to be the decisive blow. His finish gave Betis a narrow advantage, but also something more valuable against this Madrid: belief that the upset was on.

From there, it became a siege. Madrid pushed, Vinícius probed, Mbappé hovered between the lines. Betis dropped deeper, clung to every clearance, and trusted Vallés to deal with whatever slipped through. He did, right up to the final, fateful duel from 12 yards.

Mourinho’s first setback, and a rapid reset

For Mourinho, this was the first bump in his second Madrid tenure, the first time his side have walked off beaten since his bombastic return to the Bernabéu. The performance had flashes of his trademark edge, but the ruthlessness in both boxes that once defined his Madrid deserted them at the crucial moments.

There is no time for introspection.

Los Blancos, kings of Europe with a record 15 UEFA Champions League titles, open their 2026-27 UCL campaign on September 8 at home to Inter Milan. The questions now are sharp and immediate: how does Mbappé respond to a missed penalty in his new colours, how quickly does Mourinho turn irritation into intensity, and does this sting in Seville harden Madrid for another European run—or hint at cracks that Inter will be eager to test at the Bernabéu?