The marquee match of the weekend in La Liga will see the top two teams in the table go head-to-head at the Santiago Bernabeu when defending La Liga champions Real Madrid host a Real Betis side who have had success on the road against the Spanish giants.
The two teams are also the only perfect ones remaining in La Liga after three matchdays. Betis have only conceded a single goal during their victorious start to the campaign. Madrid's three victories have all come on the road as their home stadium underwent renovations.
Managed by former Real Madrid boss Manuel Pellegrini - the Chilean lasted one season in 2009/10 despite winning 75 percent of his matches in failing to win a trophy - Real Betis haven't lost in their past five visits to the Spanish capital to face Los Merengues.
The visitors' challenge on Saturday will be to keep Madrid's star forwards Karim Benzema and Vinicius Jr. off the scoresheet. They succeeded at it last season with only one goal allowed in the two head-to-head matchups.
Sporting News is following the Real Madrid vs. Real Betis match live and providing live score updates, commentary.
MORE: Real Madrid fixtures and results for the 2022/23 season
Goals:
RMA - Vinicius Jr (David Alaba) - 9th min.
11th min.: SUB - Real Betis. What a turn of events. Nabil Fekir seems to have picked up an injury and he's out with Luiz Henrique replacing him.
9th min.: Goal, Real Madrid! Just like that, a ball over the top finds Vinicius Jr on the edge of the offside trap, he brings it down and then lofts it over the Betis 'keeper. Classy goal.
6th min.: Betis playmaker Nabil Fekir goes down in the Madrid box! But it looked like he was searching for that contact. No whistle from the referee, and no VAR intervention.
5th min.: Real Betis have started with personality and two solid attacking movements already.
Betis left back Alex Moreno couldn't control the ball to bring an end one action, and Real Madrid right back Dani Carvajal stopped the other in the box.
1st min.: We're off. Real Betis kick us off. Vinicius Jr. with a nutmeg on his first touch.
5 mins from kickoff: Teams are out on the field. Andres Guardado wearing the captain's armband for Sevilla. Karim Benzema has it for the home team.
There are 2,000 Betis fans at the stadium. They have work to do to drown out the Real Madrid crowd excited to be back at their home.
Cómo rugirá el Santiago Bernabéu cuando esté totalmente cerrado... ?? pic.twitter.com/Zbjtb2D9Lf
Betis fans making some noise already pic.twitter.com/7QtAeMOejg
45 mins from kickoff: Here's a look at the Santiago Bernabeu with a good chunk of that blue tarp finally removed. The south side section of tarp remains.
VAMOSSSSSS Most of the ugly looking blue sheet is GONEEE pic.twitter.com/IoyKr6yvQh
75 mins from kickoff: Real Madrid fans feel like there's something of a hex on the team when it comes to facing Real Betis at the Bernabeu. This tweet probably best sums up their scoring struggles:
The last goal Real Madrid scored vs Real Betis at Estadio Santiago Bernabéu. ?? pic.twitter.com/rJ6TQTHCrV
100 mins from kickoff: Real Madrid release their lineup two hours before the match as opposed to customary one hour, and Carlo Ancelotti made some changes (see lineup section further below).
Something's got to give today with two perfect teams facing off. There's only one other club still sporting a perfect record across Europe's top five leagues.
Only three clubs in Europe's top five leagues still remain perfect ??
Arsenal-4/4 wins
Real Madrid-3/3 wins
Real Betis-3/3 wins pic.twitter.com/lpSS0UtOka
120 mins from kickoff: It's been 106 days since the last match played by Real Madrid at their Santiago Bernabeu home. Real Betis were the last team to visit the Bernabeu last season and they will be the first this season.
More importantly for Real Madrid fans: Their team is winless the last five times that Betis have visited.
Real Madrid are winless in their last five LaLiga home games against Real Betis ?? pic.twitter.com/5XWjdYOVpX
Real Madrid are generally healthy, but with a UEFA Champions League coming up in midweek at Celtic, Carlo Ancelotti makes two changes to the lineup: Rodrygo is in for Federico Valverde, while Eduardo Camavinga starts in midfled with Toni Kroos on the bench. Dani Carvajal and Ferland Mendy also take up the fullback roles.
Los Blancos also get Nacho Fernandez back on the bench, and his return will be handy with reserve defender Jesus Vallejo out. Right-back Alvaro Odriozola is also not in the squad and hasn't featured in La Liga play this season.
Real Madrid starting XI (4-3-3, right to left): 1-Thibaut Courtois (GK) - 2-Dani Carvajal, 3-Eder Militao, 4-David Alaba, 23-Ferland Mendy - 10-Luka Modric, 18-Aurelien Tchouameni, 12-Eduardo Camavinga - 21-Rodrygo, 9-Karim Benzema, 20-Vinicius Jr
Real Madrid subs (11): 13-Andriy Lunin (GK), 26-Luis Lopez (GK), 22-Antonio Rudiger, 6-Nacho Fernandez, 17-Lucas Vazquez, 19-Dani Ceballos, 8-Toni Kroos, 7-Eden Hazard, 11-Marco Asensio, 15-Federico Valverde, 24-Mariano Diaz
Real Betis centre-back German Pezzella will be serving a one-game red card suspension with summer signing Luiz Felipe filling in. The team will be light at holding midfield with William Carvalho out (undisclosed injury) and Paul Akouokou missing after his involvement in a traffic accident. The bright side is that Betis will have goalkeeper Claudio Bravo and forward Willian Jose in the squad after they were officially registered before the deadline.
Youssouf Sabaly gets the start at right-back over Aitor Ruibal, while Sergio Canales makes his first start of the season.
Real Betis starting lineup (4-2-3-1, right to left): 13-Rui Silva (GK) - 23-Youssouf Sabaly, 19-Luiz Felipe, 3-Edgar Gonzalez, 15-Alex Moreno - 5-Guido Rodriguez, 18-Andres Guardado -10-Sergio Canales, 8-Nabil Fekir, 7-Juanmi - 9-Borja Iglesias
Real Betis subs (10): 1-Claudio Bravo (GK), 25-Dani Martin (GK), 24-Aitor Ruibal, 33-Juan Miranda, 6-Victor Ruiz, 17-Joaquin, 28-Rodri Sanchez, 21-Loren Moron, 11-Luiz Henrique, 12-Willian Jose
MORE: Real Madrid squad list and jersey numbers for 2022/23
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UK: The Real Madrid-Real Betis match will be available on LaLigaTV, which streams on Amazon Prime Video in the UK.
USA: All La Liga matches in the USA are available to stream in English and Spanish on ESPN+.
Canada: TSN holds TV and streaming rights for La Liga in Canada with this match only available via stream.
Australia: Fans in Australia can stream all La Liga matches live and on demand on Optus Sport.