Syndicated reporting provided by Stats Perform and reviewed by the SoccerNews editorial team.
Jose Mourinho believes Real Madrid have “to be great” to defeat Real Betis at Estadio La Cartuja de Sevilla on Friday.
Los Blancos have made a strong start in LaLiga under Mourinho this season, starting with a 2-1 win over Espanyol before defeating Real Sociedad 4-1 and Malaga 4-0.
Only Barcelona have scored more goals than Madrid so far this season in the league (12), with the Clasico rivals the only two teams to win all three of their opening games.
Betis, meanwhile, started their campaign with 1-0 wins over La Real and Valencia, though fell to a 5-2 defeat against Levante last time out.
The loss saw Betis drop to seventh in LaLiga, though Mourinho knows Madrid must put in a strong display against their upcoming opponents.
“Real Madrid needs to be great; otherwise, it won’t win,” said Mourinho.
“Betis is a very good team. Real Betis’ recent results there are very telling. It’s difficult to win there, and to do so, you have to be at your best; there’s no other way.
“We’ll see how strong Betis and the Basque teams are; they’re all very tough. For me, this is not an easy league at all.
“You can have some results that might give you the idea it’s easy, like us scoring four against Malaga or Barcelona scoring five against Elche, but there’s pressure here that doesn’t exist in other leagues – the pressure to always win.
“Here, it’s tough. Here, there’s this pressure week after week, where any result other than a win is not good. And this pressure weighs heavily on teams playing in a league with these characteristics.”
— Real Madrid C.F. (@realmadriden) September 3, 2026
Rodrigo Riquelme scored in Betis’ home win over La Real in their opening game, and also netted in their defeat to Levante.
The 26-year-old has already surpassed his LaLiga goals tally for 2025-26, when he scored just once in 25 appearances.
Only Raphinha, Mariano Diaz and Alex Baena can match Jude Bellingham’s four direct goal contributions through the first three LaLiga matchdays (two goals, two assists).
He is the first Madrid player to record 4+ direct goal involvements in the opening three games of a LaLiga campaign since doing so himself in 2023-24 (four goals, one assist).
MATCH PREDICTION – REAL MADRID WIN
Madrid won the joint-most points away from home in LaLiga last season (37 – level with Barcelona), while they also won their first away match this term (v Espanyol).
Mbappe has also made a strong start to the campaign, netting a hat-trick against La Real and scoring against Malaga, though he failed to net when Betis met with Madrid in April.
That matchup ended 1-1, and though Madrid won 5-1 at the Estadio Bernabeu last season, they have not won away at Betis since August 2021.
Betis are unbeaten in their last four home games against Los Blancos (W1 D3), including a 2-1 victory in March 2025.
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