BARCELONA, Spain – Real Madrid defender Dani Carvajal celebrated his return from a long injury lay off by firing his side to a 1-0 win at Real Betis in La Liga.
Carvajal volleyed home a cross from Karim Benzema to break the deadlock in the 61st minute in his first start for Real since April after missing most of last season and the European Championship due to a series of injuries.
Carvajal struck immediately after Betis had squandered a glorious chance to take the lead when they won the ball deep in the visitors’ half but striker Juanmi misplaced a pass when he had the opportunity to shoot.
Betis had a chance to snatch an equaliser deep in added time and Madrid were grateful to keeper Thibaut Courtois for getting across goal to keep out a low drive from Martin Montoya.
Carlo Ancelotti’s Madrid side provisionally lead the table on seven points after their first three games, all of which have been away, having beaten Alaves 4-1 and drawn 3-3 with Levante.
Betis have two points and remain without a win.
“The goal meant a lot to me as I’ve had a long difficult time on a personal level. I’ve spent so long working hard behind the scenes to get fit again and hopefully this year will be different,” Carvajal said.
Real were missing key players with Luka Modric, Toni Kroos and Ferland Mendy injured while Eden Hazard was dropped to the bench by Ancelotti, who picked Vinicius Jr from the start after the Brazilian scored two goals as a substitute at Levante.
The build-up to the game had been dominated by Real’s pursuit of Kylian Mbappe and their two colossal bids to Paris St Germain for the France striker.
Their first half performance suggested they could certainly do with the dynamism and ruthlessness of Mbappe to liven up their attack.
Benzema had their best effort in the first half when he fizzed a shot just wide, while Eder Militao had their only attempt on target before the break with a header straight into the arms of goalkeeper Rui Silva.
But they did at least produce a cohesive display contrasting with the anarchy of last week’s eventful game at Levante.
“We’d been scoring a lot of goals in the last two games but conceded a lot too so it was important to give a balanced performance before the international break,” added Carvajal.
“We began the game really well then struggled to play together. We showed more intensity after the break and tried to push them higher up the pitch.”
Elsewhere, Sevilla had to make do with a point as they were held to a 1-1 draw at Elche in La Liga, ending their 100% start to the season.
Elche, who avoided relegation on the final day of last term, took the lead through centre back Enzo Roco in the 11th minute after an exquisite through ball from Fidel Chaves.
Sevilla levelled in the 40th with a header from last season’s top scorer Youssef En-Nesyri and went all out for the win late in the game.
New striker Rafa Mir had two good chances to snatch victory, skying a first-time strike from inside the area before heading over the bar with the final opportunity of the game deep in stoppage time.
Sevilla have seven points from their opening three games after beating Rayo Vallecano 3-0 and Getafe 1-0 while Elche have two.
Real Sociedad beat Levante 1-0 at home thanks to an Ander Barrenetxea strike shortly before halftime to reach six points and end the visitors unbeaten start to the campaign.
