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Jose Mourinho's return to Real Madrid hit an immediate wall on Friday night, as Real Betis stunned the Bernabeu with a one-nil victory. Troy Parrott, on as a substitute, pounced in the eighty-first minute after Courtois parried a header, and Alvaro Valles then saved a stoppage-time Mbappe penalty to seal it. That is not the homecoming Mourinho had in mind.
Adding insult to injury, Betis defender Marc Bartra has since revealed he deliberately practiced an encroachment technique on that very penalty, a trick he picked up watching Jose Luis Gaya. He admitted he timed his jump based on advice from a referee contact, which means the mind games at the Bernabeu started long before kickoff. Madrid will want answers fast.
Meanwhile, Andy Ruiz Junior's heavyweight comeback is in serious trouble after a unanimous-decision loss to Damian Knyba in Newark. Ruiz was knocked down and outworked across the board after a seven hundred sixty-two day layoff, with all three judges scoring it against the former champion. He says the title dream is still alive, but Friday night made that a very difficult case to make.
That's your play-by-play. Sports Desk, back to the booth.
