Honestly with the type of midfielder that real Madrid lined up today I am not surprised that they lost. Yes it understandable that they coach is also trying to have a solid team for their match against Athletico Madrid in the mid week but going by how solid Real betis has been lately I will say that they underrated then too much and they paid fge costly price.
The league is still very opened and with inconsistency here and there between the top three team, the league is very open for anyone.
Perhaps, Ancelotti was trying to test Alaba to see whether the lineup was capable of competing against Atletico Madrid. Of course; they had a poor performance against Real Betis and learned that their formation wouldn't be able to prevent Atletico Madrid from scoring goals. Even though Madrid midfield was weak, they started Alaba and benched Ansencio. At least, the manager should have strengthened the defense with stronger players, as Alaba has never been able to return to his best.
The league is still open for the top three clubs in the league, but Real Madrid is wasting opportunities a lot this season. They scored a goal against Betis ten minutes into the game; and I thought they would win and score a lot more goals. Real Madrid is bad at every position and isn't playing as a team to win La Liga. After Real Madrid led by seven points in January; Barcelona now leads them by three points.