Nabil Fekir went from hero to zero in a matter of 10 seconds as he showed off the most extremes of his moods, with tricks and flicks followed by lashing out at the opposition.
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Real Betis have been having a stellar season, improving on last season's sixth place in La Liga under Manuel Pellegrini to battle for the Champions League places.
Up until two recent losses, Betis were ahead of both Barcelona and Atletico Madrid but have since fallen behind the pair, making Sunday's game with Athletic Club a must win.
With 10 minutes left, Betis were leading when Fekir had the ball by the touchline, juggled the ball a few times, knocked the ball over the defender's head and then ran on to get the ball back off his teammate.
Defender Oscar de Marcos obviously got fed up of the trickery and fouled Fekir, with the French playmaker then kicking out Iker Muniain after the opposing playmaker had interfered with Fekir for his reaction to being felled.
Borja Iglesias has put the hosts ahead after 20 minutes and after an hour without conceding, it looked like Pellegrini's side would easily earn themselves all three points.
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Fekir's red card left them one man short for the last 10 minutes of what was a pretty much must win game, if they're to finish in the top four.
Fortunately for them the man disadvantage didn't tell and they kept hold of the win, leaving them two points behind Barca and Atleti, with the former having a game in hand.
The former Lyon forward has been instrumental to Betis' success once again but will now be missing for their next three matches in the league.
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Pellegrini wasn't annoyed though, defending his player's actions due to the amount of times the tricky 28-year-old gets fouled in games.
"Out of every 20 fouls, Fekir gets given 10 because he doesn’t jump," the manager said, "The action isn’t justifiable, but it is understandable after what he endures.
“In the end, the person attacked leaves and the aggressor stays on the field playing.”
Topics: La Liga
Ryan Sidle