Real Madrid Close La Liga Title Race Gap with Rayo Vallecano Win
Real Madrid maintained their LaLiga title bid with a 2-1 win over Rayo Vallecano.
Kylian Mbappé opened the scoring on the half-hour mark with a sweeping finish to rack up his 29th goal of the campaign in all competitions for Carlo Ancelotti’s side.
Just four minutes later, the hosts were further ahead courtesy of Vinícius Júnior cutting a low effort inside the penalty area which wrongfooted Augusto Batalla.
But Rayo halved their deficit on the stroke of half time as Pedro Díaz rifled an effort past Andriy Lunin and in off the crossbar which required VAR confirmation.
Los Blancos sit second in the table behind Barcelona, who have a game in hand following Saturday’s postponement against Osasuna, on goal difference.
Sunday’s La Liga action saw Atletico Madrid slip up in the LaLiga title race and Athletic Club bolster their push for UEFA Champions League qualification
Real Sociedad lost out at home to Sevilla as the Basque side now face a crunch midweek Europa League trip to Manchester United.
Let’s take a look at how the rest of sunday’s action unfolded…
Getafe 2-1 Atletico Madrid
Atletico Madrid end the weekend one point behind Barcelona and Real Madrid as the latter won 2-1 at home to Rayo Vallecano.
Hosts Getafe turned in a typically gritty performance, and Diego Simeone was forced to rely on Alexander Sorloth off the bench to score from the penalty spot.
However, the game descended into chaos in the final minutes as Angel Correa was sent off, and Mauro Arambarri equalized – and then netted a shock winner for the home side.
Up next for Simeone is that all-important Champions League last 16 second leg with Real Madrid.
Athletic Club 1-1 Mallorca
Athletic Club opened up a five-point gap between themselves and fifth-place Villarreal with a draw against Mallorca in Bilbao.
Neither side created much in the first half before Antonio Raillo headed the visitors in front just after the restart.
However, that lead only lasted two minutes before Nico Williams nodded home for a point.
Real Betis 1-0 Las Palmas
Real Betis edged up to sixth place as they sealed a 1-0 win over ten-man Las Palmas.
Dario Essugo’s second-half red card changed the flow of the game, and Diego Llorente fired home a superb winner for the hosts ahead of their Conference League trip to Vitoria in midweek.
Real Sociedad 0-1 Sevilla
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In the final game on Sunday, a rotated La Real lost out to Chidera Ejuke’s second-half goal as Sevilla leapfrogged them into 10th spot in the table.
The changes were made by Imanol Alguacil with their Europa League clash with United on a knife edge.
