MADRID: Kylian Mbappe stayed calm to roll home a 100th-minute penalty and earn Real Madrid a 2-1 win over nine-man Rayo Vallecano on Sunday in a spicy La Liga derby clash.
Los Blancos cut Barcelona’s lead back to one point at the top of the table after the Spanish champions beat Elche 3-1 on Saturday.
Vinicius Jr scored early on for Real after Jude Bellingham limped off with an apparent hamstring injury.
Jorge de Frutos pulled Rayo level early in the second half as Real fans showed their anger at their team, but after Pathe Ciss’s red card, Mbappe netted from the spot at the death.
Pep Chavarria was also sent off for Rayo, 17th, who took a shaky Real to the wire before falling short.
“It was a victory with a lot of heart, a lot of soul, the Bernabeu pushed us on against a team that always creates a lot of problems for us,” coach Alvaro Arbeloa told Real Madrid TV.
After the hosts’ defeat at Benfica in midweek which forced them into the Champions League play-off round, the Santiago Bernabeu crowd was in unforgiving mood.
Arbeloa and Mbappe had begged fans to support the team but, just as they did a fortnight ago against Levante, they whistled their own players.
Arbeloa said he was now looking forward to the break without midweek games due to Real’s early Copa del Rey exit.
“We’ve had a lot more games than training sessions, which are for recovering and can’t be done at high intensity — as a coach I’ve missed that time to work,” said the coach. “We’ll use these two weeks to keep improving the team, individually and collectively.”On Saturday, Lamine Yamal scored one goal and created another as Barca kept their top spot with a victory over Elche.
Barcelona moved to 55 points from 22 matches while Elche remained in 12th place with 24 points.
Yamal opened the scoring for the visitors before Alvaro Rodriguez equalised for Elche in an end-to-end first half.
Ferran Torres and Marcus Rashford struck to complete the win, sparing the blushes of wasteful Barca who had 30 efforts on goal in the match.
“We got three more points. We continue to grow as a team. We haven’t reached our peak yet,” Barca midfielder Frenkie de Jong said.
“We usually have people who finish well. There are times when they fail. The important thing is that we have them (chances).”
Elsewhere third-place Atletico Madrid drew 0-0 at lowly Levante, while Villarreal were also held in a 2-2 draw at Osasuna.
Diego Simeone’s Atletico are now 10 points behind Barca. To make matters worse for Atletico striker Alexander Sorloth and midfielder Pablo Barrios went off injured.
Meanwhile, Gerard Moreno netted twice for Villarreal but they could only manage to draw at Osasuna, unable to capitalise on Espanyol’s defeat to fully consolidate their position in fourth.
Marcelino Garcia Toral’s side are eight points ahead of fifth-place Espanyol, who lost 2-1 at home against Alaves on Friday.
Published in Dawn, February 2nd, 2026
