(AFP) - Rayo Vallecano presented a very valuable gift to Barcelona, after inflicting its first defeat on its neighbor Real Madrid, the defending champions, in the Spanish Football League this season, by beating it 3-2 on Monday at the end of the thirteenth stage of the Spanish Football League.
And before the stage of stopping the league due to the Qatar World Cup, which starts on the current 20, the Italian coach Carlo Ancelotti finds itself in second place instead of the lead after following its first stumbling of the season (a draw in the last stage against Girona 1-1) with a first defeat in “Liga” and the second In all, after he suffered in the Champions League at the hands of German Leipzig 2-3 on the 25th of last month.
After this defeat, the royal club became away from home, two points behind its rivals, Barcelona, who won Saturday 2-0 over Almeria, while Vallecano, with its third victory in a row and sixth for the season, while maintaining its unbeaten record for the fifth stage in a row, raised its tally to 21 points in eighth place.
After returning to the squad in the 5-1 win over Celtic on Wednesday in the final round of the group stage of the Champions League, French top scorer Karim Benzema returned to the Real squad less than two weeks before the start of the World Cup in Qatar, due to discomfort in the thigh muscles that kept him away from The three games leading up to the midweek meeting.
The beginning was difficult for Real, who also missed his German midfielder, Toni Kroos, as a result of the suspension for his expulsion in the last seconds of the last stage match, as he found himself lagging behind since the fifth minute, after a cross from Francisco Garcia from the right, to reach the ball to Santiago Comisania, who fired it powerfully into the goalkeeper’s net. Belgian Thibaut Courtois.
Vallecano was close to hitting his guest net for the second time had it not been for Courtois' brilliance in the face of Alvaro Garcia (14) and then the far effort of Essie Palason (30).
But the royal club returned to the meeting thanks to a penalty kick that Marco Asensio snatched and it was calculated after resorting to “VAR” against Francisco Garcia. Veteran Luka Modric came to it and deposited the ball in the net of the North Macedonian goalkeeper Stoli Dimitrievsky (37).
Real did not wait long to score the goal of advancing with a powerful header from Brazilian Eder Militao to the right of Dmitrievski after a corner kick (41), but Faicano quickly responded with the equalizer through a wonderful shot "on the fly" and from a difficult angle to Alvaro Garcia, who received the ball from Palason (44). The first half ends with the two teams at the same distance.
Real began the second half with an incursion by Asensio, who passed the ball to the Brazilian Rodrigo, and the latter hit it outside the three woods (47), and Vaicano responded with a powerful long shot by Francisco Garcia, just above the crossbar (61).
Vallecano got a golden opportunity to advance against the royal club again after he was awarded a penalty kick for a handball in the forbidden area on Dani Carvajal, but Courtois shone in the face of Argentine Oscar Trejo before he bowed in the second attempt as a result of the Belgian goalkeeper advancing on his own goal, and Trejo succeeded. Translated this time (67).
Real tried hard to save a point, but Vallecano, who lost his coach Andoni Iraola after being sent off in the 61st minute, stood firm in the face of Ancelotti's men and walked the three points to safety after he was close to contenting with a draw, but Rodrigo did not improve dealing with Asensio's cross and knocked the ball over the crossbar (89). ).