Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Real Madrid’s Kylian Mbappe celebrates after scoring his side’s opening goal during the Spanish La Liga soccer match between Real Madrid and Rayo Vallecano at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium in Madrid, Spain, Sunday, March 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
MADRID – Kylian Mbappé and Vinícius Júnior scored goals in a five-minute span in the first half as Real Madrid held on to beat Rayo Vallecano 2-1 on Sunday and move level on points with Barcelona at the top of the Spanish league.
Mbappé scored in the 30th minute and Vinícius doubled the lead in the 34th to give Madrid the same 57 points as Barcelona, which had its match against Osasuna on Saturday postponed after the death of first-team doctor Carles Miñarro Garcia.
Barcelona remains ahead of Madrid on the head-to-head tiebreaker.
Rayo, which stayed in seventh place, hit back with a goal from Pedro Díaz in first-half stoppage time. It hasn’t won in four straight league matches, with three losses and a draw.
Atletico falters
Atletico wasted a chance to retake the league lead after conceding two late goals in a 2-1 loss at Getafe.
Diego Simeone’s team scored first with penalty kick converted by Alexander Sorloth in the 75th, but it couldn’t hold on to the lead after Ángel Correa was sent off with a straight red card for a hard foul.
Midfielder Mauro Arambarri equalized for the hosts in the 88th and scored the winner two minutes into stoppage time.
___
AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
