Valencia secure victory as Real Madrid dealt major La Liga title race blow

Real Madrid have failed to go level on points with Barcelona at the top of La Liga after falling to a 2-1 defeat to Valencia in their MD30 clash at the Santiago Bernabeu.

Despite facing Arsenal in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final on Tuesday, Real Madrid head coach Carlo Ancelotti named a very strong side. Kylian Mbappe started, and just beyond the 10-minute mark, he was in the action as he won a penalty after being pulled down by Cesar Tarrega inside the area. Vinicius Junior was the player elected to take the spot-kick, but his effort was poor and easily saved by Valencia goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili.

Real Madrid and Vinicius were made to pay for that miss only a few minutes later when Valencia took a shock lead. Diego Lopez delivered an excellent corner that landed perfectly on the head of Mouctar Diakhaby, who powered the ball past Fran Gonzalez, who was making his first team debut for Los Blancos as Andriy Lunin was not risked by Ancelotti due to a calf problem.

Valencia kept their lead until half time, but just five minutes into the second period, Real Madrid forced an equaliser when Luka Modric’s corner was flicked into the path of Vinicius, who stabbed home from close range to make up for his penalty miss.

From that moment on, Real Madrid dominated in search for a winner, but on every occasion, they were denied by strong Valencia defending and Mamardashvili, who was in inspired form – his save to deny Federico Valverde was particularly special. And in the end, it was Los Che that stole the victory that Hugo Duro headed home in the 95th minute to secure their first Bernabeu victory since 2008.

It is a result that keeps Real Madrid three points behind Barcelona in the title race, but that gap could grow to six if the Catalans defeat Real Betis on Saturday night. Valencia rise to 14th with the victory, and they are now seven points clear of the drop zone.