IN SPORT.ES
Barcelona are still top. Real Madrid made sure of that with a defeat by Real Betis on Sunday, leaving the Catalans two points clear after their win over Real Sociedad on Saturday.
Sidnei and former Blaugrana winger Cristian Tello got the goals, while Karim Benzema slotted home a penalty between the two.
Madrid came close through Vinicius Junior but it was Betis who were on top and Marc Bartra headed over from only a couple of yards out when he should have scored.
Then Thibaut Courtois made a great save to deny Nabil Fekir, before Sidnei cracked in the opener with a thunderous strike.
However he then fouled Marcelo and Benzema finished off the penalty for only his third goal in 15 matches.
Joaquin should have given Betis the win when he rounded Courtois but didn’t shoot into the empty net, with Luka Modric cutting out his cut-back.
It didn’t matter in the end because Benzema gave it away and Tello ran through to slot past the Belgian stopper.
"We cannot be happy with the game we played tonight," said Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane. "We started badly, had time to turn it around but we could not. Right now I don’t have an explanation, we lacked a bit of everything.
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"In the end the solution is to continue. We’ve had a good season until now, good things and bad things, we have to move forward. Today is a pity."