Real Madrid handed first defeat in La Liga, make way for Barcelona at top of the table

Rayo Vallecano, Real Madrid’s city rival stuns the Los Blancos to help Barcelona solidify their position at the top of the points table. On a cold evening at the Spanish capital, the defending champions were outclassed right from the first whistle as holding mid-fielder Santi Comesana scored from a brilliant flick in the fifth minute to give Vallecano a much-needed lead in the 5th minute of the game.

However, the Carlo Ancelotti-coached side didn’t take much of a time to make a comeback. They have done this a lot in the past and Tuesday was no different. Stand-in captain Luka Modric’s penalty helped the team come to level terms while defender Eder Militao’s brilliant header helped the team take the lead in the 41st minute. Now, just when the Real Madrid players were waiting for the halftime whistle, Alvaro Garcia pulled one back to help his team go to the dressing room on level terms.

Thibaut Courtois fluffs his line, costing Real Madrid all points

After a draw against Girona in their last league match, Real Madrid was expected to get a comfortable win over Vallecano. Instead, the 35-times La Liga winners played one of their worst games of the season. In the absence of Karim Benzema, they lacked quality upfront. Fede Valverde, who was used as a winger earlier in the season went back to midfield with Marco Asensio tagging with Rodrygo and Vinicius Jr. up front.

A draw eventually could have helped Madrid gain some momentum but Courtois’ error eventually cost Madrid the point. First, Dani Carvajal’s error in judgement helped the opponent earn a penalty in the 65th minute and secondly, Courtois came out of the line to save the penalty which resulted in a retake from which Oscar Trejo converted. With that, the Andoni Iraola-coached side earned all three points and moved up to eighth in the table.

Now, despite Real Madrid trailing for the majority part of the second half, Carlo Ancelotti never considered bringing in Eden Hazard. Mariano Diaz and Lucas Vasquez were introduced later on but none of them could change the scoreline.

Following their defeat, Barcelona are now two points clear at the top of the table as Real Madrid now has 32 points after 13 games.