Ex-Barcelona defender Héctor Bellerín put his former side a step closer to the title as he scored an equaliser in the fourth minute of stoppage time to cost Real Madrid further points in Friday’s 1-1 draw at Real Betis.
Madrid had looked set to cut the gap to Barcelona at the top of LaLiga to six points after Vinícius Júnior ‘s first-half goal.
It was his 125th goal for the club and came in the 17th minute. Federico Valverde shot from range, goalkeeper Álvaro Valles pushed it out and Vinícius responded quickest to tap home.
But the visitors failed to cling on, Bellerín scoring deep into added time as Madrid’s outside chance of catching Barça became yet more remote, with the leaders playing Getafe on Saturday when victory will take them 11 points clear with five games to play.
Adding to Real Madrid’s worries, striker Kylian Mbappé was substituted late on after signaling to the bench that he needed to be taken off.
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Both sides were fortunate not to give away penalties.
Brahim Díaz was lucky to get away with a possible handball in the second half as Betis looked to keep their bid to reach the Champions League on track.
Riccardo Rodriguez also appeared to handle the ball inside the box for Betis but again the referee was unmoved.
Mbappé had the first chance of the match when he collected Trent Alexander-Arnold’s pass and fired high over the bar.
Madrid’s goal was down to quick thinking by Vinícius.
Valverde won the ball in midfield and, with options ahead of him, opted to drive forward and try an ambitious effort from 35 yards.
Valles appeared to be surprised by the effort and was perhaps slow to get down to the effort. He failed to hold on to it and, as it squirmed away from him, there arriving first was Vinicius to beat his defender to the ball and slide it into the corner.
Jude Bellingham nearly doubled the lead before halftime but was denied by a good stop from Valles.
Next it was visiting goalkeeper Andriy Lunin’s turn to impress, flinging himself into a save to keep out a well-struck effort from Antony.
Bellingham and Dean Huijsen both went close in the second half for Madrid, who were in desperate need of the points to keep some degree of pressure on Barça.
They looked to have done enough. Then, with four minutes of stoppage time played, they failed to properly clear the ball inside the area and the loose ball was pounced upon by Bellerín, who lashed it inside the near post to steal a point.
PA contributed to this report.
