The Japan Times - Real Madrid scrape win over Rayo, Athletic claim derby draw

Elsewhere Athletic Bilbao struck late to secure a 1-1 Basque derby draw against Real Sociedad and Real Betis rose to fifth with a 2-1 win at Valencia.

Los Blancos cut Barcelona's lead back to one point at the top of the table after the Spanish champions beat Elche on Saturday.

Vinicius Junior scored early on for Madrid after Jude Bellingham limped off with a hamstring injury which is expected to keep him out for around a month.

Jorge de Frutos pulled Rayo level early in the second half as Madrid fans showed their anger at their team following the midweek Champions League defeat at Benfica.

After Pathe Ciss's red card tilted the game in Madrid's favour, Mbappe netted from the spot at the death for his 22nd La Liga goal this season.

Pep Chavarria was also sent off in the final stages for Rayo, 17th, who took a shaky Madrid to the wire before falling short.

Madrid coach Alvaro Arbeloa said it would take time before the team could become more consistent, having had six games at the helm since replacing Xabi Alonso.

"I'm not Gandalf the White," the Madrid coach told reporters, referring to the fictional wizard from the Lord of the Rings.

"What I want from my players is what I'm seeing, commitment, attitude, mentality, knowing that to win each game quality is not enough, consistency is key... we will work on that."

Arbeloa said Madrid had to play better than other teams to beat opponents, because of their illustrious name.

"This is Real Madrid, and to beat Rayo Vallecano we need to do more than the rest of the teams in La Liga," he continued.

The coach said Bellingham would be a "big absence" for the matches ahead after he limped off early, incuding the Champions League play-off games against Jose Mourinho's Benfica -- again.

After the defeat in Portugal stopped Madrid reaching the last 16 directly, the Santiago Bernabeu crowd was in unforgiving mood and whistled their own players, despite appeals from Arbeloa and Mbappe ahead of the game.

Vinicius, who was targeted, fired the hosts ahead in the 15th minute with a fine individual goal.

Los Blancos were in charge but despite taking the lead, their fans were not appeased, and whistled the team in at the break.

Things got worse when four minutes into the second half Rayo pulled level through De Frutos.

The visitors should have taken the lead after an hour when Andrei Ratiu ran through on goal but Thibaut Courtois denied him superbly, while Mbappe hit the crossbar at the other end.

- Rayo self-destruct -

Rayo made life harder for themselves when midfielder Ciss was sent off for an ugly foul on Madrid's Dani Ceballos.

Eduardo Camavinga headed against the post as Arbeloa's side turned the screw.

With nine minutes of stoppage time ticking down Madrid were awarded a penalty when Nobel Mendy clumsily fouled Brahim Diaz, and La Liga's top scorer Mbappe dispatched it.

Rayo finished the match with nine men after Chavarria was shown a second yellow card for shoving Rodrygo Goes.

"The important thing is to improve, to grow as a team, try to be calmer, we can't always be waiting for the opponent to make a mistake," said Madrid midfielder Fede Valverde.

At Athletic's San Mames home Inigo Ruiz de Galarreta's fine solo goal snatched the hosts a point against in-form Real Sociedad.

La Real continued their fine start under American coach Pellegrino Matarazzo as they went a sixth game unbeaten, but victory was almost theirs after Goncalo Guedes's 37th-minute long-range rocket.

Brais Mendez was sent off for hitting out at Aitor Paredes and Real Sociedad paid the price as Ruiz de Galarreta burst into the area and smashed home with two minutes left.

The draw left Real Sociedad eighth, still in contention for European football next season after their improvement.

"I think we deserved the three points today, when it was 11 against 11 we were dominant," La Real midfielder Carlos Soler told DAZN.

Ernesto Valverde's Athletic, 11th, are winless in their last six La Liga games but will be bolstered by avoiding a derby defeat by the skin of their teeth.

"We've had a difficult month, lots of adverse results... luckily with the final push we were able to draw," said Ruiz de Galarreta.

Y.Watanabe--JT