Rayo Stymie Real’s rise to the league summit

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Rayo Vallecano prevented Real Madrid from taking temporary control of La Liga by defeating the European champions in a thrilling 3-3 draw on Saturday.

Real turned up the heat on their city rivals after a hard-fought 3-2 away win at Atalanta in the Champions League in midweek.

Kylian Mbappe scored his 50th goal in the competition to give Italy the lead. However, he sustained a hamstring injury, which is why Carlo Ancelotti ruled out the France star for this Saturday night’s away game in the Spanish capital.

Rayo Vallecano, who claimed a win last time out, stunned the visiting giants when Unai Lopez headed in a perfect cross from Jorge de Frutos despite the game only being four minutes old.

Rayo tried to shoot the ball in the roaring Estadio de Vallecas, but de Frutos’ shot flew over the crossbar.

But the home side only had to wait until after half an hour to extend their lead with another header, this time from Abdul Moomin.

This unexpected goal only lasted three minutes as Fede Valverde scored his fourth goal of the season for Real with a powerful 25-yard shot.

Just when Rayo were thinking of going into the break with the lead, Jude Bellingham equalized in the first minute of first-half stoppage time.

The England international headed Rodrygo’s shot into the bottom corner to score his sixth consecutive league goal.

Real came out of the second half intent on completing their comeback and moving to the top of the table, at least for 24 hours.

Arda Güler had the ball in the net, but the Turkish teenager’s attempt was disallowed by Real because it was clearly offside.

Two minutes later, Rodrygo gave the visitors the lead for the first time in style, the Brazilian winger’s shot flying into the top corner past Augusto Batalla.

Ancelotti introduced Vinicius Junior, who made his comeback from injury against Atalanta and also got on the scoresheet against the Serie A leaders.

The sight of the fearsome striker did not deter Rayo, who erased Real’s lead seconds later when Isi Palazon converted Florian Lejeune’s long-range shot past fox Thibaut Courtois.

This is how the encounter ended: Real now had 37 points, one behind Barcelona, ​​but still had a game in hand.

Real’s next appearance is on Wednesday, in the Intercontinental Cup final in Qatar against Mexican club Pachuca. Mbappe will be on the plane to Doha.

Barcelona have a chance to extend their lead at the top when they host Leganes on Sunday.

Atletico Madrid are three points behind Barcelona, ​​having also played a game less and having won five straight in La Liga ahead of Sunday’s home derby against Getafe.