JUDE BELLINGHAM LIMPED off in tears as a 100th-minute Kylian Mbappe penalty earned Real Madrid a 2-1 win over nine-man Rayo Vallecano on Sunday in a spicy La Liga derby clash.
Los Blancos cut Barcelona’s lead back to one point at the top of the table after the Spanish champions beat Elche on Saturday.
Bellingham pulled up in the 10th minute and went to ground clutching his left hamstring. The England midfielder wiped away tears and was comforted by Real team-mates as he sat on the turf.
Vinicius Junior scored early on for Madrid, before 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.
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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.
In Germany, Serhou Guirassy scored twice in the second half as Borussia Dortmund came from behind to beat bottom club Heidenheim 3-2 on Sunday and move six points behind Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich.
Waldemar Anton put the nervy hosts in front but Julian Niehues scored either side of half-time to give Heidenheim the lead.
Guirassy had scored just one Bundesliga goal in 10 games since October but grabbed two in the space of two minutes to put Dortmund back in front.
Guirassy missed a late penalty but Dortmund, who were 11 points behind Bayern at Christmas, held on to drag themselves back into the title race.
“We want to be champions. We’re six points behind now, fewer than after the break,” Dortmund captain Nico Schlotterbeck told DAZN. “We want to attack now.”
Dortmund host Bayern in late February. Their only league loss this season came in Munich in October.
In Italy, Inter Milan extended their lead at the top of Serie A to eight points with Sunday’s 2-0 win at Cremonese, a match which was marred by away fans nearly hitting the hosts’ goalkeeper Emil Audero with a firecracker.
Lautaro Martinez and Piotr Zielinski’s first-half strikes were enough for Inter to extend their unbeaten league run to 11 matches and pile pressure on nearest challengers AC Milan who face Bologna on Tuesday.
Inter again comfortably dealt with one of the division’s lesser lights, their consistency with the lower-ranked teams a large part of the reason why Cristian Chivu’s team have collected 31 points from those 11 fixtures.
But a positive evening for Inter almost took a darker turn when Audero fell to the turf following the arrival of the firecracker from among the Inter fans massed behind his goal.
The match was stopped for a few minutes and for a brief moment it appeared Audero had been directly struck by the explosive, which went off near him in the penalty area.
Fortunately a stunned Audero had only suffered minor injuries to his leg and was able to continue, and the match finished without further incident.
Finally, in France, Nuno Mendes scored a late winner as Paris Saint-Germain survived the second-half sending-off of Achraf Hakimi to beat Strasbourg 2-1 on Sunday and reclaim top spot in Ligue 1.
A dramatic game in Alsace saw PSG goalkeeper Matfei Safonov save Joaquin Panichelli’s early penalty for Strasbourg, before youngster Senny Mayulu gave the visitors the lead.
Guela Doue, elder brother of PSG star Desire, levelled for the home side before the half-hour mark, but Portugal left-back Mendes headed in the winner for the reigning French and European champions in the 81st minute.
Luis Enrique’s team had been reduced to 10 men on 74 minutes as Moroccan star Hakimi was sent off for a high tackle on Panichelli: he was initially shown a yellow card only for the punishment to be upgraded to red after a VAR check. Irish international Andrew Omobamidele was an unused substitute for Strasbourg.
Lyon meanwhile continued their excellent run of form with a 1-0 win over Lille in Ligue 1 on Sunday making it 10 straight victories in all competitions to further boost their chances of a return to the Champions League.
Danish midfielder Noah Nartey scored the only goal of the game late in the opening half, a first for the 20-year-old since his arrival from Brondby last month.
The seven-time French champions have now won 10 successive games since a 1-0 loss at Lorient in early December, including five on the bounce in Ligue 1.
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Bellingham limps off in tears as Madrid leave it late to beat Rayo, Dortmund cut gap to Bayern
LAST UPDATE | 33 mins ago
European results
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Serie A
Ligue Un
************
JUDE BELLINGHAM LIMPED off in tears as a 100th-minute Kylian Mbappe penalty earned Real Madrid a 2-1 win over nine-man Rayo Vallecano on Sunday in a spicy La Liga derby clash.
Los Blancos cut Barcelona’s lead back to one point at the top of the table after the Spanish champions beat Elche on Saturday.
Bellingham pulled up in the 10th minute and went to ground clutching his left hamstring. The England midfielder wiped away tears and was comforted by Real team-mates as he sat on the turf.
Vinicius Junior scored early on for Madrid, before 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.
In Germany, Serhou Guirassy scored twice in the second half as Borussia Dortmund came from behind to beat bottom club Heidenheim 3-2 on Sunday and move six points behind Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich.
Waldemar Anton put the nervy hosts in front but Julian Niehues scored either side of half-time to give Heidenheim the lead.
Guirassy had scored just one Bundesliga goal in 10 games since October but grabbed two in the space of two minutes to put Dortmund back in front.
Guirassy missed a late penalty but Dortmund, who were 11 points behind Bayern at Christmas, held on to drag themselves back into the title race.
“We want to be champions. We’re six points behind now, fewer than after the break,” Dortmund captain Nico Schlotterbeck told DAZN. “We want to attack now.”
Dortmund host Bayern in late February. Their only league loss this season came in Munich in October.
In Italy, Inter Milan extended their lead at the top of Serie A to eight points with Sunday’s 2-0 win at Cremonese, a match which was marred by away fans nearly hitting the hosts’ goalkeeper Emil Audero with a firecracker.
Lautaro Martinez and Piotr Zielinski’s first-half strikes were enough for Inter to extend their unbeaten league run to 11 matches and pile pressure on nearest challengers AC Milan who face Bologna on Tuesday.
Inter again comfortably dealt with one of the division’s lesser lights, their consistency with the lower-ranked teams a large part of the reason why Cristian Chivu’s team have collected 31 points from those 11 fixtures.
But a positive evening for Inter almost took a darker turn when Audero fell to the turf following the arrival of the firecracker from among the Inter fans massed behind his goal.
The match was stopped for a few minutes and for a brief moment it appeared Audero had been directly struck by the explosive, which went off near him in the penalty area.
Fortunately a stunned Audero had only suffered minor injuries to his leg and was able to continue, and the match finished without further incident.
Finally, in France, Nuno Mendes scored a late winner as Paris Saint-Germain survived the second-half sending-off of Achraf Hakimi to beat Strasbourg 2-1 on Sunday and reclaim top spot in Ligue 1.
A dramatic game in Alsace saw PSG goalkeeper Matfei Safonov save Joaquin Panichelli’s early penalty for Strasbourg, before youngster Senny Mayulu gave the visitors the lead.
Guela Doue, elder brother of PSG star Desire, levelled for the home side before the half-hour mark, but Portugal left-back Mendes headed in the winner for the reigning French and European champions in the 81st minute.
Luis Enrique’s team had been reduced to 10 men on 74 minutes as Moroccan star Hakimi was sent off for a high tackle on Panichelli: he was initially shown a yellow card only for the punishment to be upgraded to red after a VAR check. Irish international Andrew Omobamidele was an unused substitute for Strasbourg.
Lyon meanwhile continued their excellent run of form with a 1-0 win over Lille in Ligue 1 on Sunday making it 10 straight victories in all competitions to further boost their chances of a return to the Champions League.
Danish midfielder Noah Nartey scored the only goal of the game late in the opening half, a first for the 20-year-old since his arrival from Brondby last month.
The seven-time French champions have now won 10 successive games since a 1-0 loss at Lorient in early December, including five on the bounce in Ligue 1.
– © AFP 2026
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