Real Madrid matched Barcelona’s victory at Elche on Sunday afternoon, but Álvaro Arbeloa’s side needed a late Kylian Mbappé to sneak past the relegation-threatened Rayo Vallecano and seal a 2–1 win.
Iñigo Perez’s visitors entered Madrid’s restless cauldron down in 16th and on a three-game losing run. After falling behind to a wonderful Vinicius Junior strike, Rayo may have expected to be on the receiving end of a drubbing, but they instead departed the capital with a panging sense of regret.
