Real Madrid slipped to a 10th La Liga defeat of the season as Rayo Vallecano boosted their narrow hopes of survival with a 1-0 win over Zinedine Zidane’s side.
The game’s only goal came from something of a contentious penalty as Jesus Vallejo was adjudged to have brought down Javi Guerra as the defender made a goal-saving tackle in his area and Adri Embarba kept his cool to beat Thibaut Courtois from the spot after 23 minutes.
Courtois, appearing under Zidane for the first time since recovering from injury, is yet to save a penalty as a Real player, having been beaten by seven of those, while the other one went wide.
The Belgian’s introduction was one of a number of changes to this team, with Dani Ceballos and Marcos Llorente given chances in midfield.
But they struggled against an aggressive and intense Rayo side seeking a win to move off the bottom of the table, having been overtaken earlier in the day by Huesca.
Mariano, in for the injured Karim Benzema, thought he had levelled as he netted a lovely lob late in the first half, but the striker was offside when the ball was played through and his effort did not count.
Gareth Bale saw a late free kick saved by Alberto Garcia, the Welshman also having hit an effort straight at the Rayo goalkeeper earlier on, although that would not have counted as the play was brought back to award the home side their penalty.
Zidane threw on Brahim Diaz, Isco and Lucas Vazquez in the closing stages, but Madrid did not come particularly close to equalising and Rayo had further chances through Javi Guerra and Embarba again in the second half.
Paco Jemez’s men held on for a win which moves them up to 19th place and gives them hope of survival, although they are still six points from Girona (17th), plus Levante and Celta Vigo above them, with three rounds of La Liga remaining.
Real Madrid, meanwhile, are now nine points behind Atletico and look set to finish third in the league as a disappointing season draws to a close for Los Blancos.
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