Madrid conceded early in the second half and then saw red cards for Fran García and Álvaro Carreras in their first defeat of the season at the Santiago Bernabéu stadium in all competitions.
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Williot Swedberg scored for the visitors with a beautiful shot near the penalty spot in the 54th.
Madrid lost García for a second yellow card in the 64th minute and Carreras in added time. Swedberg sealed Celta’s victory on a breakaway shortly after Madrid was reduced to nine players.
Madrid’s only other league defeat this season was a tough loss to Atlético Madrid in September. They also lost to Liverpool in the league stage of the Champions League in November.
Sunday’s setback left Xabi Alonso’s team four points behind Barcelona. The Catalan club beat Real Betis 5-3 on Saturday. Madrid is just one point ahead of Villarreal, third, who has a game less.
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Vinícius Júnior and Kylian Mbappé had good opportunities to equalize for Madrid, but they could not take advantage of them.
Real Madrid defender Éder Militão had to leave the game in the first half due to injury.
Celta moved up to tenth place with its second win in three league games.
Goalkeeper errors
Girona goalkeeper Paulo Gazzaniga had an afternoon to forget in Girona’s 3-0 defeat to Elche at home.
Errors by the Argentine goalkeeper led to two Elche goals, including one after passing the ball directly to an opponent inside the area while trying to send it to a defender. He had previously failed to make a routine save on an angled shot near the near post.
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Gazzaniga also had a nightmare game in Girona’s first league game, when his errors led to a goal and a penalty and his sending off in the 3-1 loss to Rayo Vallecano.
Girona, located inside the relegation zone in 18th place, has just one win in its last six games in all competitions.
Elche, which had not won in seven consecutive league games, moved to ninth place.
Espanyol wins again
Roberto Fernández converted a first-half penalty and fifth-place Espanyol beat Rayo Vallecano 1-0 for its third consecutive league victory.
Rayo, which is 12th, played with 10 men from the 64th minute due to the red card to Unai López. Espanyol’s Tyrhys Dolan was sent off in the 87th minute.
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Rayo has gone five consecutive league games without winning.
Late equalizer for Valencia
Hugo Duro scored three minutes into stoppage time as 15th-placed Valencia drew 1-1 at home with 13th-placed Sevilla.
Sevilla, which had not won in three consecutive league games, took the lead with an own goal by César Tárrega in the 58th.
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AP Soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer