Madrid, April 24 (IANS) Any slim chance Real Madrid had of winning La Liga this season almost disappeared as Alvaro Arbeloa’s side was held to a 1-1 draw away to Real Betis.

A win would have increased the pressure on FC Barcelona ahead of its tricky trip to Getafe on Saturday, but the draw now means Barca can move 11 points clear at the top with a victory.

Real Madrid started strongly with Kylian Mbappe having a pair of early chances before Vinicius Jr opening the scoring in the 17th minute. Betis goalkeeper Alvaro Valles failed to clear Federico Valverde’s shot from distance, leaving Vinicius Jr with a simple tap-in.

Betis reacted well, forcing Andriy Lunin into a series of excellent saves while also losing defender Marc Bartra to injury, with Diego Llorente coming on. Lunin first denied Antony and then produced a fine one-on-one stop to thwart Cedric Bakambu.

Mbappe had a goal ruled out for a clear offside early in the second half, and Lunin again came to Madrid’s rescue with another sharp save from Cucho Hernandez as Betis threatened on the counter.

Valles made up for his earlier mistake with an excellent stop in the 78th minute to deny Valverde, before Mbappe asked to be substituted with a suspected muscle problem that will concern Arbeloa and Madrid fans alike.

Antony went close for Betis, but it was defender Hector Bellerin who leveled the game deep into injury time. After Antony’s cross was only half-cleared by Antonio Rudiger, the ball dropped to Bellerin, who drilled his shot past Lunin, leaving the keeper with no chance.

“When you have a scoreline that is so close, these things can happen, and it’s clear we don’t have a lot of luck,” Arbeloa after the game.

–IANS

bc/