Madrid, April 22 (IANS) Real Madrid closed Barcelona’s lead at the top of La Liga to six points with a 2-1 win at home against Alaves.

Kylian Mbappe opened the scoring in the 29th minute with a powerful shot from the edge of the Alaves penalty area.

Eder Militao hit the bar two minutes from halftime with a header, but pulled up immediately afterwards and had to be substituted with a muscle injury, with Toni Martinez hitting the post for a battling Alaves in first half injury time, reports Xinhua.

Vinicius Jr, who had previously been booed by the fans in the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium, doubled Real Madrid’s lead with a powerful right-foot shot after good work from Fede Valverde.

Martinez finally got his goal in injury time, but although it was too late to save a point, it was enough to provoke the fans in the Bernabeu to boo and whistle Real Madrid off the pitch despite the win.

Real Betis ended a run of seven games without a win with an entertaining 3-2 win at Girona. The visitors fell behind after Viktor Tsygankov’s seventh-minute goal, but turned the score around thanks to strikes from Marc Roca and Abde Ezzalzouli.

Azzedine Ounahi made it 2-2 from the penalty spot after Joel Roca was fouled inside the box, but Rodrigo Riquelme won the game in the closing moments with a cool finish after another assist from Abde.

Athletic Club won 1-0 at home to Osasuna to end its relegation fears in a tense game decided by Gorka Guruzeta’s 16th-minute goal after Nico Williams’ shot was blocked by Osasuna goalkeeper Sergio Herrera.

Osasuna improved after the break but were denied by an immense Unai Simon, with the Spain international goalkeeper saving Ante Budimir’s penalty and then producing a reflex stop to save a header that looked destined for the bottom corner.

Athletic ended with 10 men after midfielder Mikel Jauregizar was sent off in the 80th minutes and had defender Yeray Alvarez struggling with cramp, but held on for a win that should end its relegation worries.

Mallorca and Valencia both edged a point closer to salvation with a 1-1 draw, with Mallorca taking the lead through Samu Costa’s header before Umar Sadiq salvaged a point for the visitors.

Barcelona plays Celta Vigo on Wednesday while Atletico Madrid travels to Elche.

–IANS

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