European football: Real Madrid survive Alavés comeback to stay in touch at top

Real Madrid survived a late scare as goals by Lucas Vázquez, Kylian Mbappé and Rodrygo gave them a 3-2 home win over Alavés in La Liga. Carlos Benavídez and Kike García scored in the 88th and 89th minutes for Alavés but Real held on to win a match they had mostly dominated.

Real opened the scoring a little over a minute after kickoff when Vinícius Júnior took a long Federico Valverde pass in his stride and ran up the left channel before setting up Vázquez, who fired home from close range.

They extended their lead in the 40th minute when Mbappé played a neat one-two with Jude Bellingham before cutting inside and slotting a tidy finish to the right of the goalkeeper.

The defending champions looked to be heading for a comfortable win when Rodrygo scored their third three minutes after the break, firing a low shot under Antonio Sivera’s legs to finish off a quick counterattack.

However, both Benavídez and García capitalised on some poor defending to get the visitors back in the contest but their comeback came too late to prevent Real taking all three points.

“It’s a shame that, with the performance we were putting throughout the match, it had to finish the way it did,” Vázquez said. “We were happy with the win because we played a great game until the 88th minute, when two lapses in concentration led to two goals and we had to suffer a bit more than we should have. We didn’t deserve this ending, but let’s look on the bright side: we did a lot of things right.”

Also in La Liga, Sevilla beat Valladolid 2-1, with Chidera Ejuke scoring the winner five minutes from time and the hosts holding on for all three points when Marcos Teixeira was sent off in the last minute. Struggling Valencia managed to get a point with a goalless draw at home against Osasuna.

In Austria, Rapid Vienna and Austria Vienna have agreed to hold the next four games between the two sides without any away fans, the clubs have announced, after rival supporters clashed during Sunday’s derby that left at least 13 injured.

The clubs decided on the measure to best guarantee fans’ safety, they said, adding that they were working on precautions to enable the return of away fans. “This is the best way of preventing further damage to SK Rapid,” the Austrian Bundesliga leaders said in a statement. “Violence should not and must not have a place in our sport.”

Fans of both clubs set off pyrotechnics even before the game had started, the Viennese police said on Sunday, adding that there were violent clashes during the match that culminated in a pitch invasion after Rapid’s 2-1 win.

Videos posted to social media showed masked men on the pitch, some holding sticks, with smoke billowing from pyrotechnics. Ten police officers were injured, the police told Reuters, adding that criminal charges had been brought against 152 people as of Tuesday.