MADRID (AP) — Kylian Mbappé and Vinícius Júnior scored goals in a five-minute span in the first half as Real Madrid held on to beat Rayo Vallecano 2-1 on Sunday and move level on points with Barcelona at the top of the Spanish league.
Mbappé scored in the 30th minute and Vinícius doubled the lead in the 34th to give Madrid the same 57 points as Barcelona, which had its match against Osasuna on Saturday .
There was a moment of silence at Madrid's Santiago Bernabeu Stadium in honor of the Barcelona doctor.
Barcelona remains ahead of Madrid on the head-to-head tiebreaker.
“It's a nice feeling because the goal was to get the three points,” Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti said. “We could have been up 3-0 in the first half but it ended 2-1. And in the second half we had opportunities to go up 3-1.”
Rayo, which stayed in seventh place, hit back with a goal from Pedro Díaz in first-half stoppage time. It hasn't won in four straight league matches, with three losses and a draw.
Ancelotti rotated his squad ahead of Wednesday’s match at Atletico Madrid in the round of 16 of the Champions League.
Ancelotti substituted both Mbappé and Rodrygo on Sunday.
“I had no problem replacing the forwards,” he said. “We needed to defend toward the end of the match.”
Atletico falters
Atletico wasted a chance to retake the league lead after conceding two late goals in a 2-1 loss at Getafe.
Diego Simeone's team scored first with penalty kick converted by Alexander Sorloth in the 75th, but it couldn't hold on to the lead after Ángel Correa was sent off with a straight red card for a hard foul.
Midfielder Mauro Arambarri equalized for the hosts in the 88th and scored the winner two minutes into stoppage time.
Atletico is one point behind Madrid and Barcelona.
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