European football: Real Madrid denied by Rayo Vallecano’s Raúl de Tomás

The Spanish league leaders, Real Madrid, were held to a 1-1 draw at their city neighbours Rayo Vallecano on Sunday as Joselu’s early strike was cancelled out by a Raúl de Tomás penalty, a result that could spice up the title race with surprise contenders Girona.

After dealing what could have been a huge blow to Girona’s title hopes by thrashing them 4-0 last week, a wasteful Real stumbled at Vallecas and could see the Catalan side edge closer in the rear mirror once again. The draw took Carlo Ancelotti’s side to 62 points, six points clear of second-placed Girona, who play their game in hand at Athletic Bilbao on Monday.

Joselu gave Real Madrid the lead after they took advantage of a wasted opportunity by the Rayo forward De Tomás that allowed the visitors to start a quick counterattack. Brahim Díaz delivered an excellent long pass into the stride of Federico Valverde who, unmarked on the right wing, put the ball on a plate for Joselu with a low cross that the Spanish forward had only to tap into the empty goal. His effort was at first ruled out for offside by the linesman but VAR corrected the decision quickly as Joselu was clearly onside.

Real dominated proceedings with up to 65% possession but were wasteful and allowed the hosts to equalise in the 27th minute with De Tomás’s penalty after VAR spotted a handball by the midfielder Eduardo Camavinga.

Missing the injured England midfielder Jude Bellingham, Real were on top in the second half but failed to take their chances. The disgruntled visitors were reduced to 10 men in added time when the 75th-minute substitute Dani Carvajal was shown two yellow cards in two minutes.

At the other end of the table, the bottom two sides, Granada and Almería, cancelled each other out in a 1-1 draw at Los Cármenes. Marc Pubill had given Almería a ninth-minute lead, but Myrto Uzuni equalised for the home side with 15 minutes remaining.

In Serie A, Milan’s title hopes took a huge blow with a 4-2 defeat at mid-table Monza. Milan were 2-0 down at the break and Luka Jovic was sent off seven minutes into the second half before Olivier Giroud started the comeback and Christian Pulisic levelled it in the 88th minute. But Milan’s tiredness started to show and the hosts retook the lead through Warren Bondo in the 90th minute and Lorenzo Colombo finished things off five minutes later.

Bologna boosted their hopes of a Champions League place with a 2-1 comeback victory at Lazio. Oussama El Azzouzi equalised for the visitors after Gustav Isaksen had given Maurizio Sarri’s side an early advantage. Joshua Zirkzee slammed home the winner with 12 minutes to go, moving Bologna up to fifth.

Lazio had earned a 1-0 first-leg edge over Bayern Munich in the Champions League, but are now eight points off the pace in the race for a top-four spot. Fiorentina also lost ground after a 1-1 draw at Empoli in a Tuscan derby, while Udinese and Cagliari also drew 1-1 in a battle of relegation candidates.

In the Bundesliga a late Michael Gregoritsch equaliser saw Freiburg fight back for a 3-3 draw against Eintracht Frankfurt at the Europa-Park Stadion. Play was halted midway through the second half because of protests from fans, in which remote-controlled planes were flown around the stadium while sweets were thrown on to the pitch behind one of the goals.

In France, second-placed Brest kept up their Champions League hopes despite playing Marseille for 30 minutes with 10 men after Steve Mounie was sent off. However, the club from Brittany struck through Pierre-Lees Melou with two minutes left at the Stade Francis Le Blé and mid-table Marseille could not reply. Brest are 13 points behind leaders PSG.

Monaco suffered a 2-1 loss to Toulouse as Vincent Sierro and Logan Costa struck in each half to help the visitors ease their relegation fears in Ligue 1 at Stade Louis II on Sunday.

The loss meant Monaco sit in fourth place with 38 points from 22 matches, while Toulouse rise to 13th in the Ligue 1 table, one point off the relegation playoff spot. Elsewhere in Ligue 1, Rennes beat bottom club Clermont 3-1 at home, Reims and Lens played out a 1-1 draw, and Lorient won at Strasbourg to boost their survival hopes.