Real Madrid, Osasuna draw on goals by Vinicius, Kike Garcia

Madrid, Oct 2 (EFE).- Real Madrid was not able to extract anything more than a 1-1 draw from Osasuna on Sunday, and Carlo Ancelotti’s men, two weeks before the classico against Barcelona, are in second place behind the Catalans on goal differential.

After Barca bested Mallorca on Saturday, the capital squad needed a win to stay at the summit of the La Liga rankings, but Santiago Bernabeu Stadium wasn’t a friendly locale for them as Karim Benzema – back after being on the injury list – sent a spot kick into the crossbar and had a goal disallowed on an offside call.

It was Vinicius Junior who got Madrid on the board first just before the intermission on a crossing shot that somehow got into the corner of the net.

Nevertheless, Kike Garcia sent a nice header into the twine in the 50th minute to even things up and there things remained until the final whistle.

Benzema was making his first outing since he went down at Celtic Park with a thigh injury on Sept. 6, and Ancelotti put Andriy Lunin and Dani Ceballos in for injured goaltender Thibaut Courtois and midfielder Luka Modric.

The first tally came when Vinicius sent in a low crossing shot that got past an out-of-position Sergio Herrera, and although Osasuna protested, saying that Benzema and Antonio Rudiger were offside and interfering with play, their complaints came to nought.

Garcia’s tally was a picture of perfection as he knocked a looping header out of reach over the stretching Lunin.

Osasuna’s David Garcia was expelled on a direct red card in the 78th minute, leaving the team a man short for the remainder of play.

The result means that Barcelona – for the first time since June 2020 – are on top in the La Liga table, although both they and Real Madrid have 19 points and are unbeaten.

On Sunday, a minute of silence was observed for the 125-plus people who died at the Kanjuruhan stadium, on the Indonesian island of Java, in a confrontation between fans and police, with most of the dead being trampled.

In the Real Sociedad-Girona match, obtaining the win for the visitors at the Estadi Municipal in Montilivi were Sorloth eight minutes into play, and again in the 42nd minute, Brais Mendez in the 66th minute, Zubimendi five minutes later and Take five minutes before time.

Scoring for Girona were Riquelme in the 23rd minute, Arnau four minutes later and Castellanos three minutes after the break.

After the match, Real Sociedad is in seventh, one behind Osasuna, both with 13 points but the latter ahead on goal differential.

Girona is in the 13th spot, tied with several others with 7 points, three above the relegation threshold.

Espanyol handed Valencia a ranking point in the 96th minute at RCDE Stadium as an error by goaltender Alvaro Fernandez allowed the latter squad to even things up at 2-2.

The tallies in the match were notched by Valencia’s Paulista in the 53rd minute, with Joselu evening things up two minutes later and then Darder scoring what Espanyol thought would be the winning goal in minute 85 only to have Comert sneak one into the net just moments before the final whistle.

In other La Liga action on Sunday, Real Betis in the No. 4 spot was handed a 0-1 wake-up call on Celta Vigo’s home turf, with Gabri Vega scoring for the 10th-placed locals in the ninth minute.

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