La Liga Wrap: Real Madrid, Rayo Vallecano seal important wins

An unconvincing Real Madrid moved to within three points of the top two in La Liga with a 1-0 win over Espanyol on Sunday.

After seeing title rivals Barcelona and Atletico Madrid draw 0-0 at the Vicente Calderon on Saturday, Real knew a victory would put them back in contention at the halfway stage of the season.

Real’s performance, though, was far from their fluent best, but Carlo Ancelotti’s men made it seven wins from their last eight league games thanks to Pepe’s towering header early in the second half.

The Portugal international rose to meet Luka Modric’s right-wing cross and headed past Kiko Casilla for his third goal of the season.

Rayo Vallecano’s 1-0 victory over city rivals Getafe saw them move to within two points of safety at the bottom of the table, while extending the gap to Real Betis in last place.

Alberto Bueno grabbed the only goal of the game for Rayo, his sixth in the league this season, to help his side pick up a first league win since early November.

That result was bad news for Betis and things soon got worse as they fell to a 2-1 defeat to Osasuna, meaning new coach Juan Carlos Garrido is still waiting for his first win.

Osasuna took the lead early through midfielder Roberto Torres and, after Nono had been sent off for Betis, the visitors doubled their lead thanks to Jordi Figueras’ 57th-minute penalty.

Both sides were down to 10 men on the hour when Andres Fernandez received a straight red. And although Jorge Molina pulled a goal back, Betis’ winless streak in the league was extended to 12 games.

Levante ended a run of two consecutive defeats with a 1-0 win over Malaga, a result that sees Joaquin Caparros’ side climb above their opponents and into tenth place.

David Barral’s 19th-minute header from Andreas Ivanschitz’s cross was enough for Levante to seal the three points, although Roque Santa Cruz and Sergio Sanchez both missed chances for Malaga in the latter stages.