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Real Madrid Drops to 2nd Place in League after Being Held by Rayo Vallecano at Home 

Real Madrid's French midfielder #12 Eduardo Camavinga vies with Rayo Vallecano's Spanish forward #07 Isi Palazon during the Spanish league football match between Real Madrid CF and Rayo Vallecano de Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium in Madrid on November 5, 2023. (AFP)
Real Madrid's French midfielder #12 Eduardo Camavinga vies with Rayo Vallecano's Spanish forward #07 Isi Palazon during the Spanish league football match between Real Madrid CF and Rayo Vallecano de Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium in Madrid on November 5, 2023. (AFP)
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Real Madrid Drops to 2nd Place in League after Being Held by Rayo Vallecano at Home 

Real Madrid's French midfielder #12 Eduardo Camavinga vies with Rayo Vallecano's Spanish forward #07 Isi Palazon during the Spanish league football match between Real Madrid CF and Rayo Vallecano de Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium in Madrid on November 5, 2023. (AFP)
Real Madrid's French midfielder #12 Eduardo Camavinga vies with Rayo Vallecano's Spanish forward #07 Isi Palazon during the Spanish league football match between Real Madrid CF and Rayo Vallecano de Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium in Madrid on November 5, 2023. (AFP)

Jude Bellingham couldn't come through this time and Real Madrid was held by Rayo Vallecano in their Madrid derby on Sunday to drop to second place in the Spanish league.

The 0-0 draw ended Madrid’s perfect record at home and kept it from joining Girona at the top of the standings after 12 rounds.

Girona had moved three points clear with a 4-2 win at Osasuna on Saturday. Madrid would have taken the lead on goal difference by beating Rayo.

Madrid controlled most of the match but couldn’t capitalize on its scoring opportunities, with both Bellingham and Vinícius Júnior unable to break through the Rayo defense.

Vinícius had a goal disallowed for offside in the 66th. Bellingham had a few good chances but wasn't able to find the target.

Bellingham has participated in more than half of the goals by Madrid this season and arrived with 13 goals in his first 13 matches since joining the Spanish powerhouse from Borussia Dortmund this season. In the four games Bellingham failed to score for Madrid this season, the club won only one — against Real Sociedad in September.

“We are upset with the result, but not with how we played,” Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti said. “Sometimes you win a match that you don't deserve to win and sometimes you don't win a match that you deserve to win. We are still doing well in the standings. We are still in the fight. There's no drama."

Madrid had won 11 straight against Rayo at home in the league. The Madrid clubs had not drawn in their last 21 league matches, with 19 wins for Madrid and only two for Rayo.

The result extended Rayo’s unbeaten run in the league to an unprecedented eight games, with two wins and six draws. The club from southern Madrid had no attempts on target throughout the match at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium.

It was the sixth clean sheet for Madrid in the league this season. Its only loss was at Atletico Madrid in the other city derby.

Barcelona, which won 1-0 at Real Sociedad on Saturday, remained in third place, two points behind Madrid. Rayo was ninth.

Williams brothers thrive

Brothers Iñaki and Nico Williams led Athletic Bilbao to a 3-2 win at Villarreal.

Nico set up a goal by Iñigo Ruiz de Galarreta two minutes into the match and scored the second in the 22nd. His older brother Iñaki added to the team's first-half lead in the 30th which proved enough to end a two-game winless run in the league.

The Basque Country club moved to fifth place, four points behind fourth-place Atletico Madrid, which lost 2-1 at Las Palmas on Friday.

Villarreal, sitting 13th, had ended its five-game winless streak in the league with a win over Granada in the previous round. The hosts threatened to grab a point Sunday through goals from Gerard Moreno in the 86th and Alexander Sorloth in the 87th.

Valencia edges Granada

Eighth-place Valencia beat Granada 1-0 with a penalty kick converted by Pepelu seven minutes into first-half injury time at Mestalla Stadium.

Granada, which stayed in second-to-last place, loudly complained about the penalty after Valencia forward Hugo Duro was apparently touched in the face by Granada defender Raúl Torrente.

It was the third straight league loss for Granada, which hasn't won in nine consecutive league matches.

Almeria still winless

Almeria's search for its first win of the season will continue after a 1-0 loss at Alaves.

The last-place Almeria is the only team without a win after 12 matches, with three draws and nine losses.

Alaves defender Aleksander Sedlar scored Alaves' winner in the 79th, and a couple of minutes later had to leave the field on a stretcher because of an apparent knee injury.

Alaves, which is 14th, hadn't won in seven consecutive league matches.

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Ronaldo, Soccer's Ultimate Showstopper, Still Portugal's Main Man Despite Slow Start to Euro 2024

Portugal's forward #07 Cristiano Ronaldo reacts after he lost the UEFA Euro 2024 Group F football match between Georgia and Portugal at the Arena AufSchalke in Gelsenkirchen on June 26, 2024. (AFP)
Portugal's forward #07 Cristiano Ronaldo reacts after he lost the UEFA Euro 2024 Group F football match between Georgia and Portugal at the Arena AufSchalke in Gelsenkirchen on June 26, 2024. (AFP)
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Ronaldo, Soccer's Ultimate Showstopper, Still Portugal's Main Man Despite Slow Start to Euro 2024

Portugal's forward #07 Cristiano Ronaldo reacts after he lost the UEFA Euro 2024 Group F football match between Georgia and Portugal at the Arena AufSchalke in Gelsenkirchen on June 26, 2024. (AFP)
Portugal's forward #07 Cristiano Ronaldo reacts after he lost the UEFA Euro 2024 Group F football match between Georgia and Portugal at the Arena AufSchalke in Gelsenkirchen on June 26, 2024. (AFP)

Cristiano Ronaldo has been a showstopper, as expected, at the European Championship.
Just not necessarily in the way he’d like to be.
The Portugal superstar with 632 million followers on Instagram and a never-ending stream of endorsement deals has had to deal with a raft of on-field selfie-seekers, during matches and in training. One presumed super-fan even leapt from the stands over the players’ tunnel toward a startled-looking Ronaldo as he headed to the locker room after Portugal’s match against Georgia, said The Associated Press.
He’s raged at a referee (earning a yellow card), booted away a water bottle, and angrily remonstrated in the dug-out. He’s also had 12 shots, more than anyone else at Euro 2024.
What Ronaldo hasn’t done is score a goal — and that’s the currency he deals in, at least in soccer.
OK, there was that moment he passed up a golden chance to score by passing unselfishly to Bruno Fernandes for Portugal’s third goal in the 3-0 win over Türkiye. A double-stepover that befuddled Abdulkerim Bardakci and left the Türkiye center back on his back has proved a hit on social media and gave the world a reminder of the Ronaldo of 10, 15, even 20 years ago.
Ronaldo, though, is 39 now. Those big moments have become fleeting, especially when it comes to the big tournaments and when he’s playing against top-level defenses.
Make that seven straight matches in which he has failed to score at a major tournament, covering the 2022 World Cup and Euro 2024. For the first time in his 21-year international career taking in five World Cups and six European Championships, he has ended a group stage without a goal.
So, with the powers of this undoubted soccer great on the wane, the question will again be asked heading into the knockout stage: will the constant drama surrounding Ronaldo wind up being a distraction for the Portugal team in its bid for another big soccer title, eight years after winning its only one at Euro 2016?
Roberto Martinez clearly doesn’t think so.
The Portugal coach is in thrall with Ronaldo, as shown by his reaction to the striker’s assist — his record-tying eighth at the European Championship — against Türkiye.
“It should be shown in every academy in Portugal and world football,” Martinez said, purring at this “spectacular” piece of play.
A day earlier, he’d got into an exchange with a journalist who questioned whether Ronaldo could handle the intensity of a major tournament at age 39.
“All you need to do is look at what he has done in the last 12 months,” Martinez proffered, pointing to his record in the Saudi league with Al-Nassr, for whom he started 31 of 34 games and scored a league-high 35 goals, and his 10 goals in Euro 2024 qualifying — second only to Belgium’s Romelu Lukaku.
Before the tournament, Martinez had lauded Ronaldo by saying he “approaches every day as a new way to be the best” and that his stats “are better than anything, subjectively, that you can say.”
Maybe to justify his arguments — or who knows, to keep in Ronaldo’s good books — Martinez started the striker against Georgia despite resting all of his other key outfield players for a game that meant little for Portugal, which had already qualified as group winner.
It was at this stage at the last World Cup where Ronaldo lost his place in Portugal’s team, to the shock and anger of his millions of fans who might not see him play as much these days because of his move to the Middle East. He had started all three of the group games, scoring only a penalty, and reacted poorly to being substituted by then-coach Fernando Santos against South Korea in the third.
Ronaldo didn’t start the 6-1 win over Switzerland in the round of 16 — his replacement, Goncalo Ramos scored a hat trick — nor the quarterfinal loss to Morocco, after which he left the field in tears.
Given his public comments, it's unlikely Martinez will follow Santos’ path and drop his captain in the knockout stage, starting against Slovenia on Monday, for what may prove to be Ronaldo's last matches at a major tournament.
Nor do his teammates, who have grown up idolizing Ronaldo, want that to happen.
“We want to be side by side with our captain,” Portugal defender Diogo Dalot said, while midfielder Vitinha has spoken of the “privilege to be able to share moments with him on and off the pitch.″
Ronaldo’s desire and passion clearly remains. He is still a prolific scorer, albeit mostly against weak opposition these days, even if his mobility and, in particular, his pressing isn't at the level of a top-notch striker. It would be no surprise to see the top scorer in men’s international soccer — with 130 goals — get off the mark against Slovenia.
Whether his continued selection is beneficial for Portugal is another thing entirely.