MADRID (AP) — Real Madrid had two players sent off in a 2-0 home defeat to Celta Vigo on Sunday and dropped even more points to Spanish league leaders Barcelona.
Madrid conceded early in the second half and then received red cards for Fran Garcia and Alvaro Carreras in their first defeat of the season at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium in all competitions. Unused Madrid substitute Endric was also shown a red card for complaining.
Williot Svedberg scored for the visitors with a beautiful penalty kick in the 54th.
Madrid lost Garcia with a second yellow card in the 64th and Carreras in stoppage time. Svedberg sealed Celta's breakaway victory shortly after Madrid were down to nine men.
“We are all disappointed. This was not the game and not the result we wanted,” Madrid coach Xabi Alonso said. “The referee's decisions threw us off balance. I didn't like the refereeing.”
Madrid have won only two of their last seven matches in all competitions. Next Wednesday he will host Manchester City in the Champions League.
Madrid's only league defeat this season was a heavy loss to Atlético Madrid in September. It also lost to Liverpool at the Champions League stage in November.
Sunday's setback leaves Alonso's team four points behind Barcelona. On Saturday, the Catalan club defeated Betis with a score of 5:3. Madrid is just one point ahead of third-placed Villarreal, who have a game in hand.
Vinicius Junior and Kylian Mbappe had good chances to equalize for Real but failed to capitalize on their chances.
Madrid defender Eder Militau was forced to leave the game in the first half due to injury.
Celta moved up to 10th place with their second win in three league matches.
Goalkeeper mistakes
Girona goalkeeper Paulo Gazzaniga had a day to forget following Girona's 3-0 home defeat to Elche.
Mistakes by the Argentine goalkeeper led to two of Elche's goals, including when he passed the ball straight to an opponent in the penalty area while attempting to pass it to a defender. Earlier, he failed to make a routine save on a corner kick from the near post.
Gazzaniga also had a nightmare performance in Girona's league opener when his blunders led to a goal, a penalty and a sending off in a 3-1 loss to Rayo Vallecano.
Girona, 18th in the relegation zone, have just one win in their last six games in all competitions.
Elche, without a win in seven league matches in a row, dropped to ninth place.
Espanyol win again
Roberto Fernandez converted a first-half penalty as fifth-place Espanyol beat Rayo Vallecano 1-0 for a third straight league win.
Rayo, in 12th place, played with 10 men from 64 because of Unai Lopez's red card. Espanyol's Tirhis Dolan was sent off in the 87th.
Rayo have not won in five consecutive league matches.
Late score in favor of Valencia
Hugo Duro scored three minutes into added time as 15th-place Valencia drew 1-1 with 13th-place Sevilla.
Sevilla, who had lost three straight league games, took the lead thanks to an own goal from Cesar Tárrega in the 58th.
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