A 90th-minute equaliser by Héctor Bellerín earned Real Betis a 1-1 draw on Friday, leaving Barcelona able to open an 11-point gap with five games remaining.
Injury-time blow for Madrid
Héctor Bellerín, formerly of Barcelona, scored in added time to cancel out Real Madrid's lead and secure a 1-1 draw for Real Betis on Friday, halting Madrid's bid to close the gap at the top of La Liga.
The result was a damaging one for Madrid. Going into the fixture, a win would have trimmed Barcelona's lead to six points. Instead, Madrid's title challenge was dented, and the door was left open for Barcelona to extend their advantage the following day.
Barcelona capitalise
Barcelona beat Getafe on Saturday to move 11 points clear of Real Madrid in the La Liga standings, with five matches left to play. The win put the club on the brink of successfully defending the league title.
The title run-in comes without key forward Lamine Yamal, whose season is over after suffering a hamstring injury while scoring a winning goal for Barcelona against Celta Vigo. Yamal's participation in the 2026 World Cup with Spain had also been thrown into doubt, though subsequent assessments indicated he is expected to be fit for the tournament.
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Madrid had entered the week with momentum, having beaten relegation-threatened Alavés 2-1 — with goals from Kylian Mbappé and Vinícius Júnior — to cut Barcelona's lead to six points. Betis's late leveller wiped out that progress in a single result.
A Clásico meeting between the two sides was scheduled three weeks after the Betis fixture, but with Barcelona now 11 points ahead and only five games remaining, the mathematics have shifted sharply in the champions' favour.
