Real Madrid lost two points in a 1-1 draw with their humble neighbors Rayo Vallecano because Jude Bellingham was away playing for Rayo.

The England player won’t be back until the beginning of next month. Without him, Carlo Ancelotti’s team played poorly and tired, even though they got ahead early.

When Joselu scored the first goal, Bellingham celebrated by writing “Seluuuu” on social media. He then danced La Liga’s top scorer.

Soon after Rayo had their first chance of the game, they scored. In the Real Madrid goal area, Raul de Tomas took too long to shoot, and Madrid scored after breaking.

Fede Valverde ran down the right side of the field, fed the ball to Joselu, who steered it over the line. The Uruguayan was running very fast. The flag was raised, but the tall scorer was on the same level as Aridane, so the goal stood.

In the 27th minute, De Tomas made up for his earlier miss from the penalty spot to tie the game. Oscar Trejo took a shot, but Eduardo Camavinga stopped it with his hand. From the penalty spot, Trejo scored his first goal of the season with a shot that went straight down the middle and past Andriy Lunin. 

Isi Palazon was the first player to celebrate with the forward. He often takes the penalty kicks and has helped the forward get off to a good start this season.

Twenty-five minutes into the half, Madrid almost took the lead again when Valverde’s long-range shot hit the post. Alvaro Garcia tried to score, but Lunin stopped him at his near post just before halftime.

After the break, Garcia almost scored when he robbed Aurelien Tchouameni in the penalty area. Because Antonio Rudiger was still out, Madrid had to play the playmaker in the middle of the defense again, and he made things more difficult by dallying on the ball even though he was the last player on the pitch. He got back up quickly enough to block Garcia’s shot.

There were 20 minutes left when Ancelotti brought on Toni Kroos. His free kick would have gone inside the post if Stole Dimitrievski hadn’t been able to block it so well. Real Madrid also got Rodrygo and Dani Carvajal.

Iñigo Perez, Rayo’s new coach, went to Radamel Falcao, a 38-year-old forward, but he couldn’t score the winning goal for his team. As the game came to a close, Arda Guler, 18, was Real Madrid’s last player to be sent off, but he did not get a red card either.

Because of this, Barcelona is now eight points behind them in the table. If Girona beats Athletic Club tomorrow, they will close the gap to three points. 

The race for the title might not be over yet. Carvajal was sent off for a late second yellow card for throwing his arm into Kike Perez, which made Ancelotti’s defence even worse.