Real Madrid stay on Barca's tail

Barcelona, Feb. 10: Kylian Mbappe scored his 23rd goal of the season in La Liga to help Real Madrid claim a battling 2-0 win at Valencia on Sunday and close the gap to leaders Barcelona to one point.

Third-place Atletico Madrid slumped to a 1-0 defeat at home to Real Betis, three days after thrashing the Andalusian side in the Copa del Rey, falling further away from the top two.

After Spanish champions Barca had beaten Mallorca on Saturday, Alvaro Arbeloa's Madrid eked out a tight victory at Mestalla to keep the pressure on their arch-rivals.

Missing suspended forward Vinicius Junior and injured midfielder Jude Bellingham, Los Blancos lacked sparkle but did enough to claim three points on Spain's east coast.

Alvaro Carreras put the visitors ahead midway through the second half and Mbappe struck late on to seal their win.

"It was going to be a game where we had to have a lot of patience. I think it was a win that came because of how solid we were, and our focussed performance," said Arbeloa.

"I think that we were fair winners."

Midway through the second half, Carreras conjured a goal out of nothing to give Madrid the lead.

Coming in from the left, the defender used his weaker right foot to stroke the ball inside Dimitrievski's near post.

Madrid eventually secured the three points in stoppage time as Brahim Diaz teed up La Liga's top scorer Mbappe to finish from close range.

Antony's first-half strike helped Betis win at Atletico, earning his side revenge for their cup mauling, and leaving Atletico 13 points behind leaders Barcelona.

Betis, fifth, continued their push towards the top four, now trailing fourth-placed Villarreal by four points, although they have played two more matches than the Yellow Submarine.

Atletico had the ball in Betis's net with 15 minutes to go when Diego Llorente headed Giuliano Simeone's cross into his own net, but Antoine Griezmann was judged to be fractionally offside and interfering with play. Elsewhere, Athletic Bilbao beat Levante 4-2, Sevilla and Girona shared a 1-1 draw, and Getafe won 2-0 at Alaves.

Inter take eight-point lead

Federico Dimarco provided three assists as Inter Milan thumped Sassuolo 5-0 on Sunday to take their unbeaten Serie A run to 12 matches, while Pierre Kalulu scored deep into added-on time to rescue a 2-2 draw for Juventus against Lazio.

Dimarco, who took his season's tally to nine assists, also hit the woodwork and cleared a certain goal off the line as Inter moved eight points clear of city rivals AC Milan.

But he said he would not let his fine form go to his head. "I don't feel like I'm anyone. In football, when things are going well you're a phenomenon, but when things go badly you're nothing," Dimarco said.

Inter have won 11 and drawn one of those 12 matches unbeaten. (AFP)