Madrid: Real Madrid’s faltering title defence continued as they were held to a thrilling 2-2 draw Sunday at Celta Vigo which saw them fall 16 points behind runaway leaders Barcelona, who beat Levante 3-0 to stay nine points clear at the top of La Liga.
The defending champions looked to be heading for a second successive league defeat after their 0-3 loss to Barca in their last outing when Daniel Wass lobbed over Keylor Navas to put Celta ahead in the 33rd minute.
Gareth Bale instantly responded by scoring twice in three minutes to put the stuttering champions in front before half time but Celta came right back at Zinedine Zidane’s side, with Iago Aspas squandering a penalty before Maxi Gomez levelled with a header in the 82nd minute.
Aspas was denied another penalty late in the game while down at the other end Madrid’s Lucas Vazquez hammered the ball straight at Celta goalkeeper Ruben Blanco, while Cristiano Ronaldo fired wide of the near post.
Real Madrid stay fourth in the standings on 32 points while Barca have 48 although they have played one game more.
Bale made his first start in the league since September 20 after finally recovering from persistent muscle problems and pulled the visitors level after Wass’s strike with a slick first-time finish before giving them the lead by knocking a pass from Isco in with his back heel.
“We made a lot of errors, we gave the ball away a lot, something we don’t normally do and we did it at important moments in the game, when we could have caused them more damage,” coach Zinedine Zidane told reporters. “We have to stop making these errors and be more consistent.”
Meanwhile Barcelona had seen their lead over nearest challengers Atletico Madrid reduced to six points, Saturday but restored the gap to nine after Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Paulinho scored in a routine win over Levante. It was incidentally Messi’s 400th game for the Catalan giants in La Liga.
Reuters