European football: Isco stuns former club Real Madrid in win for Real Betis

Real Madrid stumbled in the three-way race for the La Liga title as Isco guided Real Betis to a 2-1 comeback win over the defending champions on Saturday.

The former Madrid player delivered a corner kick that was headed in by fellow midfielder Johnny Cardoso in the 34th minute, canceling out Brahim Díaz’s opener for Madrid.

Isco then put Betis ahead from the penalty spot in the 54th minute after he passed to Jesús Rodríguez and the Madrid defender Antonio Rüdiger knocked the Betis forward down in the area.

Kylian Mbappé was back starting for Madrid after missing one game because of a dental problem. Their head coach Carlo Ancelotti substituted him with 15 minutes left, possibly looking ahead to Tuesday’s Champions League round-of-16 game against Atletico.

“We weren’t able to keep our initiative and the result got away from us,” Ancelotti said. “This is a hard blow, and we have to react. Today we didn’t play well.”

A late Philip Billing goal for Napoli rescued a deserved 1-1 draw at home to Inter, the Serie A leaders, leaving the title rivals separated by a point.

Federico Dimarco put the defending champions ahead direct from a free-kick in the 22nd minute to silence a sold-out Diego Armando Maradona Stadium. Dimarco curled his free kick around the wall and inside the far post. Alex Meret could only look on as the ball nestled in the corner of his net and the game finally erupted into life.

Once Napoli absorbed the sucker-punch, they began to push forward in search of an equaliser. A long pass was met first time by Romelu Lukaku but his effort smashed into the side netting. Seconds later Giacomo Raspadori’s first touch took him past the Inter keeper, Josep Martínez, wide in the area but his second was too heavy and the ball rolled wide with Lukaku waiting in the middle of the area.

Napoli piled on the pressure in the second half. Scott McTominay had a powerful strike parried away by Martínez, while an Inter counterattack needed Meret to come well out of his area and clear the danger with Denzel Dumfries bearing down on the Napoli goal.

Just as it seemed Antonio Conte’s side would slip further behind in the title race with a second successive defeat, their Danish substitute Billing netted at the second attempt in the 87th minute. Played in by Stanislav Lobotka, Billing saw his first effort saved by Martínez with a leg but the Dutchman poked home the rebound.

Inter have 58 points with Napoli on 57, two ahead of Atalanta who were held to a 0-0 draw by Venezia, as Gian Piero Gasperini’s side put on another underwhelming display.

Atalanta, who went out of the Champions League and Coppa Italia last month, are struggling to regain momentum in the title race and have been winless at home in the league since the end of December. Despite winning just three of their last 10 Serie A games, they are six points clear of fourth-placed Juventus, who host Verona on Monday. Venezia extended their winless run to 10 games as they sit 19th with 18 points.

Bayer Leverkusen delivered a ruthless first-half performance, striking three times in seven minutes, to leave their hosts, Eintracht Frankfurt, reeling. The 4-1 victory means Leverkusen are holding strongly on to second place, 11 points clear of third-placed Frankfurt. Bayern Munich remain firmly at the top with 61 points.

The breakthrough came in the 26th minute when Nathan Tella slipped in behind the Frankfurt defence. With a composed first touch, he set himself up before driving a low shot across goal, finding the bottom left corner.

Three minutes later, Nordi Mukiele extended the lead with a close-range finish. The scoring spree was capped off in the 33rd minute when Patrik Schick calmly slotted the ball home from inside the box after latching onto a pass from the byline.

However, Leverkusen’s confidence led to a lapse in concentration, allowing Frankfurt to capitalise. Seven minutes before the break, Hugo Ekitike seized on a misplaced back-pass, rounded the goalkeeper, Lukas Hradecky, and slotted the ball into an empty net.

Leverkusen maintained their dominance in the second half, with Aleix García delivering a low long shot in the 62nd minute, following a clearance, that nestled into the far lower corner to seal the fourth and final goal of the night.