La Liga: Espanyol ends Real Madrid’s 25-game unbeaten streak in the league

Putting an end to their 25-game unbeaten streak in La Liga, Real Madrid stumbled on Sunday in a 2-1 defeat to Espanyol. It was the third straight match without a win for Madrid, who are coming off a shock home loss to Moldovan club Sheriff in the Champions League and a scoreless home draw against Villarreal in the Spanish league.

Madrid hadn’t lost a league match since a 2-1 home defeat against Levante in January. It was unbeaten in 18 straight away games in the competition, one short of its all-time record.

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Although Los Blancos are still at the top of the league, thanks to a better goal difference than defending champion Atletico Madrid, who beat Barcelona 2-0 at home on Saturday. Both Madrid and Atleti have 17 points from eight matches.

Real Sociedad can go top if the Basque Country team wins at last-placed Getafe later Sunday.

Meanwhile, for newly-promoted Espanyol, it was the second consecutive win. With the victory, they moved to 12th in the standings.

Real Madrid academy product Raul de Tomas opened the scoring for the hosts from close range in the 17th minute and Aleix Vidal added to the lead in the 60th from inside the area after a nice run past the Madrid defence.

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Karim Benzema had a goal disallowed in the 67th for offside but found the net again in a breakaway in the 71st after clearing two defenders and sending a low shot into the corner for his league-leading ninth goal.

Madrid thought they had levelled the affairs when Eden Hazard 84th-minute effort ended into the back of the net. However, the was goal disallowed because Benzema was offside.

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In other matches, Dario Benedetto scored early in the second half as Elche beat Celta Vigo 1-0 to end a three-match winless streak.

Celta, who had won two in a row, had an 89th-minute goal by Iago Aspas disallowed because of a handball.

Later Sunday, fourth-placed Sevilla will play at winless Granada and Villarreal host Real Betis. Sevilla and Villarreal are the only unbeaten teams left in the league this season.

With inputs from the Associated Press