Barcelona on cloud 9

Madrid, March 6

In three days, Barcelona have enjoyed seeing rivals Real Madrid take two blows.

After beating Madrid 1-0 in the first leg of the Copa del Rey semifinals at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium, Barcelona kept their title-chasing momentum in the La Liga by defeating Valencia 1-0 and increasing their lead over second-place Madrid to nine points. Madrid couldn’t keep pace with the Catalan club later Sunday after being held to a 0-0 draw at Real Betis.

Raphinha scored a first-half winner for Barcelona, who missed a penalty from Ferran Torres early in the second half and then saw defender Ronald Araujo sent off.

Madrid were mostly in control against Betis, but Vinicius Junior, Karim Benzema and Rodrygo failed to capitalise on their scoring chances.

Barcelona and Madrid will play their final league game on March 19 at the Camp Nou.

“It’s not over yet,” Madrid’s Lucas Vazquez said. “We know it’s going to be tough, but we will fight until the end. We really think we can make a run.” — AP