Football roundup: Wins & injuries pile up for Madrid; Kane regains touch

Madrid, December 18

Real Madrid lead the La Liga after beating Villarreal 4-1 but lost defender David Alaba with a serious knee injury on Sunday.

Jude Bellingham, Rodrygo, Brahim Diaz and Luka Modric scored for Madrid, who moved one point ahead of Girona ahead of the Catalan club’s home game against Alaves on Monday.

Madrid are seven points ahead of third-place Barcelona. The defending champions drew 1-1 at Valencia on Saturday.

“It’s always good to open a gap to Barcelona,” Rodrygo said. “But seven points is not a lot, there is still a lot of league left. We have to keep this mindset and keep trying to win every match.”

It was the latest serious knee injury for Madrid this season. The club is already without goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois and defender Eder Militao because of cruciate ligament injuries that are expected to keep them out of action for a long period. Eduardo Camavinga and Arda Guler also sustained knee injuries.

Bayern keeping up

Berlin: Harry Kane ended his three-game goal drought on Sunday by scoring twice as Bayern Munich stayed on Bundesliga leaders Bayer Leverkusen’s heels with a 3-0 win over Stuttgart.

Bayern were under pressure going into the late game following Leverkusen’s 3-0 win over Eintracht Frankfurt – the team that routed Bayern 5-1 the weekend before.

PSG concede late goal

Paris: League 1 leaders Paris Saint-Germain missed the chance to move seven points clear after conceding a sloppy stoppage-time equaliser in a 1-1 draw at Lille on Sunday.

Star striker Kylian Mbappe’s penalty gave PSG the lead in the 66th minute before Canada striker Jonathan David levelled four minutes into the injury time.

Still, with Monaco and Nice losing their games, PSG are five points ahead with one round of matches left before the winter break. — AP