PA Media/dpa
London
Kylian Mbappe suffered spot-kick despair again as Real Madrid lost ground in the La Liga title race with a 2-1 defeat at Athletic Bilbao.
Real trailed to Alex Berenguer’s second-half close-range finish before Jude Bellingham scored for the fourth successive league game 12 minutes from time.
Federico Valverde was caught in possession two minutes later and Gorka Guruzeta finished in style to secure Bilbao’s first league win over Real since March 2015.
Mbappe will be cast in the role of villain again after failing to convert from the spot in a Champions League defeat at Liverpool last week.
He had handed over spot-kick duty on Sunday to Bellingham, who made no mistake against Getafe but was restored as Real’s penalty-taker in the 69th minute.
Antonio Rudiger was felled by Julen Agirrezabala from a free-kick but the goalkeeper redeemed himself by diving to his left and turning away Mbappe’s poor penalty.
Despite Bellingham’s red-hot goal touch, Real are now four points behind leaders Barcelona - 5-1 winners at Mallorca on Tuesday - albeit with a game in hand.
Fourth-place Bilbao move to within four points of Real after inflicting the champions’ second league defeat of the season.
On a busy night of second-round Copa del Rey action, Villarreal suffered a shock 1-0 defeat at Pontevedra while there were wins for Real Betis, Rayo Vallecano and Valencia.
