PA Media/dpa
London
Real Madrid bounced back from Champions League despair as Federico Valverde’s stoppage-time winner against Athletic Bilbao kept their LaLiga title ambitions intact.
Los Blancos crashed out of Europe’s premier tournament to Arsenal in midweek and looked like losing ground to leaders Barcelona after the Catalan side’s 4-3 comeback win against Celta Vigo on Saturday.
After a somnolent first half, Real were far better after the break and created several excellent chances.
But Real were fast running out of time when Valverde dispatched a spectacular right-footed volley in the third added minute to secure a precious 1-0 victory.
Barcelona’s lead at the summit remains at four points with six games to play.
Real dominated possession as expected, with Bilbao content to place players behind the ball and soak up pressure.
Apart from the threat of Vinicius Junior, who was always eager to take on opponents, there was little to worry the visitors.
Vinicius went on a mazy dribble after winning possession, beating a couple of defenders before firing over from 25 yards.
Valverde sent a header straight at Bilbao goalkeeper Unai Simon, but the visitors were growing in confidence and more regular breakouts produced a harmless volley from Gorka Guruzeta.
Real were far sharper after the interval as Rodrygo curled wide and a strong burst from full-back Eduardo Camavinga ended with Simon tipping over.
Endrick replaced Dani Ceballos in an attacking move from boss Carlo Ancelotti, and the Brazil forward might have profited from Luka Modric’s defence-splitting pass only to be betrayed by a poor touch.
Almost immediately, Thibaut Courtois was called into action for the first time at the other end to push away Unai Gomez’s well-struck effort. Real were really pushing as Jude Bellingham went close twice in the space of 60 seconds, first testing Simon from Vinicius’ cross and then heading the resulting corner inches wide.
Valverde fired into the side netting before Rodrygo stung Simon’s fingertips and Bellingham was thwarted by brave Bilbao defending.
Vinicius thought he had broken the deadlock 11 minutes from time after cutting inside a defender and beating Simon at his near post with a shot that brushed the upright as it went in. But Endrick was ruled offside earlier in the move and the frustration of the Bernabeu crowd was not aided by the amount of time the video assistant referee check took to disallow the goal.