MADRID, Dec. 5 (Xinhua) -- Athletic Bilbao beat Real Madrid 2-1 in the San Mames Stadium on Wednesday night to get a tighter grip on fourth place in La Liga and put a dent in Madrid's title hopes.
The first half was very even, with few chances, but Bilbao opened the scoring in the 52nd minute after Inaki Williams' cross evaded everyone, and although Thibaut Courtois made a reaction save, Alex Berenguer only had to push the rebound into the net.
Kylian Mbappe saw a penalty saved by Bilbao goalkeeper Julen Agirrezabala, which was his second miss of the season. Although Jude Bellingham equalized for Madrid in the 77th minute after Julen could only parry Mbappe's shot, Gorka Guruzeta won the game two minutes later after beating Courtois following an error from Fede Valverde.
In the Copa del Rey second-round games played at the same time, Rayo Vallecano came back from 2-0 down to win 3-2 away to Unionistas de Salamanca, with Oscar Trejo, Pedro Diaz and Adrian Embarba scoring for the top-flight side.
Marc Bartra's 79th-minute goal finally titled Betis' tie away to Sant Andreu in their favor, with the game tied 1-1 after goals from Sergi Serrano's goal for the home side canceled out Chimy Avila's opener for Betis.
The game was finally made safe for Betis when Ezza Abde added a third in the 96th minute.
Valencia moved into the third round with a 3-1 win away to fourth-tier Ejea, thanks to goals from Iker Cordoba, Dani Garcia and Rafa Mir.
Villarreal crashed out of the cup after a 1-0 defeat away to RFEF I side Pontevedra, with Dailisson de Almeida scoring the only goal of the game three minutes from time against a top-flight rival that underperformed.
Girona joined Villarreal in going out of the cup after they lost on penalties following 120 goalless minutes away to fourth-tier Logrones. What makes the result special is that Logrones played most of the extra time with a player less after goalkeeper Enrique Rojo was taken to hospital with a head injury and replaced by outfield player Arnau in goal.
Leganes had better luck from the penalty spot, winning a shoot-out 5-4 after 120 minutes, producing a 2-2 draw away to lowly Estepona. ■
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