Madrid still winless in 2019

MADRID (AP):

Ten-man Real Madrid lost 2-0 at home to Real Sociedad yesterday to lose further ground in the Spanish league title race.

Madrid are in fifth place behind Alaves, who moved ahead of the 33-time champions on Saturday.

Madrid fell behind in the third minute when Willian Jose converted a penalty after a foul by Casemiro on Mikel Merino.

Madrid went a man down in the 61st when Lucas Vazquez received his second yellow card.

Sociedad clung to a 1-0 advantage until the final minutes, when Madrid poured forward and exposed goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois to repeated counterattacks. Substitute Ruben Pardo finally capitalised in the 83rd by heading in a pass from Willian Jose when he was left alone in the box.

Led by the vibrant attacking of 18-year-old Vinicius Junior, Madrid created several scoring chances that they failed to finish off.

Sociedad got the win in their first match since coach Imanol Alguacil replaced the fired Asier Garitano. Alguacil was promoted from Sociedad's reserve team last week. He also coached its first team at the end of last season.

Madrid's defeat came just days after they were held to a 2-2 draw at Villarreal.

The defending champions Barcelona are 10 points ahead of Madrid, after their 2-1 over Getafe yesterday.

Vinicius was making his first league start. Coach Santiago Solari chose the young Brazilian to take the place of injured Gareth Bale in the starting 11. He responded with several promising moves, bursts of speed and one strike that almost made it 1-1 early in the second half.