La Liga: Real Madrid held, Real Sociedad stun Villarreal

Madrid, Dec 10 (IANS) Real Madrid were held to a 1-1 draw away to Real Betis to move one point clear of Girona at the top of La Liga.

After a first half in which Betis' Ez Abde and Real Madrid's Rodrygo both had penalty appeals turned down, Real Madrid opened the scoring with Jude Bellingham's 12th league goal of the season, reports Xinhua.

Brahim Diaz set up the England midfielder to score with his left foot, but shortly afterwards, Aitor Ruibal assured a point for the home side with a thundering shot past Andriy Lunin, who remained in goal despite Kepa's recovery from injury.

Three goals in around 10 minutes saw Real Sociedad stun Villarreal in the Estadio de la Ceramica.

Mikel Merino opened the scoring in the 38th minute, before Martin Zubimendi doubled the visitors' lead just three minutes later and Takefusa Kubo sealed the win four minutes into the second half.

The result lifts Real Sociedad into fifth place and ends Marcelino Garcia Toral's unbeaten start on his return to Villarreal.

Cyle Larin's first goal for Mallorca ended their 10-game run without a win and extended Sevilla's winless run under Diego Alonso.

Larin finished from Pablo Maffeo's diagonal ball to put Mallorca ahead in the 11th minute, while Mallorca keeper Predrag Rajkovic made several important saves in the second half.

Kirian Rodriguez scored the only goal of the game as Las Palmas won 1-0 away to Alaves. Rodriguez fired home from outside of the penalty area in the 31st minute.

Alaves reacted well and were unlucky not to take a point after having two goals ruled out for close offside decisions, as well as hitting the post in injury time.

Borja Mayoral's late goal powered Getafe to a 1-0 win at home to Valencia, whose frustration saw Gabriel Paulista and Javi Guerra sent off, while Domingos Duarte also got his marching orders for the home side.