Madrid beats Cádiz to cut Barça’s lead ahead of World Cup

Real Madrid's Eder Militao, center, celebrates with teammates after scoring the opening goal during Spanish La Liga soccer match between Real Madrid and Cadiz CF at Santiago Bernabeu stadium in Madrid, Thursday, Nov. 10, 2022. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

MADRID (AP) — Real Madrid got back to winning — and moved closer to Barcelona going into the World Cup break.

Madrid halted its two-match winless streak in the Spanish league by defeating relegation-threatened Cádiz 2-1 on Thursday to cut Barcelona’s lead to two points going into the World Cup stoppage.

Éder Militão and Toni Kroos scored a goal in each half for Madrid.

Real Madrid's Toni Kroos, right, celebrates with teammate David Alaba after scoring his side's second goal during Spanish La Liga soccer match between Real Madrid and Cadiz CF at Santiago Bernabeu stadium in Madrid, Thursday, Nov. 10, 2022. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

“These are well-deserved three points to finish the first part of the season well,” Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti said.

Madrid was coming off its first league loss of the season — a 3-2 defeat at Rayo Vallecano on Monday. It had drawn with Girona at home in the previous round. Madrid’s only other loss of the season came at Leipzig in the group stage of the Champions League last month.

It was a heated match early on at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium, with Vinícius Júnior and Rodrygo getting into altercations with Cádiz’s players. Vinícius was especially upset after what appeared to be a punch by Cádiz defender Fali away from the ball in the first half.

Referee Cesar Soto Grado shows a yellow card to Real Madrid's Vinicius Junior, right, and Cadiz's Fali, left, during Spanish La Liga soccer match between Real Madrid and Cadiz CF at Santiago Bernabeu stadium in Madrid, Thursday, Nov. 10, 2022. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

“We can’t get into these altercations because that’s what the other team wants us to do,” Kroos said.

Militão opened the scoring with a header after a well-placed cross by Kroos in the 40th, and the German midfielder added to Madrid’s lead with a superb one-timer from the outside the area in the 70th.

“We were in control and created many scoring chances,” Kroos said. “It was a good match.”

Lucas Perez moved Cádiz closer with a shot from inside the area in the 81st, and the visitors nearly equalized with a stoppage-time header by Pacha Espino that went over the crossbar.

Madrid had won only one of its last four league matches against Cádiz, which has won only one of its last eight matches and sits in second-to-last in the 20-team standings, one point from safety.

Sevilla and last-place Elche are the other two teams in the relegation zone going into the World Cup break. At the top, Real Sociedad was third, Athletic Bilbao fourth and Atlético Madrid fifth.

VALENCIA WINS AGAIN

Valencia defeated 10-man Real Betis 3-0 at home to end a five-game winless streak.

André Almeida, Hugo Guillamón and Justin Kluivert scored second-half goals for the team coached by Gennaro Gattuso, which moved to 10th place.

Valencia hadn’t won since a match at Osasuna last month.

Betis, which dropped to sixth, lost defender Edgar González to a second yellow card in the 61st.

Betis had two players sent off in the 1-1 draw against rival Sevilla in the previous round.

Manuel Pellegrini’s team got off to a good start but has only one win in its last five league matches.

RAYO VALLECANO HELD

Rayo Vallecano followed its win against Madrid with a 0-0 draw with Celta Vigo at home, staying in eighth place. It was seeking its fourth consecutive victory.

Celta, winless in seven matches, was just outside the relegation zone, ahead of Sevilla.