Barcelona’s narrow defeat to Rayo Vallecano leaves Real Madrid one win from La Liga title – European round-up

Barcelona slumped to a 1-0 home defeat by Rayo Vallecano which pushed leaders Real Madrid a step closer to the La Liga title.

With Real not in action ahead of Tuesday’s Champions League semi-final first leg at Manchester City, second-placed Barca missed the chance to cut into the 15-point deficit and saw their game in hand rendered redundant.

Alvaro Garcia’s early goal proved enough for Rayo to complete a league double over Barca, and leave Real needing just one more point from their last five games to wrap up another domestic title.