Real Madrid's winning run surprisingly ends in loss at Espanyol

MADRID (AP) — Real Madrid’s winning run ended in stunning fashion after losing at relegation-threatened Espanyol 1-0 on Saturday in La Liga.

Defender Carlos Romero's late goal beat the La Liga leader and moved Espanyol out of the bottom three.

Espanyol inched two points clear of the drop zone, while Madrid's lead was cut to one point after Atletico Madrid beat Mallorca 2-0 earlier.

Madrid, which found out on Friday that it will face Manchester City in the Champions League knockout playoff round, travelled to Espanyol with 10 victories in its last 11 matches in all competitions.

It dominated and Vinícius Júnior thought he gave the visitors the lead in the 21st minute but it was ruled out due to a foul by Kylian Mbappé on Espanyol midfielder Pol Lozano.

Madrid was made to pay for its missed opportunities five minutes from time when Romero volleyed in Omar El Hilali’s cross, much to the home fans’ raucous — and surprised — delight.

Atletico went into its match against seventh-placed Mallorca having lost both of its last two league matches and with only two wins in its last four games after a run of 15 consecutive victories.

It took the lead in the 26th minute when Giuliano Simeone sprinted down the right before rolling the ball across the edge of the area for Samuel Lino to fire into the bottom right corner.

Rodrigo Riquelme hit the crossbar with a free kick two minutes from time and provided the through ball for substitute Antoine Griezmann to run onto and delightfully chip the goalkeeper and seal the match in stoppages.

Fifth-placed Villarreal crushed bottom club Real Valladolid 5-1 and Getafe drew with Sevilla 0-0.

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

Real Madrid's head coach Carlo Ancelotti watches the play in front of the substitutes bench during a Spanish La Liga soccer match between Espanyol and Real Madrid at the Lluis Companys Olympic Stadium in Barcelona, Spain, Saturday Feb.1, 2025. (AP Photo/Joan Monfort)

Real Madrid's Vinicius Junior protests during a Spanish La Liga soccer match between Espanyol and Real Madrid at the Lluis Companys Olympic Stadium in Barcelona, Spain, Saturday Feb.1, 2025. (AP Photo/Joan Monfort)

Real Madrid's Jude Bellingham, centre, reacts after Espanyol's Carlos Romero scored the opening goal during a Spanish La Liga soccer match between Espanyol and Real Madrid at the Lluis Companys Olympic Stadium in Barcelona, Spain, Saturday Feb.1, 2025. (AP Photo/Joan Monfort)

Espanyol players celebrate after Carlos Romero scored the opening goal during a Spanish La Liga soccer match between Espanyol and Real Madrid at the Lluis Companys Olympic Stadium in Barcelona, Spain, Saturday Feb.1, 2025. (AP Photo/Joan Monfort)

Real Madrid's Jude Bellingham, centre and Luka Modric, right, react after Espanyol's Carlos Romero scored the opening goal during a Spanish La Liga soccer match between Espanyol and Real Madrid at the Lluis Companys Olympic Stadium in Barcelona, Spain, Saturday Feb.1, 2025. (AP Photo/Joan Monfort)

MUMBAI, India (AP) — Shreyas Iyer was provisionally named in India’s squad on Saturday for the home one-day international series against New Zealand starting Jan. 11.

India will host the Black Caps in a white-ball engagement — three ODIs and five T20s — in the build-up to the 2026 T20 World Cup.

Iyer returns to the international fold after sustaining a spleen injury during an ODI against Australia in Sydney last October.

His selection is subject to fitness clearance from BCCI’s medical team and he will return as India’s vice-captain for the three-match series.

Skipper Shubman Gill also returns, after he missed the ODI series against South Africa in December. He had a neck spasm in the test series earlier, and subsequently played in the T20s against the Proteas.

Ruturaj Gaikwad and Tilak Verma missed out. Gaikwad had scored a maiden ODI hundred against South Africa in Visakhapatnam.

Rishabh Pant is retained as second keeper-batter behind Lokesh Rahul, who had stood in as captain against the Proteas.

Star batters Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma had both participated in the domestic List A tournament — Vijay Hazare Trophy — and return to the international stage for the ODIs.

All-rounder Hardik Pandya is fit, but not sufficiently enough to bowl 10 overs in an ODI. Thus, he has been rested further ahead of the 2026 T20 World Cup (in India and Sri Lanka) starting Feb. 7. Nitish Kumar Reddy is included in the squad.

Pacer Mohammed Siraj returns to lead the bowling lineup with Jasprit Bumrah rested again. Siraj had missed the South Africa series because of workload management.

The three ODIs will be played in Vadodara (Jan. 11), Rajkot (Jan. 14) and Indore (Jan. 18), with the five-match T20 series starting Jan. 21.

Squad: Shubman Gill (captain), Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Washington Sundar, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Siraj, Harshit Rana, Prasidh Krishna, Kuldeep Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Arshdeep Singh, Yashasvi Jaiswal.

AP cricket: https://apnews.com/hub/cricket

FILE - Captain of Punjab Kings Shreyas Iyer addresses a news conference on the eve of the final match of Indian Premier League at Narendra Modi stadium in Ahmedabad, India, Monday, June 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Ajit Solanki, File)