Mbappé's brace at Villarreal lifts Real Madrid into La Liga lead

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Despite a coaching change and some poor play that irked its fans, Real Madrid returned to the top of La Liga after Klyian Mbappé scored a brace in a 2-0 win at Villarreal on Saturday.

Mbappé scored early in the second half and added an injury-time penalty to ensure Madrid rose two points above Barcelona, which will need to beat bottom side Real Oviedo at home on Sunday to reclaim first place.

Those were Mbappe's La Liga-leading 20th and 21st goals in 20 appearances by the France star.

Madrid has stayed close to Barcelona even though it has not been playing up to the standards of its demanding club executives and supporters.

The club fired coach Xabi Alonso after it lost to Barcelona in the Spanish Super Cup final two weeks ago, only for the team to also endure an embarrassing exit to a second-tier team in the Copa del Rey in the debut of his replacement, Álvaro Arbeloa.

The sudden coaching change and poor play sparked fan protests during Madrid’s last two home games, a pair of wins in La Liga and the Champions League.

But a loss by Barcelona at Real Sociedad last weekend opened the door for Madrid to slip ahead at Villarreal. And now Arbeloa has overseen three comfortable victories in a row.

Arbeloa praised Mbappé and fellow forward Vinícius Júnior, whose incisive play with the ball helped set up both goals. Vinícius received the worst of the jeers in the Santiago Bernabeu this week.

“They are two of the best players in the world, they break down defenses and we try to get them as many touches as we can,” Arbeloa said. “Winning at this ground has a lot of merit and it is thanks to the work of all my players.”

Villarreal still has one more game to play but it fell into fourth place at 10 points behind Madrid.

Pape Gueye, the hero of Senegal thanks to his extra-time goal to beat Morocco in the Africa Cup of Nations final last week, was back in Villarreal’s starting lineup.

Gueye's long strike from outside the area just missed in the host's best chance in the first half.

Morocco forward Brahim Díaz, who missed a penalty that could have given Morocco a lead late in stoppage time, went on as a second-half substitute for Madrid.

Mbappé pounced on a loose ball to score in the 47th minute. Vinícius Júnior dribbled to the endline on the left side and his squared pass was deflected by Gueye. But Mbappé was the fastest to the ball and slammed it under goalkeeper Luiz Júnior.

Gerard Moreno had a superb chance to equalize for Villarreal in the 63rd when a set play set him up all alone in the middle of the area only for him to fire high.

Mbappé converted the penalty he earned after he was tripped by Alfonso Pedraza.

Villarreal lost Argentina defender Juan Foyth to a left leg injury in the first half.

Valencia edged Espanyol 3-2 after the referee awarded the host a questionable penalty in injury time when Rubén Sánchez was adjudged to have fouled Lucas Beltrán.

The video review didn’t overrule the initial decision, even though it appeared clear that Beltrán ran into Sánchez before falling.

Largie Ramazani converted the winning spot kick to ensure fifth-placed Espanyol’s winless run reached four games.

Sevilla fought back for a 2-1 win over Athletic Bilbao at home. That snapped a five-game winless run for Sevilla.

Osasuna also won at Rayo Vallecano 3-1 to move into eighth place.

Only four points separate Osasuna and Getafe down in 17th in a compact lower half of the table that includes Rayo, Sevilla and Athletic.

A minute of silence was held before kickoff in all of this weekend’s games for the victims of two deadly train wrecks in Spain this week.

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Real Madrid's Vinicius Junior, right, speaks to referee César Soto Grado during a Spanish La Liga soccer match between Villarreal and Real Madrid in Villarreal, Spain, Saturday, Jan. 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Alberto Saiz)

Real Madrid's Kylian Mbappe, center, in action during a Spanish La Liga soccer match between Villarreal and Real Madrid in Villarreal, Spain, Saturday, Jan. 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Alberto Saiz)

Real Madrid players celebrate after Kylian Mbappe scored the opening goal during a Spanish La Liga soccer match between Villarreal and Real Madrid in Villarreal, Spain, Saturday, Jan. 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Alberto Saiz)

Real Madrid's Kylian Mbappe celebrates after scoring the opening goal during a Spanish La Liga soccer match between Villarreal and Real Madrid in Villarreal, Spain, Saturday, Jan. 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Alberto Saiz)

Real Madrid's Kylian Mbappe celebrates after scoring the opening goal during a Spanish La Liga soccer match between Villarreal and Real Madrid in Villarreal, Spain, Saturday, Jan. 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Alberto Saiz)

Pakistan's leaders sought Sunday to revive peace talks between the United States and Iran after President Donald Trump canceled plans for his top envoys to travel to Islamabad this weekend for negotiations.

Pakistan-led mediators are working to bridge significant gaps between the U.S. and Iran, according to a regional official involved in the mediation efforts who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter. Iran still insists on ending the U.S. blockade on its ports before launching a new round of talks with the Trump administration, the official said.

Trump said he told his top envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner not to travel to Pakistan this weekend to negotiate with Iran.

“If they want to talk, all they have to do is call!!!” Trump said on social media.

Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian told Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif during a phone call Saturday night that the U.S. “should first remove operational obstacles, including the blockade,” to allow a new round of negotiations, according to the ISNA and Tasnim news agencies in Iran.

Here is the latest:

In an interview Sunday on Fox News Channel, Trump said he made that decision rather than send a delegation on a 17-hour flight.

“We have all the cards. If they want to talk, they can come to us, or they can call us,” Trump said, not indicating when the call would take place.

Talks appeared to fall apart on Saturday, with Tehran’s top diplomat leaving Pakistan, and Trump soon afterward saying he had told envoys not to travel to Islamabad.

Asked about NATO, Trump said he was “very, very disappointed” in the military alliance, which he has suggested the U.S. may consider leaving after member countries ignored his call to help as Iran effectively shut the the Strait of Hormuz.

“We’ve been serving them for many years, spending trillions of dollars, and when we wanted to help they were not there, so we have to remember that,” Trump said.

The Israeli military says it carried out artillery and airstrikes in southern Lebanon.

They targeted Hezbollah militants and weapons sites, including rocket launchers and storage facilities, north of what it calls the Forward Defense Line, as fighting has picked up in recent days despite a ceasefire.

The country’s health ministry added in figures released Sunday that 7,755 people were wounded in the latest Israel-Hezbollah war that broke out on March 2.

The war broke out after Hezbollah fired rockets at northern Israel two days after the U.S. and Israel attacked its main backer, Iran.

A 10-day ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah went into effect on April 17. The ceasefire was extended by three weeks on Thursday.

The Iran-backed group on Sunday condemned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ceasefire remarks, in which he said Hezbollah’s actions are threatening the truce between Israel and Lebanon.

Hezbollah said its shelling of Israeli targets is “a legitimate response” to what it described as Israel’s violations of the ceasefire.

The group also criticized Lebanese authorities, saying they “have placed themselves in a dangerous predicament when they chose to be photographed in a disgraceful image alongside representatives of a usurping and illegitimate entity that violates its land and sovereignty and continues killing its people.”

The ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon was extended for three weeks, with U.S. President Donald Trump hosting talks flanked by Lebanese and Israeli ambassadors.

An 11-year-old Israeli girl who was critically wounded in an Iranian missile strike earlier this month has died of her injuries, according to Sheba Medical Center.

The girl had been hospitalized at Sheba since the attack. She died on Friday after several weeks in critical condition.

She was wounded when a missile struck a residential area in the central Israeli city of Bnei Brak on April 1 and had remained in critical condition for several weeks.

Her death raises Israel’s death toll from the war to 39.

Iran’s foreign minister arrived in Islamabad on Sunday after a visit to Oman, Pakistani officials said, as Islamabad steps up efforts to bring Tehran and Washington back to the negotiating table.

Abbas Araghchi will hold more talks with Pakistani officials during the visit and is expected to travel to Moscow afterward, two officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media on the record.

Iran’s top diplomat has briefed his Qatari counterpart about his country’s “latest initiatives and diplomatic efforts” to end the war in the Middle East.

Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi spoke by phone Sunday with Qatar’s top diplomat, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani.

The two ministers affirmed the importance of diplomatic coordination to back peace efforts, Araghchi wrote in his channel on Telegram.

Egypt Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty discussed efforts to relaunch negotiations between the United States and Iran with his Qatari and Iranian counterparts.

In separate calls with the ministers, Abdelatty affirmed the importance of the diplomatic path to ensure the continuation of the ceasefire in a way that leads to an end to the war.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog delayed a decision on a request by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to halt his corruption trial.

Herzog’s office said the president has stated “on several occasions” that a settlement between Netanyahu and prosecutors is the best way to resolve the case and this position hasn’t changed.

“The president therefore believes that before addressing the pardon request itself, efforts should first be exhausted to reach an agreement between the parties, outside the courtroom,” the office said.

The announcement marked a setback for Netanyahu, who faces new elections later this year. It also came despite multiple calls by U.S. President Donald Trump for Herzog to end the trial.

Netanyahu filed his request in November, saying that dropping corruption charges against him would help unify the country. His office did not immediately return a message seeking comment.

At least four Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces Sunday morning in the Gaza Strip, hospital authorities said.

Two men were killed when Israeli forces opened fire on a group of people in the Kuwait roundabout in southeastern Gaza City, according to Shifa hospital, which received the casualties.

Another man was shot and killed close to the Saqqa mosque in central Gaza, the hospital said.

Nasser hospital said a 40-year-old woman was shot and killed by Israeli forces close to the Turkish slaughterhouse in the southern part of Khan Younis city.

The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The deaths were the latest among Palestinians in the coastal enclave since an October ceasefire deal attempted to halt more than two years of war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.

While the heaviest fighting has subsided, Israeli forces have carried out repeated airstrikes and frequently fired on Palestinians near military-held zones.

At least 811 Palestinians have been killed including at least 226 children and 179 women, according to Gaza health officials.

Israel’s military on Sunday warned Lebanese living in seven southern towns to flee their homes ahead of strikes in the area.

Col. Avichay Adraea, a military spokesman, claimed without evidence that Hezbollah violated a ceasefire deal between Lebanon and Israel. He didn’t provide evidence.

Adraea said in a social media post that the military will operate in the area south of Zahrani river and ordered the residents to leave.

Israel previously issued a sweeping warning for people in southern Lebanon to flee their homes during its war against Hezbollah.

Syed Mohammad Ali, an independent political analyst in Pakistan, said indirect talks between the United States and Iran were progressing despite U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision not to send envoys to talks that had been set to begin this weekend.

“The delay in the second round of Islamabad talks must not be seen as a setback to ceasefire negotiations and peace efforts, which remain on track,” Ali told The Associated Press on Sunday.

Ali said ongoing tensions between Washington and Tehran cannot be eased overnight and the negotiation process “requires wisdom and patience from both sides.”

“This is a sensitive and complicated process, and there will be ups and downs, which are normal in such matters. But the good thing is that the ceasefire is holding, and both sides have a desire to end the conflict in a way that does not backfire at home,” Ali said.

Pakistan’s top political and military leadership is continuing to mediate between the United States and Iran, with indirect ceasefire talks still alive despite mounting tensions between the sides, two Pakistani officials said Sunday.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi is expected to arrive in Pakistan’s capital Islamabad on Sunday evening for a second visit in as many days after a short trip to Oman.

Araghchi was in Islamabad on Saturday and presented Tehran’s position on ending the regional conflict to Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir, Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar and other senior officials.

There were no immediate plans for U.S. envoys to return for talks, according to the Pakistani officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a close ally of U.S. President Donald Trump, said Sunday morning he was shocked by what he called an “attempted assassination” at an event attended by Trump.

Trump was uninjured and rushed off the stage at the White House Correspondents Dinner on Saturday night after a man armed with guns and knives stormed the lobby outside the event in Washington.

Police believe the man opened fire and acted alone but did not say who was his intended target or describe a motive. He was taken into custody.

One officer was shot in a bullet-resistant vest but was recovering, officials said.

“We send our wishes for a full and speedy recovery to the wounded police officer and salute the US Secret Service for their swift and decisive action,” Netanyahu wrote on X.

Life began returning to normal in Pakistan’s capital on Sunday morning.

Authorities in Islamabad eased near-lockdown measures imposed during a week of heightened security prior to planned ceasefire talks between the United States and Iran.

The restrictions enforced across Islamabad and the nearby garrison city of Rawalpindi disrupted daily life for hundreds of thousands. Commuters were forced to make long detours, traffic thinned along major arteries and parents struggled to reach schools.

By Sunday, barriers were being lifted and traffic was gradually building on the city’s main roads. Residents described a sense of relief after days of gridlock and uncertainty.

The government said in a social media post late Saturday that tourist destinations, parks and bus terminals were being reopened.

Security remained tight around the heavily guarded Red Zone, home to key government buildings and the site where U.S.-Iran talks were held earlier this month.

Iran on Sunday hanged a man who was convicted of carrying out terrorist activities in the southeastern province of Sistan and Baluchistan, state media reported.

Amer Ramesh was hanged after the country’s Supreme Court upheld a death sentence issued by a primary court, according to Iran’s judiciary news outlet, Mizanonline.

Mizanonline did not report where he was hanged or when and where he was arrested.

Mizanonline said Ramesh received training in a regional country and was a member of militant group Jaish al-Adl, which reportedly aims to achieve greater rights for people in the Baloch ethnic group.

Iran has executed other people over similar charges and in recent weeks has hanged more than a dozen people accused of terrorist activities.

Iran President Masoud Pezeshkian said his country won’t negotiate while the United States imposes a blockade on its ports, according to Iranian media.

Pezeshkian told Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif during a phone call Saturday night that the U.S. “should first remove operational obstacles, including the blockade,” to allow a new round of negotiations, the ISNA and Tasnim news agencies reported.

The Pakistani premier described the call as a “warm and constructive discussion.”

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi concluded a one-day trip to Pakistan’s capital Islamabad on Saturday after meeting with Pakistani military and government officials.

The trip did not produce a breakthrough in efforts to relaunch negotiations after U.S. President Donald Trump canceled a planned trip by his envoys to Islamabad.

Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency said Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi will return to Pakistan after his current visit to Oman on his way to visiting Russia.

The report said he was expected to be back in Pakistan's capital Islamabad on Sunday and would join other members of his delegation who had gone to Tehran for consultations and “instructions on the topics related to the end of the war.”

In this photo released by the Iranian Foreign Ministry, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, right, shakes hands with Oman's Sultan Haitham bin Tariq during their meeting, in Muscat, Oman, Sunday, April 26, 2026. (Iranian Foreign Ministry via AP)

In this photo released by the Iranian Foreign Ministry, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, left, meets with Oman's Sultan Haitham bin Tariq, in Muscat, Oman, Sunday, April 26, 2026. (Iranian Foreign Ministry via AP)

Men ride a scooter while waving a Hezbollah flag during a small gathering in Dahiyeh, Beirut's southern suburbs, Lebanon, Saturday, April 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

The wife and children of Fadi Al Zein, who lost both his homes in Israeli strikes in his village of Khiam and in Dahiyeh, sit on the balcony of their heavily damaged apartment building in Beirut's southern suburbs, Lebanon, Saturday, April 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Iraqis Muslim women hold portraits of Iran's late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and his son Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, during a protest against U.S. and Israeli attacks on multiple cities across Iran, in Baghdad, Iraq, Saturday, April 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)

A woman walks past an anti-U.S. graffiti painted on the wall of the Tehran University on Enqelab-e-Eslami (Islamic Revolution) street in downtown Tehran, Iran, Saturday, April 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

Iraqi Muslim women hold portraits of Iran's late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and his son Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, during a protest against U.S. and Israeli attacks on multiple cities across Iran, in Baghdad, Iraq, Saturday, April 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)