Real Madrid held at home by Girona as Toni Kroos sees red for first time in his career | Football News

Real Madrid were held to a 1-1 draw by Girona at the Santiago Bernabeu on Sunday but the reigning champions maintained their unbeaten streak in La Liga and hold a one-point lead over Barcelona.

After a goalless first half, Real opened the scoring through Vinicius Jr in the 70th minute but their lead was cancelled out by a Cristhian Stuani penalty 10 minutes later.

Real were frustrated for more than an hour but finally made the breakthrough when their patient build-up play allowed Federico Valverde to put the ball into the six-yard box where Vinicius was on hand to tap it into the net.

Girona were handed a lifeline when Marco Asensio handled the ball in the box and the referee awarded a penalty following a VAR check, with Stuani stepping up to the spot and sending Thibaut Courtois the wrong way to level the score.

Real’s Rodrygo thought he had won the game at the death when he fought for the ball in a goalmouth scramble with Girona goalkeeper Paulo Gazzaniga, but the referee disallowed his goal as the keeper was in control of the ball when the Brazilian bundled it in.

Real’s match only got worse when midfielder Toni Kroos was sent off in added time after receiving a second yellow card. Girona, who are 16th in the standings, came away with a precious point as their players sank to the ground in relief.

Union score stoppage time winner to stay top

Union Berlin scored a stoppage-time winner through Danilho Doekhi on Sunday to snatch a 2-1 win over visiting Borussia Monchengladbach and remain top of the Bundesliga, one point ahead of Bayern Munich.

Kevin Behrens’s powerful header levelled the score in the 79th for Union, avoiding a second consecutive loss for the club, who have surprisingly led the title race for more than a month, before Doekhi’s last-gasp winner.

Union are on 26 with Bayern on 25 points following their 6-2 win over Mainz 05 on Saturday.

Gladbach’s Nico Elvedi headed in for the lead in the 33rd minute from a Lars Stindl corner, with the visitors controlling possession in the first half.

The hosts, who lost last week to VfL Bochum, pushed forward after the break and earned the equaliser when Behrens beat keeper Tobias Sippel 11 minutes from the end.

Union then put the ball in the net again but Christopher Trimmel’s 87th-minute header was overruled by the VAR before Doekhi got the winner with the last move of the game.