Real Madrid beats Cadiz to cut Barca’s lead ahead of World Cup

MADRID: 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.

“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.

“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.