Vinícius Júnior missed his second penalty in less than a month as LaLiga champions Real Madrid were shocked at home by Valencia 2-1 on Saturday, leaving the door open for rivals Barcelona to extend their lead on top of the LaLiga standings.

With a game in hand, Hansi Flick’s Barça are top on 66 points, three ahead Real in second and nine clear of third-placed Atlético. If Barça win against Real Betis later on Saturday, they will extend their lead to six points with eight games to go. Valencia are 15th on 34 points.

Madrid dominated possession throughout the game but wasted too many chances, with Valencia goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili putting in a brilliant performance between the posts, including blocking Vinícius‘ first-half penalty.

After Kylian Mbappé was fouled inside the box in the 12th minute, Vinícius, who had missed a penalty in Madrid’s Champions League round-of-16 clash against Atléticothree weeks ago, struck a feeble effort low to the goalkeeper’s left that Mamardashvili pounced on.

In the following play, defender Mouctar Diakhaby opened the scoring for Valencia with a header from an André Almeida corner in the 15th minute but almost gifted Madrid the equaliser when he put the ball into his own net six minutes later.

However, he was rescued by VAR who spotted an offside in the build-up that ruled it out and Mamardashvili made a string of saves to keep Valencia’s lead before the break, with Mbappé denied several attempts.

Vinícius scored the equaliser from a corner in the 50th minute and pushed for the winner in the second half, with the goalkeeper, on loan at Valencia from Liverpool, continuing to make stunning saves to frustrate Madrid.

Valencia held on and took advantage of a quick counter five minutes deep into stoppage time as Hugo Duro‘s header secured their first win away from home in LaLiga this season.

“Now [fighting for the LaLiga title] has become more complicated, it’s a result that leaves us with a bitter taste in the mouth,” Ancelotti told reporters. “I think we played a good game, we created a lot of chances and came very close to scoring goals. It’s frustrating but I don’t think it’s an attitude problem.”