Real Madrid suffer shock defeat to Alaves

Vitoria: Real Madrid sank to a shock 1-0 defeat by Alaves on Saturday after a 95th-minute winner from Manu Garcia consigned the European champions to a fourth game without victory.

It is four games without a goal too for Julen Lopetegui s side, their longest scoring drought since 1985, as Garcia headed home to send the Mendizorrotza Stadium wild.

Alaves fans ran onto the pitch to celebrate their famous win and the chants continued long after the final whistle blew.

For Madrid this was another body blow and to make matters worse, Gareth Bale, their chief forward threat, had hobbled off injured late on. He missed the Champions League loss to CSKA Moscow on Tuesday with a groin strain.

Karim Benzema, out of form and bereft of confidence, was off too after being substituted at half-time but it was Thibaut Courtois at fault for the goal. He came for the cross but failed to claim.

It means Barcelona can go three points clear if they win their game in hand against Valencia on Sunday while Alaves excellent start to the season continues. They move up to third, level on points with Real.

Lopetegui had been asked on Friday if he felt under pressure at the club he left Spain for on the eve of the World Cup. Talk of change is perhaps premature but it will certainly increase if Madrid cannot find fluency soon and, in particular, if Barca pull away.

The Clasico at the Camp Nou looms at the end of the month.

Bale had been passed fit to start while Luka Modric and Sergio Ramos returned after being rested against CSKA. Courtois took over from Keylor Navas in goal.

The first half was a fight, full of heavy touches, tussles and collisions but largely vacant of clear-cut chances. The rain came down, the whistles grew louder as Madrid dominated possession but Alaves could have won it sooner when Jony sprinted clear, only to drag his finish wide.

Bale went off and another Alaves chance came in injury time. Courtois came for a cross but failed to gather, allowing Garcia to head in a dramatic winner.

Kovac under pressure, Bayern crash 3-0 at home to Gladbach

Bayern Munich suffered a second consecutive Bundesliga defeat, crashing 3-0 at home to Borussia Moenchengladbach, to drop to fifth in the table on Saturday while Paco Alcacer scored a hat-trick for league leaders Borussia Dortmund.

Pressure is mounting on Bayern head coach Niko Kovac whose side are four points behind Dortmund.

Bayern are winless in their last four games in all competitions and suffered back-to-back league defeats for the first time since May 2015, when they had already won the Bundesliga title.

Bayern were 2-0 down after just 16 minutes at the Allianz Arena.

Gladbach striker Alassane Plea beautifully curled a long-range shot around the dive of Munich goalkeeper Manuel Neuer on 10 minutes.

The second came six minutes later when Bayern midfielder Thiago Alcantara lost possession near his own box.

Jonas Hofmann pounced on the loose ball and squared for club captain Lars Stindl, making his return after long-term injury, to score and stun the Munich crowd.

Bayern left-back David Alaba limped off with injury after the break and although Munich striker Robert Lewandowski had the ball in the Gladbach net on 68 minutes, the effort was offside.

Patrick Hermann added the third goal in the 88th minute when he took advantage of a mistake in the Bayern defence and fired the ball across Neuer.

Gladbach are now second, three points behind leaders Dortmund who needed a 96th-minute free-kick from Alcacer to seal a stunning 4-3 win over Augsburg.

Having already scored two late goals off the bench in last Saturday s 4-2 comeback victory at Bayer Leverkusen, and netted again in the 3-0 Champions League midweek win over Monaco, Alcacer was again deadly off the bench.

With seven goals in just four games since signing on a season-long loan from Barcelona, the 25-year-old, on loan from Barcelona until June, hopes to stay past the 2018/19 season.

"I feel good here and I can imagine staying at Borussia Dortmund for more than a year," said Alcacer.

"Goals are important, but more important is the team spirit."