sports

Rayo Halts Betis' Champions Push

Rayo Vallecano ended Real Betis' three-match winning streak in a highly controversial encounter marked by lengthy VAR reviews.

The match, which extended to 104 minutes, featured two contentious VAR incidents that took several minutes each to resolve. In the 48th minute, what appeared to be a penalty on Cucho inside the Rayo area was ruled outside by referee Martínez Munuera after a VAR review.

More controversially, in the 86th minute, Valentín's challenge on Ratiu seemed to occur on the goal line, but after an agonizing four-minute review, the referee maintained his initial decision of a foul outside the area and no red card. The match concluded with 14 minutes of added time.