Real Madrid Win 3-0 at Racing Santander and Close Gap on Barcelona

Real Madrid beat Racing Santander 3-0 on Sunday, and they now sit within three points of Barcelona at the top of La Liga, Spain's top division. BBC Sport reported the result.

Three different players scored. Jude Bellingham, Kylian Mbappé and Yan Diomande each found the net for the visitors. Every goal was a mark of the same winning side, and the spread of scorers is the kind of thing coaches like to see. A team that can score from several places is harder to plan against.

The three-point gap needs a quick explanation. In La Liga, a win earns three points and a draw earns one. So the distance between Real Madrid and Barcelona is now roughly the value of one victory. Neither side is out of reach of the other, and the title race is still wide open.

The match was played in Santander, the northern Spanish city where Racing's home ground sits. Racing hosted the game and lost, but a home defeat at this level is not unusual for a side trying to stay among the league's top teams. Madrid, meanwhile, arrived with a squad full of big names and left with three goals and a clean sheet, which is the simplest measure of a good afternoon's work.

Sunday's win is one result in a long season, and the table will look different after the next round. What it does show is a club keeping pace with the leader. For Real Madrid's fans, that is enough to keep the season's top prize in sight.

The result is listed in LaLiga's official results, which record the score as 3-0 to the visitors.