Real Madrid beaten at home days before Arsenal clash in Champions League | OneFootball

Real Madrid’s hopes of catching Barcelona in LaLiga were dealt a blow as they were beaten at home by Valencia days before facing Arsenal in the Champions League quarter-finals.

Vinicius Jr missed a first-half penalty before Valencia stunned the Bernabeu deep into stoppage time as Hugo Duro's header secured a 2-1 win for the visitors. Barcelona can extend their lead to six points with eight games to go if they beat Real Betis on Sunday.

Real Madrid travel to Arsenal on Tuesday in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final. Kylian Mbappe, Vinicius and Jude Bellingham all started but Thibaut Courtois was absent due to injury. The third-choice goalkeeper Fran Gonzalez made his first-team debut with Andriy Lunin also unavailable.

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Valencia stunned the Bernabeu with a 2-1 win in stoppage time (Getty Images)

Arsenal were also in action on Saturday but were held to a 1-1 draw at Everton, which gives Liverpool the chance to extend their lead in the Premier League to 14 points should they defeat Fulham on Sunday. Mikel Arteta opted to start Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli and Martin Odegaard on the bench, although all three were introduced in the second half.

Arteta made five changes for the trip to Goodison, only one of which was enforced after a season-ending injury to Gabriel Magalhaes, but denied he had done so because of Tuesday’s Champions League quarter-final at home to Real Madrid.

“One of the most beautiful games that you can play in football, in the highest European competition, against the team that has dominated that competition in the last 20, 25 years. So, yeah, really looking forward to it,” Arteta said.

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Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has turned his focus to the clash with Real Madrid (PA Wire)

“There were four players that couldn’t start the game after what happened with Fulham and obviously the injury of Gabi forces you to make some changes as well because players deserve to play minutes. I’m very happy with that.

“Some of them haven’t trained, they haven’t had the opportunity to start the game. Everybody has to be important, has to feel important. We have so many games coming up right now and we have to rely on all of them.”

They will face a Real Madrid team who suffered just their third home defeat of the season - and first since early November - against Valencia.

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Bellingham reacts to Real Madrid’s defeat (Getty Images)

Real 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 Vinicius' first-half penalty.

Defender Mouctar Diakhaby opened the scoring for Valencia with a header from an Andre Almeida corner in the 15th minute.

Vinicius stroked in the equaliser from a corner in the 50th minute and pushed for the winner in the second half. However, Valencia held on and took advantage of a quick counter five minutes deep into added time as Hugo Duro's header secured the win.