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Sports

Real Madrid's winning streak snapped at 22 with loss to Valencia

By Sports Network
Published | Updated

Valencia, Spain (SportsNetwork.com) - Real Madrid's impressive 22-game winning streak across all competitions came to an end on Sunday following a 2-1 loss to Valencia at the Mestalla.

The reigning and 10-time Champions League winners have been cruising through the season, demolishing all that come in their path, and looked to be on their way to a world record for most consecutive wins.

Los Blancos entered Sunday's clash two shy of matching the record for consecutive wins, which is held by Brazilian side Coritiba, and it looked like win number 23 was imminent after Cristiano Ronaldo dispatched a penalty kick after 14 minutes for his league-leading 26th goal of the season.

But Valencia, which has lost just once on home soil this campaign, roared back with a pair of second-half goals from Antonio Barragan and Nicolas Otamendi.

The hosts drew level in the 52nd minute when a well-hit strike from Barragan took a deflection and found its way past Real Madrid goalkeeper Iker Casillas.

The winning strike materialized in the 66th minute as Otamendi rose highest to nod a corner kick from Dani Parejo past Casillas.

Madrid pushed for an equalizer but Ronaldo flubbed chances late on, including one that forced Valencia goalkeeper Diego Alves into a superb point-blank stop, and the club tasted defeat in league play for just the second time this season.

Despite seeing its winning streak come to an end, Real Madrid maintained its lead atop the La Liga table thanks to Barcelona's 1-0 loss to Real Sociedad.

The Catalan club entered the match with a chance to take the top spot, but a Jordi Alba own goal in just the second minute of play proved to be the difference as Barcelona couldn't come up with an equalizer and suffered its third loss of the season.

Also in La Liga on Sunday, Alvaro Vazquez netted after just three minutes to spot Getafe an early lead against Rayo Vallecano, but Jozabed and Jose Raul Baena fired home to hand Rayo Vallecano the 2-1 win and an important three points.

Finally, Manu del Moral and Eneko Boveda Altube both found the back of the net in the span of three first-half minutes as Eibar came away with a 2-1 win over Espanyol.