Real Madrid earn scrappy victory at Sevilla to boost La Liga title hopes

The Spanish champions closed the gap on leaders Real Sociedad thanks to an own goal from keeper Bono

Vinicius Junior of Real Madrid celebrates (Getty)

Real Madrid earned a scrappy 1-0 victory at Sevilla on Saturday thanks to an own goal from keeper Bono to snap a three-game winless run in La Liga and ease the pressure on coach Zinedine Zidane.

The only goal came in the 56th minute when Bono attempted to claim a low cross from Ferland Mendy towards Vinicius Jr. but completely missed the ball, which bounced off his leg and trickled into the net.

Sevilla dominated the remainder of the game and nearly equalised with a free kick from Nemanja Gudelj which brushed the side netting, a curling strike from Suso which just missed the top corner and an acrobatic effort from Lucas Ocampos which Thibaut Courtois tipped away.

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Madrid were in desperate need of victory after defeats by Alaves in La Liga and Shakhtar Donetsk in the Champions League and the win lifted them to third in the standings on 20 points, leaving Sevilla fifth on 16.