Atletico Madrid’s Marcos Llorente scored deep in stoppage time to cancel out Brahim Diaz’s first-half opener for leaders Real Madrid as the city rivals drew 1-1 in the La Liga at the Santiago Bernabeu on Sunday.

Real are on 58 points at the summit, two ahead of Girona, who they host on Saturday. Atletico remain fourth with 48 points, two behind third-placed Barcelona.

“It was a good game from our side, we controlled the game but we were unlucky to concede a goal in the last minute,” Real manager Carlo Ancelotti told reporters.

“We did well, we deserved to win but we have nothing to complain about. We are leaders and we have another chance to take a big step forward next Saturday. The team has to be calm, a good point has come out of it.”

The hosts opened the scoring after 20 minutes when Diaz seized on a loose ball after some sloppy Atletico defending inside the box to slot home from close range and score his fourth league goal this season.

Atletico thought they had equalised in the opening minutes of the second half, but VAR intervened to rule out Stefan Savic’s towering header for offside.

Diego Simeone’s side finally scored in the final seconds of the game when midfielder Llorente headed past Real keeper Andriy Lunin from a Memphis Depay cross.

“The goal tastes very good, we worked hard during the game, we got a point and we are happy with the team’s work,” Llorente told Movistar.

“It doesn’t taste like a win the way the game was going, but we got a valuable point.”

“We worked hard the entire match and in the end we got rewarded,” Llorente said. “We gained a point and kept them from getting more points. Considering the way things were going, it’s a very valuable point for us.”

Ancelotti had a depleted defence because of injuries and had to improvise right back Dani Carvajal as a central defender alongside Nacho Fernández.

“The team could’ve given up but it kept fighting until the end and deserved the draw,” Simeone said.

It was the third Madrid derby in less than a month, with Madrid winning the Spanish Super Cup semi-final in Saudi Arabia and Atletico winning in the round of 16 of the Copa del Rey.

Atletico next host Athletic Bilbao in the Spanish Cup semi-finals on Wednesday.

Eighth-place Real Betis couldn’t manage more than a 1-1 draw against 10th-place Getafe at home.

Both goals came from penalty kicks, with Mason Greenwood putting Getafe ahead in the eighth minute and Isco equalizing in the 35th.

Celta Vigo ended a three-game winless streak and moved further away from the relegation zone by beating Osasuna 3-0.

Reuters, AP/PTI