Postpublished at 19:29 Greenwich Mean Time 26 February 2022
That's the end of this live text now.
Real Madrid can go nine points clear
Ancelotti's side have only lost twice in league
Rayo Vallecano yet to win in La Liga in 2022
Emlyn Begley
That's the end of this live text now.
Rayo Vallecano 0-1 Real Madrid
It's all over. Real Madrid go nine points clear at the top of La Liga thanks to a battling win over Rayo Vallecano.
Rayo Vallecano 0-1 Real Madrid
Dani Carvajal, limping but Real don't have any subs left, heads the ball back to his keeper.
Rayo Vallecano 0-1 Real Madrid
Radamel Falcao catches fellow sub Federico Valverde and this is eating up a lot of the remaining time.
Dani Ceballos is booked for dissent.
Rayo Vallecano 0-1 Real Madrid
A strange one. Real Madrid are on the attack and suddenly a second ball appears in the penalty box. Rayo have the ball now (the real one).
Rayo Vallecano 0-1 Real Madrid
Another poor free-kick into the box. They don't really look like equalising here.
Rayo Vallecano 0-1 Real Madrid
Eder Militao heads wide as the board goes up to add on six minutes.
Rayo Vallecano 0-1 Real Madrid
Rayo have a free-kick but the ball into the box is poor and Thibaut Courtois catches.
Rayo Vallecano 0-1 Real Madrid
Karim Benzema has scored 10 goals in 11 La Liga appearances against Vallecano. They are the fourth opponents Benzema has scored at least 10 La Liga goals against - after Athletic Bilbao (16), Granada (14) and Valencia (13).
Rayo Vallecano 0-1 Real Madrid
Real Madrid try to eat up some time as Dani Ceballos and Eduardo Camavinga replace Luka Modric and Vinicius Jr.
Rayo Vallecano 0-1 Real Madrid
Rayo bring on Randy Nteka and Mamadou Sylla.
Rayo Vallecano 0-1 Real Madrid
They try a repeat of that move but this time Vinicius Jr can't find Karim Benzema with a return pass.
Karim Benzema
Real Madrid finally break through.
Karim Benzema plays the ball into Vinicius Jr in the box and continues his run. Vinicius just rolls the ball across the six-yard box for Benzema to tap in.
Rayo Vallecano 0-0 Real Madrid
A good double save by Thibaut Courtois to deny Oscar Trejo and Alvaro Garcia after some shoddy defending.
Rayo Vallecano 0-0 Real Madrid
Real make a change on the wing as Rodrygo replaces Marco Asensio.
Rayo Vallecano 0-0 Real Madrid
This referee is card hungry now. Alejandro Catena is booked for Rayo.
Rayo Vallecano 0-0 Real Madrid
It's 17-11 on shots to Rayo. Sergi Guardiola had eight alone.
Leroy Sane has scored his seventh Bundesliga goal of the season and Bayern Munich lead 1-0 at Eintracht Frankfurt.
Rayo Vallecano 0-0 Real Madrid
This wouldn't have counted but Luka Modric curls a beauty off the outside of the post. He was offside when Federico Valverde played the ball to him though.
Rayo Vallecano 0-0 Real Madrid
Here's Radamel Falcao! He and Isi Palazan replace Sergi Guardiola and Bebe up front for Rayo.