Karim Benzema's goal helped Real Madrid move closer to the La Liga title

Carlo Ancelotti’s Real Madrid team came back from two goals down to beat title rivals Sevilla 3-2 in a thrilling LaLiga match on Sunday (April 17). Karim Benzema scored a last-gasp winner for the visitors, who came behind to win the game.

Real Madrid now has a 15-point lead over Barcelona, who has two games in hand, Sevilla in third, and fourth-placed Atletico Madrid, who beat Espanyol 2-1 earlier. There are still six rounds of games to go.

Ivan Rakitic and Erik Lamela scored for Sevilla, giving them a 2-0 halftime lead at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan stadium. Rodrygo and Nacho Fernandez drew Real level two minutes into added time.

READ MORE: UEFA Champions League: Roberto Firmino helps Liverpool beat Benfica to advance to the semi-finals.

Everyone is waiting for Real Madrid to fall, but Real Madrid doesn’t fall because we have heart and character.” Not yet, but we have made a big step. “LaLiga isn’t done, but we have made progress.”

As Sevilla dominated the first half but faded after the break, referee Guillermo Cuadra made many controversial decisions in a match marked by a lot of bad calls.

In the 17th minute, he didn’t give Sevilla defender Diego Carlos a penalty for what looked like a clear handball. Then he didn’t give Real Madrid defender Eduardo Camavinga a second yellow card for a foul from behind on Antony Martial in the 37th minute.

The referee also disallowed Vinicius Jr.’s goal for Real because of a very close handball decision in the 78th minute. He stood by his decision even after being sent to the pitchside monitor by VAR. After much controversy, “We did it even though we don’t understand how the ref can call a handball by Vinicius and not call it for Diego Carlos.”

Eder Militao made two mistakes in the first four minutes that led to Sevilla taking the lead against Real Madrid. In the 21st minute, Rakitic fired a free kick through the Real wall. Four minutes later, Militao let Jesus Corona run through the Real defense to cross for an unmarked Erik Lamela to make it 2-0.

A close call for fouling Martial led to Ancelotti taking off the young French midfielder Camavinga at halftime and replacing him with Rodrygo. This move changed the game in Real’s favor because Rodrygo played well when he came on the bench.

Five minutes into the second half, his goal set up Nacho to score Real’s second goal and set up Benzema to score the winner. He also started the move that led to Nacho and Benzema’s goal 10 minutes later.

It was Benzema’s 25th goal, making it the most goals he has scored in a single league season in his Real career. It beat the 24 he scored in the 2015-16 season. After two mistakes, “the players didn’t lose their heads,” said a relieved Ancelotti. “They are the ones who made this incredible come from behind win.” In the second half, I was very proud of this team. I want to thank everyone who played.

On Monday, Barcelona plays Cadiz, a team that could relegate.