Mbappé and Vinícius score penalties as Madrid gets help from woodwork in win at Sociedad

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Kylian Mbappé and Vinícius Júnior converted penalties to help earn Real Madrid a 2-0 win at Real Sociedad after the host was repeatedly denied by the woodwork in La Liga on Saturday.

Vinícius put the visitors ahead in the 58th minute after an unnecessary handball by former Manchester City player Sergio Gómez gave the Madrid forward the chance to break the deadlock.

Mbappé put the result beyond doubt in the 75th after a video review by the referee determined that Sociedad defender Jon Aramburu stomped on Vinícius’ foot in the box.

But before the goals, Madrid had to weather a furious attack by the Basque club that found ways through the defending champion's defense only to be turned back by the goal-frame.

“We probably didn’t deserve to win,” Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti said. “But we knew how to dig in during the worst moments. I value that sacrifice that is often tough to see on a team with the talent that this one has.”

Ancelotti’s side drew its other two outings in the Spanish league. Its first away victory put it one point behind leader Barcelona before it visits Girona on Sunday. Madrid opens its Champions League defense against Stuttgart on Tuesday.

Sociedad matched Madrid’s pace and punch in a frenetic first half.

Luka Sucic hit the post twice, including a missile that rattled the crossbar in the 25th, and Sheraldo Becker also sent a ball off the crossbar.

On the other end, Madrid relied on Mbappé to provide its main threat, while Sociedad goalkeeper Alex Remiro did well to turn back an Antonio Rudiger header.

Sucic sent another ball off the post from a pass by Umar Sadiq just seconds after halftime.

“We got lucky with the posts,” Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois said.

But Sociedad was undone when Gómez raised his arm above his head and blocked a shot by Arda Guler, allowing Vinícius to go to the spot where he fired right past Remiro. Mbappé then beat Remiro when he shot one way as the goalie dove the other.

“We played a great game against the best team in the league and one of the best teams in the Champions League,” Sociedad coach Imanol Agualcil said. “We are angry at ourselves because we were better than they were today.”

Sociedad has lost all three homes games this season.

Madrid forward Brahim Díaz was substituted in the first half with a leg muscle issue.

Jesus Navas rifled in a powerful shot from a tight angle to give Sevilla its first victory of the campaign after edging Getafe 1-0 at home.

The 38-year-old wing back won the European Championship with Spain this summer, adding to his 2010 World Cup. Afterwards, he announced he was retiring from international soccer and he would likewise retire from club competition at the end of 2024.

His goal in the 23rd minute relieved some pressure on new coach Francisco García Pimienta.

Sevilla defender Marcão was substituted in the first half after taking a hard knock to the head.

Javi Puado scored a hat trick to lead Espanyol to a 3-2 win at home over Alaves and secure a second consecutive win for the Barcelona-based club that spent last season in the second division.

Puado steered in a low cross to open the scoring in the 21st. He struck again with a glancing header to restore the host's lead in the 56th after Tomas Conechny equalized for Alaves.

The Espanyol forward took the winner from the spot after Nahuel Tenaglia pulled it even at 2-2. Puado converted the penalty earned after goalkeeper Antonio Sivera tripped Walid Cheddira in the area.

Also, Ayoze Pérez scored late for Villarreal to win at Mallorca 2-1. That was his third goal in five games since Ayoze joined Villarreal from Real Betis in the summer.

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

Real Madrid's Antonio Rudiger, left and Real Madrid's Eder Militao react during a Spanish La Liga soccer match between Real Sociedad and Real Madrid at the Reale Arena in San Sebastian, Spain, Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Miguel Oses)

Real Madrid's Kylian Mbappe is tackled by Real Sociedad's Jon Aramburu during a Spanish La Liga soccer match between Real Sociedad and Real Madrid at the Reale Arena in San Sebastian, Spain, Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Miguel Oses)

Real Madrid's Kylian Mbappe gestures during a Spanish La Liga soccer match between Real Sociedad and Real Madrid at the Reale Arena in San Sebastian, Spain, Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Miguel Oses)

Real Madrid's head coach Carlo Ancelotti waits for the start of a Spanish La Liga soccer match between Real Sociedad and Real Madrid at the Reale Arena in San Sebastian, Spain, Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Miguel Oses)

Real Madrid's Vinicius Junior, centre, celebrates after scoring the opening goal with a penalty kick during a Spanish La Liga soccer match between Real Sociedad and Real Madrid at the Reale Arena in San Sebastian, Spain, Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Miguel Oses)

Real Madrid's Vinicius Junior celebrates after scoring the opening goal with a penalty kick during a Spanish La Liga soccer match between Real Sociedad and Real Madrid at the Reale Arena in San Sebastian, Spain, Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Miguel Oses)

Real Madrid's Vinicius Junior celebrates after scoring the opening goal with a penalty kick during a Spanish La Liga soccer match between Real Sociedad and Real Madrid at the Reale Arena in San Sebastian, Spain, Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Miguel Oses)

Real Madrid's Kylian Mbappe celebrates after scoring his side's second goal from a penalty kick during a Spanish La Liga soccer match between Real Sociedad and Real Madrid at the Reale Arena in San Sebastian, Spain, Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Miguel Oses)

Real Madrid's Kylian Mbappe celebrates with Vinicius Junior, 2nd left, after scoring his side's second goal from a penalty kick during a Spanish La Liga soccer match between Real Sociedad and Real Madrid at the Reale Arena in San Sebastian, Spain, Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Miguel Oses)

NEW YORK (AP) — For 10 months, rumblings, lawsuits, law enforcement raids and mounting allegations of widespread sexual abuse had surrounded Sean "Diddy Combs. The business empire, cultural cachet and fatherly image he had cultivated in the decades since he became a hot young hip-hop mogul in the 1990s had begun to erode.

On Tuesday, those ripples became a wave with the unsealing of a sweeping indictment alleging years of sex trafficking and conspiracy, to which he pleaded not guilty before a federal magistrate ordered him jailed without bail as he awaits trial.

The indictment accuses Combs of presiding over a sordid empire of sexual crimes that used his “power and prestige” for “sex trafficking, forced labor, interstate transportation for purposes of prostitution, drug offenses, kidnapping, arson, bribery and obstruction of justice.”

It describes the inducement of female victims and male sex workers into drugged-up, elaborately produced sexual performances dubbed “Freak Offs" that Combs arranged, directed, masturbated during and often recorded. The events would sometimes last days and require IVs to recover from, the indictment said, and Combs used his employees as though they were a film crew.

It alleges he coerced and abused women for years while using blackmail, including the videos he shot, and shocking acts of violence to keep his victims in line, coordinated and facilitated from the top down by a network of associates and employees.

Combs' attorney Marc Agnifilo declared his client's innocence, and said they would appeal the bail decision, with a hearing expected Wednesday afternoon. Combs, 54, was led out of court without handcuffs, and turned to his family as he left.

“Sean Combs has never evaded, avoided, eluded or run from a challenge in his life,” the defense said in a court filing. “He will not start now."

For all the revelations that came Tuesday, most of the acts it outlines had been described in detail in the original November lawsuit filed by his former longtime girlfriend and protege, the R&B singer Cassie, whose legal name is Cassandra Ventura. The suit was settled the following day, but its allegations would do anything but go away.

Its descriptions of beatings, sexual assaults, silencing tactics and “Freak Offs” were echoed throughout the criminal indictment, though it did not use her name or the names of any other women.

Agnifilo, also without naming Ventura but clearly referring to her, argued at Tuesday's arraignment that the entire criminal case is an outgrowth of one long-term, troubled-but-consensual relationship that faltered amid infidelity.

The “Freak Offs,” Agnifilo contended, were an expansion of that relationship, and not coercive.

“Is it sex trafficking?" Agnifilo asked. “Not if everybody wants to be there.”

Prosecutors, however, portrayed the scope as far larger. They said in court papers that they had interviewed more than 50 victims and witnesses and expect the number to grow.

Like many aging hip-hop figures — including many of those he beefed with in the bi-coastal rap feuds of the 1990s alongside the Notorious B.I.G. — the Bad Boy Records founder Combs had established a gentler, more worldly public image, as a doting father to seven children and a respected international businessman, whose annual “White Party” in the Hamptons was once a must-have invitation for the jet-setting elite.

But prosecutors said he used the same companies, people and methods he used to build his business and cultural power to facilitate his crimes. They said they would prove it with financial, travel and billing records, electronic data and communications and videos of the “Freak Offs” to prove their case.

Both Ventura's lawsuit and a Tuesday court filing from prosecutors say Combs set fire to someone’s vehicle by slicing open its convertible top and dropping in a Molotov cocktail, and describe his punching Ventura, dragging her by her hair and kicking her at a Los Angeles hotel in 2016.

Security video aired by CNN in May showed that beating. Combs soon apologized, saying, “I was disgusted when I did it.” But it would be a major turning point in public perception. He returned a key to the city at the request of New York Mayor Eric Adams, and Howard University cut ties with him.

“A year ago, Sean Combs stood in Times Square and was handed a key to New York City," Manhattan-based U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said at a news conference Tuesday. "Today, he’s been indicted and will face justice.”

The AP does not typically name people who say they have been sexually abused unless they come forward publicly, as Ventura did.

Combs was arrested late Monday in a Manhattan hotel, roughly six months after federal authorities raided his luxurious homes in Los Angeles and Miami and revealed they were conducting a sex trafficking investigation.

During the searches, law enforcement seized narcotics, videos of the “Freak Offs” and more than 1,000 bottles of baby oil and lubricant, according to prosecutors. They said agents also seized firearms and ammunition, including three AR-15s with defaced serial numbers.

The indictment portrays Combs as so violent that he caused injuries that often took days or weeks to heal. His employees and associates sometimes witnessed his violence and kept victims from leaving or tracked down those who tried, the indictment said.

A conviction on every charge in the indictment would require a mandatory 15 years in prison with the possibility of a life sentence.

Combs and his attorneys denied similar allegations made by others in a string of lawsuits filed after Ventura's.

Dalton reported from Los Angeles.

From right, Justin Dior Combs, Quincy Brown and King Combs, arrive at Manhattan federal court, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Marc Agnifilo, attorney for Sean "Diddy" Combs, arrives at Manhattan federal court, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Eduardo Munoz Alvarez)

U.S. Attorney Damian Williams speaks about federal sex trafficking and racketeering charges against Sean "Diddy" Combs during a news conference, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)

Marc Agnifilo, attorney for Sean "Diddy" Combs, arrives at Manhattan federal court, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

FILE - Sean "Diddy" Combs appears at the premiere of "Can't Stop, Won't Stop: A Bad Boy Story" on June 21, 2017, in Beverly Hills, Calif. (AP Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP, File)

Marc Agnifilo, attorney for Sean "Diddy" Combs, arrives at Manhattan federal court, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

From left, King Combs, Quincy Brown and Justin Dior Combs arrive at Manhattan federal court, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

In this courtroom sketch, Sean Combs, center, is flanked by his defense attorney Marc Agnifilo, left, and Teny Garagos, in Manhattan Federal Court, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in New York. (Elizabeth Williams via AP)

U.S. Attorney Damian Williams speaks about federal sex trafficking and racketeering charges against Sean "Diddy" Combs during a news conference, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)

FILE -Sean 'Diddy' Combs participates in "The Four" panel during the FOX Television Critics Association Winter Press Tour in Pasadena, Calif., Jan. 4, 2018. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP, File)

In this courtroom sketch, Sean Combs, seated right, looks at his attorney, Marc Agnifilo, left, as he delivers his bail argument as Combs' family in the gallery, background, raise their hands indicating to Judge Tarnofsky that they are in attendance, to bolster the defense attorney's bail argument, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in Manhattan Federal Court in New York. (Elizabeth Williams via AP)