Kylian Mbappé scored and Real Madrid moved within four points of Spanish league leader Barcelona with a 3-0 win at Leganes on Sunday ahead of its eagerly awaited Champions League match at Liverpool.
Federico Valverde and Jude Bellingham also scored to close the gap on Barcelona, which conceded two late goals in a 2-2 draw at Celta Vigo on Saturday.
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Real Madrid's Vinicius Junior gestures at Leganes' Sergio Gonzalez, foreground, during a Spanish La Liga soccer match between CD Leganes and Real Madrid in Leganes, outside Madrid, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
Real Madrid's Federico Valverde celebrates after scoring his side's second goal during a Spanish La Liga soccer match between CD Leganes and Real Madrid in Leganes, outside Madrid, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
Real Madrid players celebrate after Federico Valverde, 3rd right, scored their second goal during a Spanish La Liga soccer match between CD Leganes and Real Madrid in Leganes, outside Madrid, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
Real Madrid's Eduardo Camavinga, left, jumps for the ball with Leganes' Julian Chicco during a Spanish La Liga soccer match between CD Leganes and Real Madrid in Leganes, outside Madrid, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
Real Madrid's Kylian Mbappe attempts a shot at goal during a Spanish La Liga soccer match between CD Leganes and Real Madrid in Leganes, outside Madrid, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
Real Madrid's Kylian Mbappe during a Spanish La Liga soccer match between CD Leganes and Real Madrid in Leganes, outside Madrid, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
Real Madrid's Kylian Mbappe avoids Leganes' Adria Altimira to score the opening goal during a Spanish La Liga soccer match between CD Leganes and Real Madrid in Leganes, outside Madrid, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
Real Madrid's Kylian Mbappe scores a goal disallowed for offside during a Spanish La Liga soccer match between CD Leganes and Real Madrid in Leganes, outside Madrid, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
Madrid has played one game less than Barcelona after its match at Valencia was postponed because of the deadly floods in October.
Madrid will make the trip to England to face Premier League leader Liverpool on Wednesday in the Champions League, and is hoping to recover from a demoralizing 3-1 home loss against AC Milan in the previous round of matches.
Madrid's attack worked well against Leganes with Vinícius Júnior playing inside and Mbappé more on the flank. The France striker scored after going four straight games without finding the net for the Spanish powerhouse.
“We switched their positions and the team was able to stay in control during the whole match,” Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti said.
Fourth-place Villarreal scored an equalizer in stoppage time to salvage a 2-2 draw at fifth-place Osasuna.
Ante Budimir scored twice in the first 20 minutes for Osasuna. Villarreal, which was coming off three straight victories in all competitions, scored through Álex Baena in the 67th and a penalty kick converted by Gerard Moreno three minutes into injury time.
Osasuna, sitting three points behind Villarreal, was coming off a 4-0 loss at Madrid.
Also Sunday, Sevilla ended a two-game losing streak in the league with a 1-0 win against Rayo Vallecano, which played the entire second half with 10 men after Unai López was sent off for a hard foul.
Djibril Sow scored Sevilla's goal in the 27th.
Sixth-place Athletic Bilbao hosted midtable Real Sociedad later Sunday in the Basque Country derby.
AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
Real Madrid's Vinicius Junior gestures at Leganes' Sergio Gonzalez, foreground, during a Spanish La Liga soccer match between CD Leganes and Real Madrid in Leganes, outside Madrid, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
Real Madrid's Federico Valverde celebrates after scoring his side's second goal during a Spanish La Liga soccer match between CD Leganes and Real Madrid in Leganes, outside Madrid, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
Real Madrid players celebrate after Federico Valverde, 3rd right, scored their second goal during a Spanish La Liga soccer match between CD Leganes and Real Madrid in Leganes, outside Madrid, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
Real Madrid's Eduardo Camavinga, left, jumps for the ball with Leganes' Julian Chicco during a Spanish La Liga soccer match between CD Leganes and Real Madrid in Leganes, outside Madrid, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
Real Madrid's Kylian Mbappe attempts a shot at goal during a Spanish La Liga soccer match between CD Leganes and Real Madrid in Leganes, outside Madrid, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
Real Madrid's Kylian Mbappe during a Spanish La Liga soccer match between CD Leganes and Real Madrid in Leganes, outside Madrid, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
Real Madrid's Kylian Mbappe avoids Leganes' Adria Altimira to score the opening goal during a Spanish La Liga soccer match between CD Leganes and Real Madrid in Leganes, outside Madrid, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
Real Madrid's Kylian Mbappe scores a goal disallowed for offside during a Spanish La Liga soccer match between CD Leganes and Real Madrid in Leganes, outside Madrid, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
BEIRUT (AP) — Hezbollah fired about 250 rockets and other projectiles into Israel on Sunday, wounding seven people in one of the militant group's heaviest barrages in months, in response to deadly Israeli strikes in Beirut while negotiators pressed on with cease-fire efforts to halt the all-out war.
Some of the rockets reached the Tel Aviv area in the heart of Israel.
Meanwhile, an Israeli strike on an army center killed a Lebanese soldier and wounded 18 others in the southwest between Tyre and Naqoura, Lebanon's military said. The Israeli military expressed regret, saying that the strike occurred in an area of combat against Hezbollah and that the military's operations are directed solely against the militants.
Israeli strikes have killed over 40 Lebanese troops since the start of the war between Israel and Hezbollah, even as Lebanon's military has largely kept to the sidelines.
Lebanon's caretaker prime minister, Najib Mikati, condemned the latest strike as an assault on U.S.-led cease-fire efforts, calling it a “direct, bloody message rejecting all efforts and ongoing contacts” to end the war.
Hezbollah began firing rockets, missiles and drones into Israel after Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack out of the Gaza Strip ignited the war there. Hezbollah has portrayed the attacks as an act of solidarity with the Palestinians and Hamas. Iran supports both armed groups.
Israel launched retaliatory airstrikes at Hezbollah, and in September the low-level conflict erupted into all-out war as Israel launched airstrikes across large parts of Lebanon and killed Hezbollah's top leader, Hassan Nasrallah.
The Israeli military said about 250 projectiles were fired Sunday, with some intercepted.
Israel’s Magen David Adom rescue service said it treated seven people, including a 60-year old man in severe condition from rocket fire on northern Israel, a 23-year-old man who was lightly wounded by a blast in the central city of Petah Tikva, near Tel Aviv, and a 70-year-old woman who suffered smoke inhalation from a car that caught fire there. In Haifa, a rocket hit a residential building that police said was in danger of collapsing.
The Palestine Red Crescent reported 13 injuries it said were caused by an interceptor missile that struck several homes in Tulkarem in the West Bank. It was unclear whether injuries and damage were caused by rockets or interceptors.
Sirens wailed again in central and northern Israel hours later.
Israeli airstrikes without warning on Saturday pounded central Beirut, killing at least 29 people and wounding 67, according to Lebanon's Health Ministry.
Smoke billowed above Beirut again Sunday with new strikes. Israel's military said it targeted command centers for Hezbollah and its intelligence unit in the southern suburbs of Dahiyeh, where the militants have a strong presence.
Israeli attacks have killed more than 3,700 people in Lebanon, according to the Health Ministry. The fighting has displaced about 1.2 million people, or a quarter of Lebanon’s population.
On the Israeli side, about 90 soldiers and nearly 50 civilians have been killed by bombardment in northern Israel and in battle following Israel's ground invasion in early October. Around 60,000 Israelis have been displaced from the country's north.
The European Union’s top diplomat called Sunday for more pressure on Israel and Hezbollah to reach a deal, saying one was "pending with a final agreement from the Israeli government.” U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein was in the region last week.
Josep Borrell spoke after meeting with Mikati and Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, a Hezbollah ally who has been mediating with the group. Borrell said the EU is ready to allocate 200 million euros ($208 million) to assist the Lebanese military.
But Borrell later said that he did not “see the Israeli government interested clearly in reaching an agreement for a cease-fire" and that it seemed Israel was seeking new conditions. He pointed to Israel’s refusal to accept France as a member of the international committee that would oversee the cease-fire's implementation.
The emerging agreement would pave the way for the withdrawal of Hezbollah militants and Israeli troops from southern Lebanon below the Litani River in accordance with the U.N. Security Council resolution that ended the monthlong 2006 war. Lebanese troops would patrol with the presence of U.N. peacekeepers.
With talks for a cease-fire and hostage release deal in Gaza stalled, freed hostages and families of those held marked a year since the war's only hostage-release deal.
“It’s hard to hold on to hope, certainly after so long and as another winter is about to begin," said Yifat Zailer, cousin of Shiri Bibas, who is held along with her husband and two young sons.
Around 100 hostages are still in Gaza, at least a third believed to be dead. Most of the rest of the 250 who were abducted in the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack were released in last year's cease-fire.
Talks for another deal recently had several setbacks, including the firing of Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, who pushed for a deal, and Qatar’s decision to suspend its mediation. Hamas wants Israel to end the war and withdraw all troops from Gaza. Israel has offered only to pause its offensive.
The Palestinian death toll from the war surpassed 44,000 this week, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count.
On Sunday, six people were killed in strikes in central Gaza, according to AP journalists at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah.
Goldenberg reported from Tel Aviv, Israel. Associated Press Writer Abby Sewell in Beirut contributed to this report.
Find more of AP’s war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war
Smoke rise from Israeli airstrikes in Dahiyeh, Beirut, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
A flock of birds fly as smoke rise from Israeli airstrikes in Dahiyeh, Beirut, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
Israeli bomb squad police inspect the site where a rocket fired from Lebanon landed in Kibbutz Kfar Blum, northern Israel Sunday Nov. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
Israeli soldiers stop traffic during an alert of incoming rockets, near Kiryat Shmona, northern Israel Sunday Nov. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
An Israeli bomb squad policeman collects the pieces of a rocket that was fired from Lebanon in Kibbutz Kfar Blum, northern Israel Sunday Nov. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
A member of the Israeli forces inspect a site following a rocket fired from Lebanon hit an area in Rinatya, outskirts of Tel Aviv, Israel, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
A man walks past a damaged building after a rocket fired from Lebanon hit an area in Rinatya, outskirts of Tel Aviv, Israel, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
Journalists take pictures of a building hit direct by a rocket fired from Lebanon in Haifa, Israel, Sunday Nov. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
An Israeli bomb squad policeman carries the remains of a rocket that was fired from Lebanon in Kibbutz Kfar Blum, northern Israel Sunday Nov. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, left, meets with Lebanese Parliament speaker Nabih Berri, right, in Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell gestures as he arrives for his meeting with Lebanese Parliament speaker Nabih Berri, in Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, left, meets with Lebanese Parliament speaker Nabih Berri, righr, in Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
Lebanese Parliament speaker Nabih Berri during his meeting with European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, in Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
Lebanese Parliament speaker Nabih Berri during his meeting with European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, in Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell gives a statement to the media after his meeting with Lebanese Parliament speaker Nabih Berri, in Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell gives a statement to the media after his meeting with Lebanese Parliament speaker Nabih Berri, in Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
Israeli police bomb squad inspect the site after a missile fired from Lebanon hit the area in Petah Tikva, outskirts of Tel Aviv, Israel, Sunday Nov. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)
Israeli police bomb squad inspect the site after a missile fired from Lebanon hit the area in Petah Tikva, outskirts of Tel Aviv, Israel, Sunday Nov. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)
Israeli police bomb squad inspect the site after a missile fired from Lebanon hit the area in Petah Tikva, outskirts of Tel Aviv, Israel, Sunday Nov. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)
Two men stand at the site of an Israeli airstrike that hit central Beirut, Lebanon, Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
Rescue workers search for victims at the site of an Israeli airstrike that hit central Beirut, Lebanon, Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
A firefighter extinguishes a fire at the site of an Israeli airstrike that hit central Beirut, Lebanon, Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
Rescue workers search for victims at the site of an Israeli airstrike that hit central Beirut, Lebanon, Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
