European roundup: Real Madrid held by Getafe, Icardi saves PSG with winner
A heavily depleted Real Madrid side scraped a 0-0 draw at Getafe on Sunday in La Liga to fall three points behind the leaders, Atlético Madrid.
Real were hamstrung by the absence of nine players because of injury, suspension or coronavirus. Mariano had an early goal ruled out for offside after a VAR review but Getafe hit the woodwork in the first half and were thwarted by two fine saves from Thibaut Courtois in the second.
Atlético Madrid thrashed Eibar 5-0 despite missing Luis Suárez and João Félix. Ángel Correa took responsibility in attack, scoring twice at the end of the first half.
Yannick Carrasco further stretched their lead soon after the interval before Marcos Llorente struck twice to complete the rout. Atlético top the standings on 70 points after 31 games, three ahead of Real Madrid and five above third-placed Barcelona, who both have a game in hand.
Paris Saint-Germain kept themselves in the hunt for a fourth successive Ligue 1 title when Mauro Icardi scored in the dying seconds of stoppage time to secure a dramatic 3-2 home win over St-Étienne. Icardi headed home a cross from his fellow substitute Ángel di María to cap a seesawing climax with all five goals scored in the final 15 minutes.
Kylian Mbappé missed three chances before the visitors punished the home side’s profligacy when Denis Bouanga superbly steered in a cross from the left. But Mbappé equalised 30 seconds later with a deft finish from close range then fired PSG ahead with an 87th-minute penalty after he was brought down by the goalkeeper, Etienne Green.
Romain Hamouma levelled with a tap-in after Sergio Rico failed to deal with Bouanga’s shot from the edge of the penalty area. It looked like it was not going to be PSG’s day but Di Maria curled in a cross from the right moments later for Icardi to head home. The result left PSG second on 69 points from 33 games, one behind leaders Lille who were held to a 1-1 draw by Montpellier on Friday.
In Italy, Christian Eriksen’s first league goal of the season earned Internazionale a 1-1 draw at Napoli, moving the league leaders nine points clear at the top of Serie A.
Inter hit the woodwork twice in a thrilling first half but found themselves behind as their goalkeeper, Samir Handanovic, diverted what appeared to be a comfortable low cross into his own net. Inter, chasing a 12th successive league win, stepped it up a gear in the second half, with Eriksen arrowing a fine strike into the net in the 55th minute.
Napoli hit the bar and thought they had won a late penalty only for VAR to overturn the decision as Inter hung on to move on to 75 points from 31 games, nine clear of Milan.
Napoli stayed fifth, but closed to within two points of Juventus, who slipped to a last-gasp defeat at Atalanta. Juventus looked as though they had done enough to hold on for a point, but Ruslan Malinovskyi scored in the 87th minute, sparking wild scenes of celebration among Gian Piero Gasperini’s team, who moved into third.
Milan secured their first home win in the league for over two months with
a nervy 2-1 victory over Genoa to boost their hopes of a top-four finish.
In Germany, Erling Haaland scored twice in four minutes to end his sevengame goal drought and help Borussia Dortmund to a 4-1 win over Werder Bremen that cut the gap to the Champions League places to four points.
Bayern Munich have condemned their head coach, Hansi Flick, for revealing he wants to leave at the end of the season. A statement on the club website read: “Hansi Flick and FC Bayern had agreed to place the focus on the matches against VfL Wolfsburg, Bayer 04 Leverkusen (20 April) and 1
FSV Mainz 05 (24 April), in order not to disrupt the concentration of the whole club on these three important matches.
“FC Bayern disapproves of the unilateral communications issued by Hansi Flick and will continue talks after the match at Mainz, as agreed.”
Flick has guided Bayern to a historic treble and is in the running to replace Joachim Löw, who will step down as Germany national team boss after this summer’s European Championship.