European roundup: Real Madrid fight back for win, Napoli get back on track
Real Madrid fought back from a goal down to claim a 3-1 victory over Espanyol at the Santiago Bernabéu on Saturday, as the hosts returned to winning ways ahead of a potentially season-defining week in which they face Liverpool and Barcelona.
Second-placed Madrid, who scored through Vinícius Júnior, Éder Militão and Marco Asensio, maintained their slim title chances by moving up to 56 points – six behind leaders Barcelona, who travel to Athletic Bilbao on Sunday.
Espanyol opened the scoring in the eighth minute, as Joselu lashed the ball past goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois following Rubén Sánchez’s cross. Real stepped up the pressure as they sought a leveller with Eduardo Camavinga getting a shot on target, before Vinícius Júnior showed his individual skill in the 22nd minute to cut into the box, beat two defenders and rifle in.
With Espanyol pinned back in their own half, the home side took the lead six minutes from half-time as Militão scored with a bullet header after Aurélien Tchouaméni put in a cross. Real continued to press after the break and Rodrygo almost scored their third with a free kick that cannoned off the crossbar in the 75th minute.
Asensio smashed in a third in added-time to wrap up the win for Real, who had dropped points in draws against Atlético Madrid and Real Betis in their last two league games. “We needed the three points. It’s the start of a very important week, with the Champions League and the clásico,” Real Madrid coach, Carlo Ancelotti, said. “Hopefully we can prepare well for Wednesday’s game, which can have a lot of traps, and we have to avoid them.”
Valladolid had two players sent off in added time in a dramatic conclusion to their 1-1 draw at bottom club Elche. Cyle Larin had given Valladolid an early lead which they held on to until Tete Morente equalised six minutes into added time, with Roque Mesa and Martin Hongla then collecting second yellow cards as tempers flared.
Iago Aspas scored two second-half goals to help Celta Vigo secure a 3-0 win over Rayo Vallecano, while Justin Kluivert struck 16 minutes from time to earn Valencia a 1-0 home win over Osasuna that lifted the hosts out of the relegation zone.
In Serie A, second-half goals by the winger Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and the defender Amir Rrahmani steered Napoli, the runaway leaders, to a 2-0 home win over sixth-placed Atalanta, extending the visitors’ winless streak to four games and restoring their 18-point lead at the top of the table.
Napoli, who suffered only their second league defeat last week at home to Lazio, were made to wait until the hour mark to go in front. Victor Osimhen set up Kvaratskhelia, who slalomed inside the box before scoring with a powerful strike into the roof of the net, his 11th goal of the season.
Atalanta could have levelled in the 73rd minute through Luis Muriel, whose low shot was kept out by Napoli’s keeper, Pierluigi Gollini. Duván Zapata had a chance to head home seconds later, but was also denied by Gollini. Rrahmani then doubled Napoli’s lead in the 77th minute with a towering header from a corner.
Lazio missed the chance to climb above Internazionale, who lost 2-1 at Spezia on Friday, and into second place as they were held to a 0-0 draw at Bologna. Elsewhere, Rodrigo Becão’s header early in the second half saw Udinese win 1-0 at Empoli.
Bayern Munich bounced back from a goal down and struck four first-half goals against Augsburg en route to a 5-3 victory in the Bavarian derby . Julian Nagelsmann’s side are two points clear at the top of the Bundesliga after Borussia Dortmund were held 2-2 in the late derby game at Schalke.
Bayern suffered an early shock when the visitors went in front through Mergim Berisha after two minutes but had little trouble turning things round. João Cancelo’s 15th-minute shot cancelled out Augsburg’s lead, with defender Benjamin Pavard netting twice before Leroy Sané headed in their fourth goal on the stroke of half-time.
Augsburg did not give up, and pulled a goal back with Berisha’s penalty on the hour but the unmarked Alphonso Davies tapped in at the far post to estore Bayern’s three-goal lead. Augsburg capped an entertaining afternoon with a stoppage-time goal from Irvin Cardona.
“I am satisfied,” said Nagelsmann afterwards. “We played really well for 30 minutes, then we eased off after the break a bit but the most important thing today was to get the three points after the Champions League game and we did it.”
Dortmund took the lead at the home of their local rivals through Nico Schlotterbeck, who drilled home from outside the area. Schalke, whose recent form has boosted their survival hopes, bounced back five minutes after the restart as Marius Bülter tapped in to equalise, the Royal Blues’ first Revierderby goal since 2019.
Raphaël Guerreiro restored Dortmund’s lead by spectacularly rifling into the top corner on the hour mark, but the hosts levelled for the second time with 10 minutes to go, Kenan Karaman heading home powerfully. Schalke have now gone seven games unbeaten, and are level on points with Stuttgart in the relegation play-off spot.
“We know we can play good football which we showed today in the first half but we also know that we do not keep it up throughout the game.” said the Dortmund coach, Edin Terzic. “In the past weeks there has been talk about if [the team] is ready for the league title, and we kept saying we have to remain humble.”
RB Leipzig moved up to third on 45 points after their 3-0 win over Borussia Mönchengladbach, with Timo Werner and Josko Gvardiol on target either side of Emil Forsberg’s penalty. Also in the afternoon games, there were 1-1 draws between Eintracht Frankfurt and Stutt
gart, and Hertha Berlin and Mainz.
Paris Saint-Germain bounced back from their Champions League exit and extended their lead at the top of Ligue 1 to 11 points, but needed a last-minute winner from Kylian Mbappé against
Brest. Carlos Soler’s first half opener for PSG was cancelled out by Franck Honorat’s fine finish six minutes later as the teams reached half-time level.
With time running out and the relegation-threatened hosts pushing for an unlikely victory, Mbappé pounced on the break, rounding the keeper to secure a fourth consecutive league win. Auxerre climbed out of the relegation zone after holding fifth-placed Rennes to a goalless draw at home.