Vinícius Júnior scored twice as Real Madrid fought back to beat Atlético Madrid 3-2 in a breathless Spanish capital derby on Sunday, keeping Alvaro Arbeloa’s side within four points of the La Liga leaders, Barcelona.
Atlético’s Ademola Lookman opened the scoring in the 33rd minute, finishing a slick counterattack involving Matteo Ruggeri and a delightful backheel from Giuliano Simeone. Vinícius equalised from the penalty spot in the 52nd minute after David Hancko clumsily tripped Brahim Díaz, and Federico Valverde capitalised on a José María Giménez error three minutes later to make it 2-1 to Real.
Nahuel Molina silenced the home support with a thunderous long strike in the 66th minute, but Vinícius restored Real’s lead with a cracking solo effort six minutes later. Valverde then saw red for an inexplicable challenge on Álex Baena, and Julián Alvarez struck a post as Atlético pressed, but Real held firm.
“We showed mental toughness and strength worthy of this club’s badge,” Arbeloa told reporters, proud of his team’s effort with 10 men. “It made things hard for us and we had to suffer a lot.”
Ronald Araújo’s header helped Barcelona to a tight 1-0 win over Rayo Vallecano earlier on Sunday. Araújo nodded home João Cancelo’s corner after 24 minutes to secure the three points at Camp Nou but Joan García’s superb display in goal played just as big a part in their victory. The Barcelona head coach, Hansi Flick, told Dazn: “Joan is a fantastic player, and he’s showing why we signed him last summer. He was outstanding today.”
Real Betis saw their push for European qualification checked after a 2-1 defeat at Athletic Bilbao.
Inter were held to a 1-1 draw at Fiorentina, as the hosts’ Cher Ndour scored a second-half equaliser to cancel out Francesco Pio Esposito’s first-minute opener and dent the visitors’ Serie A title charge.
Following Milan’s 3-2 victory over Torino on Saturday, the result in Florence trimmed Inter’s lead at the summit to six points, leaving the leaders on 69 with eight matches remaining and offering fresh hope to their city rivals.
“We didn’t put in our best performance and we’re not in our best form but we’re six points in the lead so it’s all in our hands,” said Inter’s assistant coach, Aleksandar Kolarov. “We’re missing a bit of aggressiveness and lucidity, maybe it’s tiredness from all the matches we’ve played.”
Como kept their Champions League push on track with a thumping 5-0 win over rock-bottom Pisa. Assane Diao gave the home side the lead after just six minutes, then turned provider with the assist for Anastasios Douvikas to double the lead.
Martin Baturina made it 3-0 before half-time while Nico Paz and Máximo Perrone added second-half goals to give Como an emphatic victory. The result takes Como’s winning streak to five games.
Sixth-placed Roma beat visiting Lecce 1-0 to move level on points with Juventus and snap a five-match winless streak that included a defeat by Bologna in the Europa League on Thursday. Robinio Vaz came off the bench to head in his first Serie A goal for Roma early in the second half after transferring from Marseille in January.
In Ligue 1, Olivier Giroud’s late header saw Lille fight back to win 2-1 at Marseille and boost their Champions League hopes. Monaco had earlier come from behind to win 2-1 at Lyon, who finished with 10 men, to move within a point of their fourth-placed hosts and also Lille following a sixth successive league victory.
Stuttgart moved up to third place in the Bundesliga with a 5-2 win at Augsburg, with Deniz Undav scoring in each half. Eintracht Frankfurt’s own European hopes were dented by a 2-1 defeat at derby rivals Mainz after a late goal from Paul Nebel.