European football: Marseille’s Rabiot helps beat Toulouse after De Zerbi drama

Adrien Rabiot scored a volley as Marseille beat Toulouse at home 3-2 to reclaim second place in Ligue 1. The hosts, who had lost their last three games, saw bitter rival Paris Saint-Germain clinch a record-extending 13th title on Saturday with six matches remaining. But a much-needed win put Marseille two points ahead of Monaco in third place and three points in front of Strasbourg in fourth in the race for a Champions League spot next season.

The Marseille head coach Roberto De Zerbi had grown increasingly frustrated with his side’s inconsistency and there were tensions leading up to this game. “The coach was angry and he tried to remotivate us, that’s normal, that’s his role,” Rabiot told DAZN. “No one abandoned ship. On the contrary, we trained with even more enthusiasm, and tonight we gave the right answer.”

Midway through the first half, Rabiot broke down the left and sent a cross to the back post, where Gabriel Suazo miskicked the ball for a clumsy own-goal. Marseille conceded a soft goal shortly after, with the ball hitting the Toulouse striker Frank Magri’s shoulder as he attempted a header, the ball sailing over goalkeeper Gerónimo Rulli.

Mason Greenwood put the home side back in front with a dipping shot from the right edge of the penalty area in the 57th minute for his 16th league goal of the season. Rabiot swivelled neatly to make it 3-1 in the 64th, but poor defending gave Toulouse hope when the captain Vincent Sierro turned in a cross from the right. The hosts managed to hold on and there was relief after the final whistle as De Zerbi was hugged by his staff.

Pablo Barrios scored deep in added time to give Atlético Madrid a much-needed 2-1 La Liga win at Sevilla that ended their month-long six-game winless run in all competitions.

Eliminated from the Champions League in the last 16 on penalties by old rivals Real Madrid and knocked out of the Copa del Rey in the semi-finals by Barcelona, Atlético kept their slim hopes of claiming the league title alive after the leaders, Barça, and Real both dropped points on Saturday.

Diego Simeone’s Atlético moved on to 60 points, three behind Real who slumped to a 2-1 home defeat by Valencia while Barça were held 1-1 by Real Betis and are comfortable at the top on 67 points with eight games left. Sevilla are 11th on 36 points.

The match had a promising start with the visiting striker Julián Alvarez’s spot kick in the 25th minute cancelling out Lucien Agoumé’s opener, but it petered out into a dour clash until Barrios made a great run through the middle and unleashed a bullet from the edge of the box into the bottom corner.

Tiago Pereira Cardoso’s dream start to life in the Bundesliga hit a snag as the teenage goalkeeper conceded his first goal in Borussia Mönchengladbach’s 1-1 draw with St Pauli.

Injuries and other issues affecting the regular goalkeepers Moritz Nicolas and Jonas Omlin have given the Luxembourg keeper a surprise starting spot for Champions League-chasing Gladbach over the last month.

One day before his 19th birthday, Cardoso was on course for his fourth game without conceding – and his fourth win with Gladbach – until Dapo Afolayan hit a fierce shot from long range in the 85th minute. Cardoso leaped at full stretch but could not get a hand to it. Gladbach had been leading through a header from the defender Ko Itakura.

The draw is a setback for Gladbach, who stay sixth in the Bundesliga. They are two points off Mainz in fourth, the last of the Champions League qualification spots. St Pauli are 15th in the 18-team league.

Atalanta’s could be at risk of dropping out of the top four of Serie A after their 1-0 loss at home to Lazio for their third straight league defeat. The result means Gian Piero Gasperini’s team fall 10 points behind the league leaders Inter and are left looking nervously over their shoulder.

Lazio, who came into the match without a victory in Serie A in more than a month, moved to within three points of Atalanta. The visitors appeared reinvigorated after the break and had two quick chances, with the Lazio goalkeeper Christos Mandas making an extraordinary save to deny the league’s top scorer Mateo Retegui at point-blank range. However, Lazio broke the deadlock nine minutes into the second half, through the half-time substitute Gustav Isaksen. Fisayo Dele-Bashiru nodded a long ball over the top down to Isaksen, who scuffed a shot past Marco Carnesecchi.

Roma’s streak of seven straight league wins – with only one goal conceded – was ended by Juventus, in Igor Tudor’s second match in charge of the Bianconeri, in a 1-1 draw. Juventus took the lead shortly before half-time. Khéphren Thuram’s cross was cleared by Zeki Celik but only to the edge of the area where Manuel Locatelli volleyed it into the ground to bounce into the bottom left corner. It was the first goal Roma had conceded in Serie A since 2 March.

Claudio Ranieri’s half-time substitution had an immediate impact as Eldor Shomurodov levelled three minutes after coming on, heading in the rebound from three yards after Michele Di Gregorio had parried Evan N’Dicka’s attempt.