European football: Lazio’s late penalty deals hammer blow to Inter title bid

Inter’s title hopes were dealt a crushing blow when a late Pedro penalty earned Lazio a 2-2 draw at San Siro, to leave the Serie A champions one point behind Napoli going into the final game of the season.

With Napoli held to a 0-0 draw by Parma, Inter missed the perfect opportunity to move into pole position at just the right time, but Yann Bisseck went from hero to villain, conceding the 90th minute penalty after opening the scoring.

Bisseck put Inter ahead at the end of the first half but Lazio drew level with a Pedro goal in the 72nd minute. Denzel Dumfries put Inter back in front with 11 minutes left but Pedro converted from the spot to break Inter hearts.

Inter’s Marko Arnautovic scuffed a close-range shot in added time then had the ball in the net and looked to have earned a dramatic win, but the goal was ruled out for offside.

Inter are on 78 points and are away to Como on the final day while Napoli are on 79, and they will host Cagliari. Should the sides finish level on points, the title will be decided by a playoff.

Napoli created several promising chances to seal a win, with the most thrilling moment came deep into stoppage time. David Neres was brought down by Parma’s Mathias Fjørtoft Løvik, with the referee initially awarding a penalty. However, after a lengthy video assistant referee review, the decision was overturned.

Juventus consolidated their hold on fourth spot with a 2-0 win at home to Udinese, keeping the hosts on track to secure Champions League football for next season thanks to goals from Nicolás González and Dusan Vlahovic.

Juventus moved to 67 points, one ahead of Roma who beat Milan 3-1, with Lazio a point further behind after their draw at Inter. That Roma game was Claudio Ranieri’s last in charge at the Stadio Olimpico, and he was honoured by the home fans and club with special presentations.

Gianluca Mancini headed Roma into an early lead and Milan were down to 10 men midway through the opening half when Santiago Giménez was punished for an elbow on Mancini. But Milan levelled six minutes from the break through João Félix.

Roma were back in front in the 58th minute, Leandro Paredes scoring direct from a free-kick, and Bryan Cristante netted from outside the area three minutes from time to wrap up the win.

PSV Eindhoven’s Luuk de Jong and Malik Tillman scored second-half goals to help retain the Dutch league title in a nervous 3-1 victory at Sparta Rotterdam as their side held off Ajax’s challenge in Sunday’s final round of matches.

PSV lifted the title they won last season to take their overall tally to 26, 10 behind Ajax, as they finished the season with 79 points from 34 games, one ahead of their great rivals from Amsterdam.

Ivan Perisic put PSV ahead after 27 minutes but when Gjivai Zechiël equalised for Sparta, Ajax, who at one stage had a nine-point lead in the title race, took over at the top of the table as they went on to win 2-0 at home to FC Twente.

But De Jong restored PSV’s lead after 58 minutes and when Tillman rifled in a third from the edge of the box with six minutes remaining, the visitors were able to celebrate their seventh win in a row and claiming the league championship. At 61 years and 178 days, PSV’s Peter Bosz is the oldest manager to win the Dutch league.

Ajax managed two points from their previous 12 going into the final day, which breathed new life into a title race that they seemed to have sewn up in mid-April.

They took the lead through Jordan Henderson against Twente to briefly jump into provisional first place but that lasted only 30 seconds before Perisic headed home from close range to give PSV the lead in Rotterdam.

When Zechiël equalised for Sparta after 52 minutes with a goal that had been coming, Ajax again returned to the summit. But De Jong fired home from close-range to restore PSV’s lead and Tillmen added the third goal with a fine strike.

Feyenoord finished in the third and final Champions League place despite a 2-0 loss at Heerenveen, though they will have to go through the qualifiers.

In Spain, Villarreal fought back to shock Barcelona, handing the La Liga champions their first league defeat since late December. Having secured the title after Thursday’s 2-0 win at city rivals Espanyol gave them an unassailable lead over the competition with two games left to play, Barcelona’s home game was supposed to be a chance to celebrate and present the La Liga trophy to their fans but Villarreal spoiled the party.

The former Newcastle and Leicester forward Ayoze Pérez opened the scoring for the visitors, finding the net from a counterattack in the fourth minute. Yet Barça’s Lamine Yamal levelled in the 38th minute with a curling strike and Fermin López gave them the lead with a shot from the edge of the box in first-half stoppage time.

However, Santi Comesana equalised five minutes after the break and the Canadian Tajon Buchanan fired the winner from a Gerard Moreno cross in the 80th minute, a result that secured Villarreal a spot in the Champions League.

Kylian Mbappé and Jude Bellingham scored late in the second half to give a depleted Real Madrid a 2-0 win at Sevilla, who ended the game with nine men after straight red cards to Loïc Badé and Isaac Romero.

Julián Álvarez scored twice to help Atlético Madrid earn an easy 4-1 La Liga win over Real Betis, a victory that mathematically secured Diego Simeone’s side third place in the standings.