A stunning last-gasp goal by the striker Riccardo Orsolini gave Bologna a 1-0 home win against Inter in Serie A on Sunday in a blow to the visitors’ hopes of retaining their title.
Treble-chasing Inter stayed top of the standings with 71 points after 33 games but second-placed Napoli are now level on points with the leaders after securing a late 1-0 win at relegation-threatened Monza on Saturday.
Orsolini sealed the three points for the hosts in stoppage time with a superb bicycle kick after Bologna’s long throw-in was flicked on by an Inter defender and fell kindly for the striker. Bologna remain strong contenders to qualify for the Champions League as they provisionally moved up to fourth on 60 points, one point above Juventus who visit lowly Parma on Monday.
Both teams had one attempt on target each until late in the game, in a match low on chances and intensity. The encounter became more nervy after the break and the Bologna manager, Vincenzo Italiano, was sent off, as was Inter’s assistant coach, Massimiliano Farris. The match looked set to end in a draw before substitute Orsolini produced a brilliant winner, scoring his 12th league goal of the season. He is now level in the scorers’ chart with the Inter striker Lautaro Martínez and Napoli’s Romelu Lukaku.
Atalanta beat Milan 1-0 at the San Siro thanks to Éderson’s second-half goal, which consolidated their place in Serie A’s top four and all but ended the hosts’ slim chances of earning a Champions League spot. Ademola Lookman’s cross into the area was met by Raoul Bellanova with a deft headed pass back to Éderson who finished off the move with a diving header past keeper Mike Maignan.
Empoli and Venezia played out a 2-2 draw that left both clubs in the relegation zone. The two sides are now one point from safety behind fourth-bottom Lecce, although they each boast superior goal difference. Empoli are still to play fifth-bottom Parma – who sit three points ahead of them – at home.
In La Liga, Real Madrid’s Federico Valverde scored a superb late volley to secure a 1-0 home win over Athletic Bilbao that keeps them within four points of leaders Barcelona. A heavily rotated Athletic side had kept the hosts at bay until Valverde scored the winner three minutes into stoppage time, pouncing on a poor clearance to fire a volley into the far top corner. Vinícius Júnior thought he had handed Real the lead with a low shot, but the 79th-minute effort was disallowed by the VAR for an Endrick offside in the buildup.
In the Bundesliga, reigning champions Bayer Leverkusen slipped up with a 1-1 draw at St Pauli to drop eight points behind leaders Bayern Munich as their slim hopes of defending their title were all but ended.
Forward Patrik Schick headed in an Álex Grimaldo free-kick to give Leverkusen a 33rd-minute lead with his 18th league goal of the campaign. However, they could not score again and St Pauli gradually fought their way back, levelling in the 78th after goalkeeper Lukas Hradecky failed to gather the ball from a weak free-kick, spilling it into the path of Carlo Boukhalfa, who tapped in. Leverkusen now have 64 points after 30 matches, with Bayern top on 72
Borussia Dortmund struck three times in nine first-half minutes to battle past visiting Borussia Mönchengladbach 3-2 in the Bundesliga, and keep their slim hopes of a top four finish alive with four matches left to play. Dortmund came from a goal down to bag the win that lifted them to seventh on 45 points, four off fourth spot, the last place to offer automatic Champions League qualification.
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Gladbach struck against the run of play with Ko Itakura in the 24th minute. The Japanese, however, allowed the Dortmund striker Serhou Guirassy too much space in the box four minutes before the break to drill in from a Pascal Gross cutback. Only three minutes later in an almost identical move it was Felix Nmecha who slotted in before Daniel Svensson headed in on the rebound deep in first-half stoppage time. Gladbach pulled a goal back with a Kevin Stöger penalty in the 56th minute.
In Ligue 1, Lyon’s hopes of a top-four finish were dented as they lost 2-1 at struggling St-Étienne in a game which was marred by an incident in which one of the assistant referees, Mehdi Rahmouni, was hit by an object apparently thrown from the stands. The hosts were leading through Lucas Stassin’s early goal when the referee, François Letexier, took the players off, and Stassin struck again on their return before Tanner Tessmann pulled one back for the visitors.
Canada striker Jonathan David scored two goals and set up the other as Lille beat Auxerre 3-1 to maintain their push for a Champions League place. The Belgium right-back Thomas Meunier gave Lille an early lead after being found by David, who then scored close to half-time. After an own-goal from the defender Alexsandro made it 2-1, David ran through deep into stoppage time for his 16th league goal of what is likely to be his final season at Lille.
Victory was soured by a freakish injury to goalkeeper Lucas Chevalier, who was accidentally bumped into by Alexsandro when the defender scored the own-goal. “He has two or three broken teeth,” said the Lille head coach, Bruno Genesio. “He was angry about it and I can understand. He’ll go to the dentist this week.”
Goduine Koyalipou, Neil El Aynaoui and Wesley Saïd struck to hand Lens a 3-1 win at Brest, who had taken the lead through Pierre Lees-Melou, but had Alfred N’Diaye sent off, while Toulouse’s Mark McKenzie was also dismissed in a 1-0 defeat at Reims in which Jordan Siebatcheu scored the only goal.
