Football

European roundup: Barcelona close in on La Liga title as Bayern edge clear


Barcelona held off a valiant Real Sociedad at Camp Nou to move nine points clear at the top of La Liga with five games to play. Clément Lenglet rose to meet a cross and nod the hosts in front before half-time, but just after the hour mark Juanmi latched on to a wonderful pass from Mikel Merino to draw Sociedad level.

The visitors’ parity last only last two minutes, though, with Jordi Alba cutting inside to arrow a smart right-foot shot inside Gerónimo Rulli’s far post and restore a lead that Barcelona held on to.

Elsewhere in La Liga Atlético Madrid consolidated their grip on second place after their record signing, Thomas Lemar, came off the bench to snatch a late 1-0 win at Eibar. The France winger raced towards the far post to meet a pass from Koke and slam the ball into the net from close range in the 85th minute.

Atlético had the better chances in an open and end-to-end game and Ángel Correa missed their clearest opportunity to score, firing straight into the body of the Eibar goalkeeper, Marko Dmitrovic, within the opening 10 minutes.

In Germany, Bayern Munich secured a 1-0 home victory over Werder Bremen to stay on course for a seventh consecutive Bundesliga title. Niklas Süle drilled in a 75th-minute winner to lift the Bavarians to 70 points with four games to play, four points clear of Borussia Dortmund, who host Freiburg on Sunday.

It was the first loss for Werder in 2019 and the first game in all competitions this season where they failed to score. Bayern had the upper hand throughout and had more than a dozen shots before beating the visiting goalkeeper, Jiri Pavlenka, who had previously made a string of superb saves.

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Serge Gnabry had the hosts’ best chance in the first half when he turned to latch on to a Thiago Alcântara chip but his volley was saved by Pavlenka. The Germany winger then had a double chance six minutes after the restart but again Pavlenka came to the rescue, tipping Gnabry’s shot on to the post.

Pavlenka also repeatedly denied the Bundesliga’s leading scorer, Robert Lewandowski, before Werder were reduced to 10 men in the 58th minute when Milos Veljkovic was sent off for a second booking. Bayern finally broke the deadlock when the defender Süle shot from the edge of the box, the ball taking a slight deflection before going in.



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