Real Madrid captain Sergio Ramos kept his nerve to score a late penalty and secure a hard-fought 1-0 home win over Getafe on Thursday for a sixth consecutive La Liga victory to take his side one step closer to winning the title.
Ramos coolly passed the ball into the net to break the deadlock in the 79th minute after Dani Carvajal was felled by the trailing leg of Getafe’s Mathías Olivera, who was earlier denied a penalty after being knocked over by Carvajal.
The late strike felt harsh on Getafe, who had squandered a couple of chances to take the lead, but Zinedine Zidane’s side once again saw out a difficult game to capitalise on Barcelona’s 2-2 draw with Atlético Madrid on Tuesday.
Real, who have not won the title since 2017, lead the table on 74 points, four ahead of Barça with five games left and have a superior head-to-head record over the Catalans which would give them the trophy if both teams finished the season level on points.
“Today was like a final for us and that’s how we approached it,” said Carvajal. “Getafe caused us plenty of problems, particularly in the first half but we put in a serious performance.”
Real Sociedad came from behind to beat La Liga bbottom club Espanyol 2-1 at home, earning their first victory since the season resumed and boosting their bid for European football next season.
Espanyol’s David López headed the visitors in front in the 10th minute following a corner but Sociedad’s Brazilian forward Willian José slid in to equalise before substitute Alexander Isak struck the winner six minutes from time.
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Osasuna effectively sealed survival by winning 2-0 at Eibar thanks to a double from Rubén García, to move 15 points clear of the drop zone. Eibar are 16th, six above 18th-placed Real Mallorca.
In Serie A, Mario Pasalic and Robin Gosens scored second-half goals as Atalanta continued their scintillating form and cemented their place in the top four with a deserved 2-0 Serie A victory over Napoli on Thursday.
Atalanta moved to 60 points from 29 games, 15 ahead of sixth-place Napoli whose hopes of playing Champions League football next season appear to have evaporated.
Udinese took a big step towards avoiding relegation from Serie A as goals by Kevin Lasagna and substitute Ilija Nestorovski in each half gave them a 2-0 win at 10-man Roma on Thursday.
The result lifted Udinese to 14th place on 31 points from 29 games, six clear of the drop zone, while Roma stayed fifth 12 points adrift of fourth-placed Atalanta and a berth in next season’s Champions League.
Werder Bremen’s top-flight status was hanging by a thread after they were held to a goalless home draw by second-tier Heidenheim in the first leg of their Bundesliga promotion/relegation playoff on Thursday.
Four-times German champions Bremen, who finished the game with 10 men after a late second yellow card for Niklas Moisander, are looking to retain their top-flight status having spent just one season outside the Bundesliga since it was formed ahead of the 1963-64 campaign.
Heidenheim finished third in Bundesliga 2 and have never played in the top flight. They will host the second leg on Monday.
