European football round-up: Weekend results

Spain's LaLiga

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Athletic Bilbao suffered a damaging blow in their bid to secure a Europa League berth for next season as they lost 1-0 to Alaves.

A second half goal from Theo Hernandez means the visitors are clinging onto sixth place on goal difference after rivals Real Sociedad earned a draw on Friday night.

The highly-rated Hernandez grabbed his first LaLiga goal in style when he lashed home a left-foot shot from the edge of the box following a corner.

Bilbao's defeat ended a run of four consecutive wins and also ended their slim hopes of reaching the top four. 

Valencia ended a run of three straight league defeats as they cruised to a 4-0 win over already-relegated Osasuna.

Ezequiel Garay scored twice to give the home side a 2-0 lead before the interval and further goals from Simone Zaza and Rodrigo Moreno sealed victory. 

Deportivo La Coruna remain in the relegation picture after a 2-1 home defeat against Espanyol.

Victory would have guaranteed Deportivo's safety but Sporting Gijon's win over Las Palmas means they are five points behind with two games left.The hosts never recovered from a poor start. 

Leo Baptistao gave Espanyol the lead in the 14th minute and Gerard Moreno doubled it just before the half hour.

Florin Andone pulled one back two minutes into the second half but Deportivo could not find an equaliser despite 60 per cent possession and 21 efforts on goal. 

Malaga climbed above Celta Vigo into 11th place after a 3-0 victory at La Rosaleda.

Javier Ontiveros gave the hosts the lead with a long-range effort in the 26th minute and Recio doubled the advantage in the 56th minute from the penalty spot after Gustavo Cabral fouled Sandro Ramirez.

Malaga put the finishing touch to the win in injury time when Ramirez tucked away a third.

It was a fifth defeat in a row for Celta, who must now focus on trying to overturn a 1-0 deficit to Manchester United in the second leg of their Europa League semi-final on Thursday

On Saturday, Lionel Messi made it 51 goals for the season as Barcelona turned up the heat on Real Madrid with a thumping 4-1 home win over Villarreal.

Messi created the opening goal for Neymar and netted himself with a deflected strike and a late penalty as Barcelona moved three points clear of Real at the top of the table.

Messi's first cancelled out Cedric Bakambu's equaliser, while his second rounded off the scoring, with Luis Suarez having given the hosts a two-goal cushion.

Real Madrid swept past relegated Granada 4-0 in the late kick-off with a clinical first-half display at Los Carmenes to move back level with their title rivals.

Barcelona's 4-1 victory over Villarreal earlier on Saturday had left Real, who still have a game in hand, little margin for error.

Despite head coach Zinedine Zidane opted to make nine changes, Los Blancos delivered the required performance as James Rodriguez and Alvaro Morata both scored twice in what was a devastating opening 35 minutes.

Although Tony Adams' side regrouped for the second half, the damage was already done and Real head into Wednesday's Champions League semi-final second leg with city rivals Atletico on the back of another impressive display.

Saul Niguez's strike ensured Atletico Madrid beat Eibar 1-0 at the Vicente Calderon to confirm third place in LaLiga and Champions League group stage qualification.

Niguez struck 20 minutes from time when he latched onto a ball from Diego Godin and drilled home a left-footed shot from the edge of the box.

Godin was then sent off in stoppage time after picking up two yellow cards in the space of two minutes.

Sporting Gijon gave their survival hopes a major boost with a 1-0 win over Las Palmas at El Molinon.

Carlos Carmona gave them a first victory in eight that moved them within three points of 17th-placed Leganes.

Carmona outmuscled defender Pedro Bigas and put his shot into the corner of the net past Javier Varas Herrera from 12 yards.

Sevilla edged closer to sealing a Champions League place despite being pegged back by Real Sociedad in a 1-1 home draw.

Pablo Sarabia's strike deep in the first half gave Sevilla an interval lead, but Carlos Vela equalised in the second period for the visitors, who held on to keep their Europa League hopes alive despite the late dismissal of David Zurutuza.

Zurutuza was sent off with 11 minutes left when his foul on Vitolo earned him a second yellow card, five minutes after he had been booked for his challenge on Sarabia.

Italy's Serie A

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Edin Dzeko scored twice in a 4-1 victory at AC Milan that ensures Roma head into next weekend's capital-city showdown with Juventus with faint hope of winning the title.

The Bosnian struck twice in the first half at San Siro to boost the Giallorossi to within seven points of reigning champions and leaders Juve, who will take the Scudetto if they can avoid defeat in Rome.

Luciano Spalletti's men will, however, have every confidence they slash the gap to four points heading into the final two games of the season, given how impressive they were on Sunday night.

When Milan tried to mount a late comeback, with Mario Pasalic spoiling Roma's clean sheet, the response was rapid as a goal from substitute Stephan El Shaarawy confirmed the outcome.

Gabriel Paletta then allowed Daniele De Rossi to add insult to injury by conceding a penalty that the Italy midfielder converted at the death, with the Milan centre-back dismissed for his troubles.

Lazio strengthened their grip on a Europa League place by thrashing Sampdoria 7-3, while Inter Milan lost again and Palermo bid farewell to Serie A following a draw at Chievo.

Simone Inzaghi's ambitious Lazio, who are now just five points behind city rivals Roma in the final Champions League spot, ran riot against 10-man Samp with six different players scoring.

In-form Keita Balde Diao made it six goals from his last three games with Lazio's early opener, with Ciro Immobile then doubling their lead from the penalty spot following Milan Skriniar's dismissal.

Karol Linetty promptly replied to give Samp false hope, as they were soon put back under the cosh with Wesley Hoedt, Felipe Anderson and Stefan de Vrij all notching before half-time.

Senad Lulic pushed Lazio five goals clear after the hour mark and, after Immobile grabbed his second, veteran Samp striker Fabio Quagliarella soothed the visitors' wounds with a late brace.

Hapless Inter suffered a third straight defeat and a fifth in sixth games at the hands of lowly Genoa.

Nerazzurri coach Stefano Pioli is likely on borrowed time after overseeing a 1-0 loss in which former Inter striker Goran Pandev netting the winner in the 70th minute, with Geoffrey Kondogbia seeing red late on.

It might have been a different story for Inter had Antonio Candreva not missed a late penalty.

Meanwhile, Palermo needed to win and hope 17th-placed Empoli lost to cling onto their top-flight status, but they instead could only muster a 1-1 draw in Verona.

Empoli were already 3-1 up against Bologna when Sergio Pellissier subdued the Sicilians with a 67th-minute spot-kick at the Stadio Marc'Antonio Bentegodi.

Sub Edoardo Goldinaga split the points two minutes from time, but it was too little, too late.

Resurgent Empoli saw off Bologna thanks to Daniele Croce, Manuel Pasqual and Andrea Costa, with Simone Verdi's effort offering little consolation to a Bologna side who have been poor in 2017. 

Palermo's fate may have been sealed with three games remaining, but Crotone have a fighting chance after beating basement boys Pescara 1-0 to ensure Empoli are still just four points away.

Substitute Aleksandar Tonev was the southerners' hero at the Stadio Adriatico, the Bulgarian slamming home from distance just minutes before Ahmed Benali saw red for the hosts.

Ghanaian midfielder Sulley Muntari, who was sent off for complaining about racist abuse at Cagliari last week only for his suspension to be overturned on appeal, was left on Pescara's bench.

In Sunday's early game, Atalanta missed the chance to strengthen their bid for Europa League qualification as they were held to a 1-1 draw at Udinese.

Bryan Cristante headed the Nerazzurri in front just before the break but mid-table Udinese grabbed an equaliser eight minutes after the interval as Stipe Perica fired home on the rebound.

Sassuolo effectively ended Fiorentina's quest for European football by holding them to a 2-2 draw.

Nikola Kalinic saw his penalty saved but Federico Chiesa put Fiorentina ahead before the break.

However, Gonzalo Rodriguez's later dismissal turned the tide and Sassuolo struck through Matteo Politano and Pietro Iemmello, forcing Federico Bernardeschi to salvage a point in stoppage time for the Viola.

Gonzalo Higuain's stoppage-time goal earned Juventus a 1-1 draw with Torino but the two dropped points meant they must wait at least another week to secure the title.

Juve had won every game at home so far this season, but went behind to their city rivals in the second half after Adem Ljajic's sublime 25-yard free-kick.

Afriyie Acquah was sent off shortly before the hour mark, and coach Sinisa Mihajlovic was sent to the stands following protests before a much-changed Juventus finally drew level thanks to Higuain's 24th league goal of the season.

Napoli climbed into second spot in the Serie A standings after a 3-1 victory over Cagliari.

Dries Mertens celebrated his 30th birthday by putting the Light Blues in front in the second minute before he doubled their advantage four minutes into the second half.

Faouzi Ghoulam had a hand in both goals, with Mertens then turning provider as he set up Lorenzo Insigne in the 67th minute for a three-goal cushion.

Diego Farias pulled one back for Cagliari in stoppage-time, but it proved to be scant consolation for the mid-table side.

Germany's Bundesliga

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Hamburg and Mainz remain locked together in the battle to avoid a relegation play-off in the Bundesliga after a goalless draw at the Volksparkstadion on Sunday.

The draw snapped a three-match losing streak for the hosts, who nevertheless stay behind their rivals on goal difference with two games of the season to go.

Hamburg missed the best chance to claim the points when American striker Bobby Wood curled a shot wide of the target early in the second half with keeper Jannik Huth beaten.

In another blow for the hosts, defender Mergim Mavraj will miss next week's trip to face Schalke in Gelsenkirchen after picking up his fifth booking of the season.

Freiburg climbed to fifth with a 2-0 win over Schalke.

Last season's second division champions have had a fine campaign and are well placed to secure a Europa League spot.

Florian Niederlechner scored both goals within nine first-half minutes.

The on-loan striker netted with his left foot in the 22nd minute and then doubled the advantage from the penalty spot after Sead Kolasinac fouled Maximilian Philipp.

On Saturday, Juan Bernat's early goal was enough to give champions Bayern Munich a 1-0 victory over Darmstadt and send the visitors down.

Bayern, back at the Allianz Arena for the first time since clinching a fifth consecutive Bundesliga crown with a 6-0 rout at Wolfsburg last weekend, ran out narrow winners thanks to Bernat's cracking 18th-minute strike.

The full-back showed exceptionally quick feet to evade Patrick Banggaard's challenge before lifting the ball past goalkeeper Michael Esser with the outside of his left boot.

Darmstadt were thrown a lifeline when they were awarded a late penalty but former Bayern midfielder Hamit Altintop saw his effort saved by veteran goalkeeper Tom Starke.

The visitors had shown signs of life recently with three straight wins delaying what had appeared to be inevitable relegation, but despite another plucky display their fate was sealed with two matches remaining.

Ingolstadt put off joining them, for another week at least, after a 1-1 draw against Bayer Leverkusen.

Sonny Kittel fired them into the lead in the 73rd minute but just five minutes later Leverkusen levelled through Kai Havertz.

Things look bleak for Ingolstadt, though, after Wolfsburg and Augsburg moved six points clear of them

Goals from Daniel Didavi and Mario Gomez secured a 2-0 win for the Wolves at Eintracht Frankfurt, while only a stoppage-time goal from Andre Hahn prevented Augsburg, who took the lead through Alfred Finnbogason, from beating Borussia Monchengladbach.

Elsewhere, Borussia Dortmund leapfrogged opponents Hoffenheim into third with a 2-1 victory at the Westfalenstadion.

The hosts took a fourth-minute lead when Gonzalo Castro teed up Marco Reus to finish at the far post.

They should have doubled their lead in the 13th minute after Pavel Kaderabek was penalised for handball in the area, but Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang put his penalty wide.

Aubameyang made amends by doubling the lead with eight minutes remaining before Andrej Kramaric pulled one back from the spot for Hoffenheim.

In the late kick-off, second-placed RB Leipzig secured a 4-1 victory over Hertha Berlin in fifth.

Timo Werner grabbed a goal in each half, opening the scoring with a header from Marcel Sabitzer's cross.

Werner struck again nine minutes into the second half before Rani Khedira's own-goal gave Hertha Hope.

But that was quickly extinguished as Davie Selke grabbed two quickfire goals to seal a comfortable win.

Anthony Modeste scored twice as Cologne boosted their Europa League hopes with a thrilling 4-3 home win against Bundesliga rivals Werder Bremen.

Former Blackburn loanee Modeste and Leonardo Bittencourt fired Cologne into a 2-0 first-half lead and although Fin Bartels and Theodor Gebre Selassie hauled the visitors level, Simon Zoller restored the home side's advantage just before the break.

Modeste struck again after half-time - he now has a total of 27 for the season - to make it 4-2 before Serge Gnabry pulled one back for Bremen in the 62nd minute, but Cologne held on.

Both sides are level on 45 points, but Cologne are now seven goals better off with two games to play.

France's Ligue 1

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Third-placed Nice suffered their first Ligue 1 defeat for two months, losing 2-1 against Marseille at Stade Velodrome.

Patrice Evra was the unlikely match-winner for OM, netting with a header in the 66th minute to keep Rudi Garcia's men just about in the hunt for fourth place.

Bafetimbi Gomis had given Marseille the lead in the 21st minute, with Mario Balotelli equalising early in the second half.

Maxwel Cornet struck twice as Lyon all but secured fourth place in with a 3-2 win over Nantes.

Eighth-placed Nantes took the lead in the 19th minute through Valentin Rongier and it stayed that way until the 65th minute when Nabil Fekir scored a penalty, picking himself up after a foul by Koffi Djidji.

Five minutes later Lyon took the lead through a Maxwel Cornet header only for Guillaume Gillet to equalise in the 75th minute.

But Cornet struck again with a fourth goal in 15 minutes to claim the points for Lyon.

After Bordeaux's draw with St Etienne on Friday, Lyon are now six points clear of their rivals with only two games to play, while they also boast a far superior goal difference. 

Montpellier's dismal end to the Ligue 1 season continued as they slumped to a 1-0 defeat at mid-table Rennes.

Ndombe Mubele scored the only goal of the game in the 80th minute for the hosts, who were smarting from last week's defeat at bottom club Bastia.

The result means Jean-Louis Gasset's men are still not mathematically certain of avoiding relegation, although a series of results would need to go against them.

Montpellier meet Lyon at home next Sunday before finishing their campaign with a trip to Angers the following week. 

Monaco won 3-0 at Nancy to end Saturday as they began the day, three points clear at the Ligue 1 summit.

Title rivals Paris St Germain thrashed Bastia 5-0 earlier on Saturday but Leonardo Jardim's side found just the response they required as Bernardo Silva and Thomas Lemar added to Tobias Badila's own goal.

PSG, who lost to Nice last time out, had stepped up the pressure as quickfire goals from Lucas Moura and Marco Verratti sparked a rout of the league's bottom club. Verratti's strike came in controversial circumstances, with Bastia keeper Jean-Louis Leca out of position checking on injured PSG midfielder Blaise Matuidi.

Edinson Cavani bagged his 32nd and 33rd goals of the campaign as well as missing a penalty, while defender Marquinhos scored PSG's fourth.

Monaco knew they would still have a game in hand even after the clash with Nancy, and they were soon in front when Badila deflected Valere Germain's cross into his own net. Lemar crossed for Silva to score just before half-time and then added a late third himself.

Dijon's survival hopes took a similar blow with a 4-0 defeat at the hands of Guingamp.

Two goals apiece from Jimmy Briand and Yannis Salibur dropped Dijon into the relegation zone ahead of next Sunday's vital clash with Nancy.

Ivan Santini scored the only goal as Caen beat Toulouse to climb out of the drop zone, while Lorient slipped to 17th but earned a much-needed point as they drew 1-1 with Angers.

Romain Philippoteaux gave Bernard Casoni's men the lead and though Vincent Manceau equalised for the visitors, the result left Lorient two points above Dijon.

Metz are safe after winning 2-0 at Lille with goals from Georges Mandjeck and Renaud Cohade.

St Etienne hopes of securing European football faded further as they drew 2-2 at home to 10-man Bordeaux.

Adam Ounas fired the visitors ahead from the penalty spot in the 42nd minute after Igor Lewczuk was brought down by Habib Maiga in the box.

But three minutes later Romain Hamouma's brilliant flick set up Robert Beric to slot home an equaliser.

Bordeaux went ahead again five minutes after the break when Ounas' free-kick was flicked on at the near post by Jaroslav Plasil and Gaetan Laborde bundled the ball home.

Pajot forced the ball over the line after Bordeaux failed to clear a corner in the 64th minute, but St Etienne could not find a winner despite Nicolas Pallois being sent off for the visitors in stoppage time.

Holland's Eredivisie

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The Eredivisie title race was thrown wide open with just one round to go after leaders Feyenoord crashed to a heavy defeat and Ajax took full advantage.

Feyenoord held a four-point lead going into the penultimate round of games as they chased a first title since 1999 but suffered a major blow to their ambitions after going down to a 3-0 defeat at Excelsior.

Ajax grabbed the opportunity to close the gap to just a point as they coasted to a 4-0 win that relegated Go Ahead Eagles.

Giovanni van Bronckhorst's Feyenoord were undone by three goals in nine second-half minutes.

Excelsior opened the scoring after 56 minutes when Fredy played in Nigel Hasselbaink and he made no mistake in firing the ball past Brad Jones to open the scoring.

Just three minutes later it was 2-0 when Stanley Elbers turned the ball home from close range after Fredy's cross from the left deflected into this path.

Ryan Koolwijk then put the icing on the cake for the hosts in the 65th minute, curling home a super free-kick from 25 yards out.

Justin Kluivert fired Ajax ahead from just outside the box after a corner was only partially cleared after 24 minutes before they doubled their advantage through Kasper Dolberg when he finished coolly after David Neres had carved open the Eagles defence and slipped him in.

It was three three minutes after the break as Frankie de Jong headed home Nick Viergever's cross and victory was wrapped up by Mateo Cassierra before the visitors were reduced to 10 men when Marcel Ritzmaier was dismissed.

PSV Eindhoven will have to settle for third after they could only draw 1-1 at Groningen, Sam Lammers striking after 59 minutes following Mimoun Mahi's opener for the hosts.

Sparta Rotterdam and NEC both enhanced their survival hopes with victories.

Martin Pusic gave Sparta a 1-0 win over Twente and goals from Julian von Haacke and Taiwo Awoniyi earned NEC a 2-1 victory against AZ.

That leaves both clubs on 31 points, two adrift of Roda JC, who hold the last position of safety after they edged to a 1-0 win over Willem II through a last-minute goal from Abdul Ajagun.

Reuven Niemeijer bagged a brace as Heracles boosted their Europa League play-off qualification hopes with a 4-0 win over ADO Den Haag, while Utrecht beat Vitesse 1-0 courtesy of Willem Janssen's stoppage-time goal.

Danny Holla and Queensy Menig were on target to earn PEC Zwolle a 2-1 victory over Heerenveen.