Madrid fans target Bale as Benzema grabs another winner for Zidane
MADRID: Gareth Bale was jeered by Real Madrid fans in their 2-1 La Liga victory against Eibar.
Madrid won with a second-half header from Karim Benzema and coach Zinedine Zidane, asked about the Welshman’s future, said: “We will see. Gareth is a Real Madrid player with two years left on his contract.”
The Frenchman, who has won three of his four matches since returning as manager, added: “We’re not happy about the whistles, but the public comes to see their team do well. There was a reaction and I’m left with that, the public knows that the season is over, that we play to try and finish second.”
Valencia missed the chance to move into the top four as they fell to a surprise 2-0 defeat at struggling Rayo Vallecano after squandering a first-half penalty, ending a run of 17 games without defeat in all competitions.
Barcelona moved 11 points clear after late goals from Luis Suarez and Lionel Messi provided a 2-0 win over 10-man Atletico Madrid.Diego Costa was sent off in the 28th minute
In Germany . . .
Bayern thrash Dortmund to go top Bayern Munich thrashed Borussia Dortmund 5-0 to take over top spot in the Bundesliga on a landmark night for Robert Lewandowski.
The 100th league meeting between the clubs was a one-sided affair as Mats Hummels, Lewandowski, Javi Martinez and Sergio Gnabry had Bayern 4-0 up before the break.
Lewandowski put the gloss on the rout with Bayern’s fifth in the final minute and the German champions are now in pole position to reclaim their title. Bayern were nine points adrift of Dortmund in December, but the Bavarians are now one point clear of their rivals with six games of the season remaining.
Lewandowski’s first strike saw him become the fifth player in Bundesliga history to score 200 goals, and only former Bayern favourite Gerd Muller has reached the total quicker.
RB Leipzig strengthened their push for a Champions League place as they twice came from behind to win 4-2 at Bayer Leverkusen and move three points clear in fourth place.
In Italy . . .
Teenage striker Moise Kean struck again to give Juventus a late 2-1 win over AC Milan after their opponents had taken the lead and dominated most of the match.
The 19-year-old, who suffered alleged racist abuse after scoring at Cagliari on Tuesday, came off the bench to strike his fifth goal in his past five league appearances to move Juve ever closer to an eighth successive Serie A title.
Juve, still missing Cristiano Ronaldo because of a thigh injury, are 21 points clear at the top and they will wrap up the title with seven games to spare if second-placed Napoli lose at home against Genoa.
They survived a fright when a Hakan Calhanoglu cross struck Alex Sandro’s elbow at close range in the area, but after a video assistant referee review which lasted more than three minutes, the referee decided it was unintentional.
Minutes later, however, Leonardo Bonucci’s pass out of defence was intercepted by Tiemoue Bakayoko and he fed the ball to Krzysztof Piatek who slotted past Wojciech Szczesny for his 21st league goal of the season.
Juventus were making little headway until they won a penalty after a clumsy challenge by Mateo Musacchio on Paulo Dybala, who converted the spot kick himself on the hour. Miralem Pjanic, another substitute, intercepted a pass out of defence and found Kean who calmly placed his shot beyond Pepe Reina for the winner with six minutes left.
In France . . .
Lyons wasted a chance to put pressure on second-placed Lille in Ligue 1 as they scored two own goals in slumping to a 3-1 home defeat against Dijon. In
a remarkable start to the match, Martin Terrier fired Lyons in front inside the opening minute, but Wesley Said levelled two minutes later and then had a seventh-minute shot turned into his own net by Marcelo.
Said was at the centre of the second own goal and Dijon’s third when his cross was turned into the net by Rafael in the 65th minute.
St Etienne failed to take full advantage of Lyons’ loss. They needed Remy Cabella’s stoppage-time goal to draw 2-2 away to the 10 men of relegation-battling Amiens.
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