MADRID: Real Madrid recovered from a goal down to beat Espanyol 3-1 at the Estadio Santiago Bernabéu ahead of a bifg week in which they face Liverpool and Barcelona.

Second-placed Madrid, who scored through Vinícius Júnior, Éder Militão and Marco Asensio, maintained their slim title chances by moving up to 56 points – six behind leaders Barcelona, who travel to Athletic Bilbao on Sunday.

Espanyol opened the scoring in the eighth minute, as Joselu lashed the ball past goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois following Rubén Sánchez’s cross. Real stepped up the pressure as they sought a leveller with Eduardo Camavinga getting a shot on target, before Vinícius Júnior showed his individual skill in the 22nd minute to cut into the box, beat two defenders and rifle in.

With Espanyol pinned back in their own half, the home side took the lead six minutes from half-time as Militão scored with a bullet header after Aurélien Tchouaméni put in a cross. Real continued to press after the break and Rodrygo almost scored their third with a free kick that cannoned off the crossbar in the 75th minute.

Asensio smashed in a third in added-time to wrap up the win for Real, who had dropped points in draws against Atlético Madrid and Real Betis in their last two league games.

In Italy . . .

Second-half goals by the winger Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and the defender Amir Rrahmani steered Napoli , the runaway Serie A leaders, to a 2-0 home win over sixth-placed Atalanta , extending the visitors’ winless streak to four games and restoring their 18-point lead at the top of the table.

Napoli, who suffered only their second league defeat last week at home to Lazio, were made to wait until the hour mark to go in front.

Victor Osimhen set up Kvaratskhelia, who slalomed inside the box before scoring with a powerful strike into the roof of the net, his 11th goal of the season. Atalanta could have levelled in the 73rd minute through Luis Muriel, whose low shot was kept out by Napoli’s keeper, Pierluigi Gollini.

Duván Zapata had a chance to head home seconds later, but was also denied by Gollini. Rrahmani then doubled Napoli’s lead in the 77th minute with a towering header from a corner.

Lazio missed the chance to climb above Internazionale, who lost 2-1 at Spezia on Friday, and into second place as they were held to a 0-0 draw at Bologna.

In Germany . . .

Bayern Munich bounced back from a goal down and struck four first-half goals against Augsburg en route to a 5-3 victory in the Bavarian derby.

Julian Nagelsmann’s side are two points clear at the top of the Bundesliga after Borussia Dortmund were held 2-2 in the late derby game at Schalke . Bayern suffered an early shock when the visitors went in front through Mergim Berisha after two minutes but had little trouble turning things round.

João Cancelo’s 15th-minute shot cancelled out Augsburg’s lead, with defender Benjamin Pavard netting twice before Leroy Sané headed in their fourth goal on the stroke of half-time. Augsburg did not give up, and pulled a goal back with Berisha’s penalty on the hour but the unmarked Alphonso Davies tapped in at the far post to estore Bayern’s three-goal lead.

Augsburg capped an entertaining afternoon with a stoppage-time goal from Irvin Cardona.

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