European roundup: Atlético climb into top four, Inter close in on Serie A title
Saúl Ñíguez came off the bench to score a late winner, giving Atlético Madrid a hard-fought 2-1 victory at Villarreal, as Diego Simeone’s side climbed back into La Liga’s top four with eight games left.
It was a much-needed win for Atlético after two consecutive losses had left them in danger of missing out on a Champions League spot next season. The visitors started well and were in control when Axel Witsel headed in from a corner to give Atlético the lead in the ninth minute. But Alexander Sørloth took advantage of a mistake by Antoine Griezmann to equalise five minutes after the break. The France forward stepped on the ball and lost possession before Villarreal found Sørloth who fired a tidy finish past Jan Oblak.
However a resilient Atlético found the winner in the 87th minute when César Azpilicueta fed Saúl, who calmly sidefooted the ball home from the edge of the area. Atlético move to fourth on 58 points, two ahead of Athletic Bilbao, who lost 2-0 at the leaders, Real Madrid, on Sunday.
Internazionale moved 14 points clear at the top of Serie A after Federico Dimarco and the substitute Alexis Sánchez scored to help Simone Inzaghi’s side to a 2-0 win at home over struggling Empoli. Dimarco volleyed in from the edge of the box after five minutes having been set up by Alessandro Bastoni. A late strike from Sánchez, just minutes after coming off the bench, sealed it, tapping in Denzel Dumfries’s low cross to send Empoli into the relegation zone on goals scored.
Alexis Sánchez doubles Internazionale’s lead over Empoli. Photograph: Fabrizio Carabelli/IPA Sport/ipa-agency.net/Shutterstock
It means that victory in their next two games will give Inter a chance to wrap up the title if they win the Milan derby on 22 April.
Bologna beat lowly Salernitana 3-0 in Serie A and took another step towards Champions League football. The eighth win in nine games for Thiago Motta’s players pushed them to within two points of third-placed Juventus. A fourth-placed finish would ensure Bologna of Champions League football for the first time.
Victory over Roma is another little landmark in Bologna’s Serie A ascent
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Riccardo Orsolini opened the scoring after 14 minutes with a fine left-footed shot from outside the box and Alexis Saelemaekers doubled Bologna’s lead a minute from half-time. The left-back Charalampos Lykogiannis completed the scoring in stoppage time after working a neat one-two with Saelemaekers.
The result marked an unhappy debut for the Salernitana coach, Stefano Colantuono, the club’s fourth man in charge this season. Salernitana look doomed to spend next season in the second tier. With eight games remaining, they are languishing is 11 points from safety.
Roma’s bid for a top-four finish suffered a blow as they were unable to break the deadlock in a 0-0 draw at Lecce. Roma are fifth on 52 points, five points behind Bologna.