European football round-up

This was no walk in the park for Zidane’s side, who had to fight until two late strikes from Marcelo and Toni Kroos relieved the tension.

On a sunny afternoon at an animated Mestalla stadium with its impeccable turf and rowdy Curva Nord stand, Valencia, a club back on their feet after a decade of turmoil, had only lost once at home this season and gained a 2-2 draw at the Bernabeu in August.

Valencia’s fast, confident counterattacking bamboozled Madrid defenders Raphael Varane and Nacho from the off and the home team also looked menacing from corners. From one Valencia corner, however, Bale headed down to Ronaldo who tore down the field, passing to Marcelo and advancing into the Valencia box, where Martin Montoya fouled the Portuguese superstar as he collected a pass.

Ronaldo sent Neto the wrong way on 17 minutes and added a second penalty, for his eighth league goal of the season, after Montoya fouled him again.

Just before the hour, 22-year-old Spanish striker Santi Mina lost Nacho and stole in at a corner to pull a goal back with a well directed header. It was his third goal in three games.

Bale, who showed all his old pace, was then booked for telling the referee he needed glasses. Television replays suggested Bale had a good point.

Marcelo finished brilliantly to relieve Madrid nerves after a tearing run from the left culminated in a fierce low drive into the bottom corner. Kroos put the cherry on Madrid’s cake with a precise strike from outside the area with Valencia fading.

Villarreal are a point behind Real Madrid after beating Real Sociedad 4-2. Victor Ruiz headed the opener for the hosts after five minutes..

Pablo Fornals made it 2-0 after 17 minutes, with Carlos Bacca adding a third three minutes later. Diego Llorente pulled a goal back with a header, but a fourth came for Villarreal before half-time through Samu Castillejo’s left foot.

Willian Jose’s strike from outside the penalty area made it 4-2 early in the second half.

Ivan Ivi inspired a dramatic late comeback to help Levante salvage a 2-2 draw against 10-man Deportivo La Coruna at the Riazor. Depor, trashed 7-1 by Madrid last weekend, looked set to leapfrog their opponents and out of the relegation zone when first-half goals from Adrian Lopez and Florin Andone had them leading 2-0 heading into the final 10 minutes. That was despite playing with a man down from the 34th minute after Celso Borges was sent off.

However, the battling hosts could not hold on for their first win in six weeks as Ivi struck in the 80th and 84th minutes, his first effort going in via a significant deflection before the summer signing scored the equaliser with a superb 25-yard effort.

There was also a red card in the 0-0 draw between Malaga and Girona at La Rosaleda, where home midfielder Gonzalo Castro was dismissed with 12 minutes left. Girona could not take advantage though, as rock-bottom Malaga held on for their second draw under new coach Jose Gonzalez.

Record-breaker Cavani says he can work with Neymar

Edinson Cavani insisted that he is happy playing with Neymar at Paris Saint-Germain, after the Uruguayan broke the club’s goalscoring record and his strike partner scored twice in the 4-0 defeat of Montpellier.

The 30-year-old is PSG’s top scorer this term with one more goal than world-record signing Neymar, who returned to the team for the first time since being booed after taking a penalty that could have given Cavani the record in an 8-0 thrashing of Dijon on January 17.

But Cavani gave Neymar the ball to take a spot-kick in Paris yesterday, and also set up the Brazilian to score his second late on and complete the victory.

“He [Neymar] has done a lot and is doing a lot for the team,” Cavani said after Neymar’s first appearance since scoring four goals against Dijon. “We have to stay together. The most important thing is that the team works, we have important goals [for the season].”

Cavani broke Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s all-time PSG record by tapping in his 157th goal for the club. Neymar’s double took his tally to 26 PSG goals since joining from Barcelona. Cavani celebrated the record by throwing his shirt into the crowd, receiving a booking after shaking hands with the referee and having to take a new jersey from the bench.

“It’s something magnificent, I’m very emotional,” Cavani added. “In life, you’re not always given so much warmth. I’m very content, very happy to be here.” It was the 30-year-old’s 27th goal for the Ligue 1 leaders in all competitions this season.

Neymar will “2,000%” be at Paris Saint-Germain next season, club chairman Nasser Al-Khelaifi said after the game. The former Barcelona star Neymar has been linked with a move back to Spain, with PSG’s Champions League last-16 opponents Real Madrid reportedly interested in signing the 25-year-old.

But Al-Khelaifi said: “When I listen [to the rumours], I smile because it is not true. We have Neymar, he is very happy here, he is happy to score. We signed five years here. It’s been four months. I do not think he wants to leave.”

He added: “The link with Real? It makes me laugh when I listen to that. These are rumours. You ask me to answer rumours. All is well. We have a very big game against Real Madrid. It’s important to focus on this game and not listen to the rumours. We do not want to enter the game of the Spanish press.

“Will he be there 100% next season? Not 100%, at 2,000%.”

Dortmund keeper: Jeering fans should stay at home

Borussia Dortmund goalkeeper Roman Buerki complained about supporters who had “nothing better to do” than jeer their own team and said they should stay at home after the 2-2 home draw with Freiburg.

Dortmund boast the largest standing area in Europe, which produces an intimidating wall of noise, but Buerki was less impressed with the support from other parts of the stadium.

“The South stand is always there and always support us,” the Swiss keeper said. “But the people in the East and West stands come to the stadium to boo their own team. I don’t hear any support from those two stands. They would be better off staying at home.”

Dortmund forward Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, linked with a move to Arsenal, made his first appearance of the year after being dropped for the past two games but he failed to add to his tally of 13 league goals.

Too easy for Bayern

Robert Lewandowski scored his 18th Bundesliga goal this season as runaway leaders Bayern Munich came from two goals down to thrash Hoffenheim 5-2. Bayern have won 18 of their past 19 games and are 16 points clear in the table.

However, a dreadful start left Bayern 2-0 down at home -- the first time that has happened since January 1977 -- after 12 minutes. Bayern’s Joshua Kimmich brought down Serge Gnabry, who returns to Bayern next season when his loan spell at Hoffenheim ends, in the area with two minutes gone and the referee pointed to the spot. Bayern goalkeeper Sven Ulreich saved Gnabry’s spot-kick, only for Mark Uth to tap in the rebound with three minutes gone.

Bayern’s fortunes dipped further when Jerome Boateng’s poor pass was snapped up by Gnabry, who drove the ball into the bottom left-hand corner.

However, Bayern were level with 25 minutes gone. Lewandowski began the charge by tapping home Kimmich’s shot and Boateng made amends by heading home to make the score 2-2 at the break. Kingsley Coman gave Bayern the lead for the first time with an hour gone before Arturo Vidal headed the fourth on 66 minutes.

To compound Hoffenheim’s misery, their former striker Sandro Wagner scored his first Bayern goal on 90 minutes to complete the comeback.

Schalke reclaimed second spot from Eintracht Frankfurt, who beat Borussia Moenchengladbach on Friday, with a 2-0 win at Stuttgart. Brazil centre-back Naldo gave them the lead before Morocco’s Amine Harit slotted in a penalty.

Fourth-placed RB Leipzig were held to a 1-1 draw at home by second-from-bottom Hamburg, whose new head coach, Bernd Hollerbach, picked up a point on his first game in charge. Portugal midfielder Bruma gave Leipzig the lead on nine minutes, finishing a counterattack when Hamburg’s Aaron Hunt lost the ball. Hamburg broke their run of four straight defeats when Filip Kostic hit their equaliser on 29 minutes.

Bottom-side Cologne were denied a fourth straight victory in their 1-1 draw against Augsburg. Milos Jojic curled in a superb free kick on 40 minutes before Brazilian midfielder Caiuby headed in an equaliser 22 minutes from time.

Juventus top after beating nine-man Chievo

Juventus climbed back back to the Serie A summit but made heavy weather of beating a Chievo side reduced to nine men. Sami Khedira broke the deadlock and Gonzalo Higuain grabbed a late second to secure a 2-0 win in a game that saw a needless red card for Samuel Bastien and a ridiculous one for Fabrizio Cacciatore.

An eighth straight win lifted the champions back above title rivals Napoli, who host Bologna today. Chievo were holding their own in a low-key affair but suffered a blow eight minutes before half-time when the Belgian youngster Bastien was sent off for two yellow cards in quick succession, both for unnecessary fouls.

The game then exploded into life on the hour when Chievo were reduced to nine after Cacciatore complained he had been fouled as he planted a header at Juve keeper Wojciech Szczesny.

His long and bizarre protests, including standing on the touchline with his hands behind his back in an apparent “handcuff” gesture, earned the striker a straight red card. Five minutes later Juve made the breakthrough, Federico Bernardeschi cutting the ball back for Khedira to blast home from 15 yards.

Higuain headed in a Douglas Costa cross with three minutes remaining to secure the points.

Atalanta climbed back above AC Milan into seventh place in Serie A after a 3-0 win at lowly Sassuolo. Andrea Masiello grabbed the opening goal on the half-hour mark when home goalkeeper Andrea Consigli missed a deep free kick from Josip Ilicic and left him with a simple header into an empty net.

Bryan Cristante, who earlier had a goal disallowed after consultation with the Video Assistant Referee (VAR), powered in the second in the 83rd minute. With four minutes remaining Remo Freuler’s goal was initially chalked off by the referee but allowed to stand after more VAR discussions.

Sassuolo lost Edoardo Goldaniga to a red card seven minutes into stoppage time.