Madrid defeat Barcelona, City and Paris hit four
Saturday, April 2, 2016
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Real Madrid came from behind to win 2-1 at Barcelona while Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain were both in the goals before their quarter-final tie, as were Atlético Madrid and Benfica.
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TUESDAY'S FIRST LEGS
Saturday: Barcelona 1-2 Real Madrid (Piqué 56; Benzema 62, Ronaldo 84)
Barcelona's 39-game unbeaten run is over after ten-man Real Madrid produced a comeback to keep their Liga hopes alive. Preceded by a minute's silence observed by the 99,264 crowd for Johan Cruyff, the game was dominated by Barcelona in the early stages but Madrid repelled their attacks and began to settle. The deadlock was broken when Gerard Piqué headed in an Ivan Rakitić corner only for Karim Benzema to level after Marcelo found Toni Kroos to cross. Gareth Bale had a goal disallowed and Cristiano Ronaldo hit the crossbar in a late push from the visitors. Sergio Ramos was then sent off for a second bookable offence, yet it was the visitors who struck next as Ronaldo chested down a Bale cross and finished at an angle to secure a crucial Clásico triumph.
Saturday: Atlético 5-1 Real Betis (Torres 37 Griezmann 42 81, Juanfran 65, Partey 90+1; Rubén Castro 79)
Second-placed Atlético moved within six points of Barcelona, after a five-goal haul against Betis. With defensive injuries, Diego Simeone gave Nacho Monsalve a Liga debut at the back but the action was at the other end once Fernando Torres finally broke the deadlock. Antoine Griezmann also kept up his fine recent form for a club who have not always been free-scoring this season.
Saturday: Bayern 1-0 Eintracht Frankfurt (Ribéry 20)
Franck Ribéry's first goal of 2016 was enough for Bayern to remain five points clear of Borussia Dortmund with six matches to go. Bayern had 13 shots on target but visiting goalkeeper Lukas Hradecky was in insipired form. Bayern have not conceded a league goal against Frankfurt for 757 minutes, a new Bundesliga record between two clubs. It was also Manuel Neuer's 150th league clean sheet in the league.
Friday: Benfica 5-1 Braga (Mitroglou 17 71, Jonas 37p, Pizzi 40, Samaris 75; Pedro Santos 90+3p)
Jonas reached 30 league goals for the season as Benfica moved five points clear at the Portuguese summit with Sporting CP not in action until Monday. Kostas Mitroglou took his Liga tally to 18 goals while Andreas Samaris found the target ten minutes after coming on as a substitute.
Saturday: Paris 4-1 Nice (Ibrahimović 15 34 83, Luiz 48; Ben Arfa 18)
Zlatan Ibrahimović warmed up for Wednesday with his first home hat-trick of the season for the French champions against third-placed Nice. Paris now have a 25-point lead over Monaco (the record is 17) and Ibrahimović, on 30 league goals, has twice as many as anyone else in the division this season.
Saturday: Bournemouth 0-4 Manchester City (Fernando 7, De Bruyne 12, Agüero 19, Kolarov 90+3)
City returned to form and remain in the top four after a quick start against a team they last visited 16 years ago in England's third tier. Fernando opened his goal account for the season and, back from injury, Kevin De Bruyne volleyed in his first goal since 26 December as he showed fine form ahead of the trip to Paris.
Friday: Bayer Leverkusen 3-0 Wolfsburg (Brandt 27, Hernández 73, Yurchenko 87)
Max Kruse drove into the side-netting before the break and Marcel Schäfer fired straight at Bernd Leno after the interval but eighth-placed Wolfsburg created little else as they went a third consecutive league game without a victory and fall to seven points adrift of Mönchengladbach in fourth.
Saturday: Barcelona 1-2 Real Madrid (Piqué 56; Benzema 62, Ronaldo 84)
Third-placed Madrid closed the gap on the Liga leaders to seven points with a fine away success. Pepe was outjumped by Piqué for the opening goal but the equaliser came when Marcelo embarked on a surging run down the left and fed Kroos, whose centre was volleyed in acrobatically by Benzema, now up to 21 Liga goals this season, matching his career-best tally for Madrid. Bale had a goal ruled out with ten minutes after he headed in a cross from Ronaldo, who then shot against the bar prior to Ramos's red card. However, Ronaldo had the final word for the ten men.