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Exequiel Palacios scored two second-half penalties for Bayer Leverkusen as they earned a 2-1 comeback victory to keep Bayern Munich off the Bundesliga summit.
Bayern started slowly with the hosts unleashing a flurry of shots towards Yann Sommer’s goal in the opening 15 minutes. The visitors then took the lead against the run of play, Joshua Kimmich’s effort deflected in after 22 minutes.
Julian Nagelsmann’s side could not build on their half-time lead, with sloppy defensive handing the hosts two penalties. Palacios drew them level 10 minutes after the restart, than earned a second spot-kick as he was fouled by Dayot Upamecano.
The Argentinian midfielder stepped up again to beat Sommer for a second time and put Xabi Alonso’s team ahead in the 73rd minute. They hung on to victory despite late pressure from Bayern, Kingsley Coman and Matthijs de Ligt missing chances.
Bayern stay one point behind the leaders Borussia Dortmund, who crushed Cologne 6-1 on Saturday. The two sides will meet in a potentially title-deciding Klassiker on 1 April, when the league resumes after an international break.
Union Berlin are four points behind Bayern after beating Eintracht Frankfurt 2-0 at home. Their captain, Rani Khedira, drilled in the opener early in the second half, before substitute Kevin Behrens held off two defenders and finished well with 15 minutes to go, denting Eintracht’s own top-four hopes in the process.
Paris Saint-Germain suffered another setback as they slumped to their first home league defeat of the season, beaten 2-0 by fifth-placed Rennes to increase the pressure on the head coach, Christophe Galtier.
PSG started brightly and Kylian Mbappé was brilliantly denied twice by Steve Mandanda, first from a fine chip in the 26th minute and then a powerful shot five minutes from the break. It was Rennes who went in at half-time in front, though, as Karl Toko Ekambi collected Benjamin Bourigeaud’s superb long pass and fired home.
The visitors doubled their advantage three minutes into the second half as Arnaud Kalimuendo latched on to a cross from Lesley Ugochukwu to beat Gianluigi Donnarumma. Galtier sent on Hugo Ekitike and Renato Sanches, but Rennes comfortably held on to complete the double over PSG this season.
“For sure we played a very bad game. There is little to say. I’m sorry for the fans who are always there. It’s not us, it’s not our team,” said the PSG midfielder Vitinha. “We are very, very sad because we never imagined this. The club don’t deserve this. It’s not enough. We have to do better in the next game.”
In Serie A, Matteo Zaccagni’s second-half strike earned Lazio victory in a bad-tempered Rome derby, striking a blow to Roma’s top-four hopes in a game that saw three players and two coaches sent off.
Roma’s Roger Ibañez was first to go, the Brazilian defender receiving a second booking in the 32nd minute. A little later, one member of each team’s coaching staff was shown the red card after a dispute on the sideline as the first half ended goalless.
Maurizio Sarri’s men, who also won the derby in the first half of the season, made the on-field advantage count in the 65th minute, Zaccagni slipping through the Roma defence and curling in a low shot. Roma appeared to have equalised two minutes later when Nicolo Casale put the ball in his own net, but the goal was ruled out by VAR.
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Roma pressed forward but could not break their opponents down and stay fifth, five points behind their city rivals. After the final whistle, Roma’s Bryan Cristante and Lazio’s Adam Marusic were both shown red cards after another scuffle.
Earlier, runaway leaders Napoli took another step towards the title with a 4-0 rout of Torino, Victor Osimhen scoring twice with Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Tanguy Ndombele also on target.
The visitors went ahead in Turin after just nine minutes, Osimhen heading into the bottom corner from Piotr Zielinski’s corner. Kvaratskhelia doubled the lead in the 35th minute with a penalty after being fouled by Karol Linetty.
Osimhen found the net with another header early in the second half, converting Mathías Olivera’s cross for a league-leading 21st goal of the season. Ndombele grabbed his first Serie A goal from the bench to complete the scoring from Kvaratskhelia’s pass. Napoli lead Lazio by 19 points, with Inter facing Juventus later on Sunday.
“The players showed great hunger,” coach Luciano Spalletti said. “I went to talk to the lads before the game, afraid that there might be a bit of complacency, but once again they showed me they are cut from a different cloth. As the Naples saying goes: he who is hungry doesn’t sleep.”
In La Liga, Sevilla missed the chance to ease their relegation fears as they slipped to a 2-0 defeat at Getafe. Munir El Haddadi fired the hosts in front, with Enes Unal adding a late second as Getafe climbed above Jorge Sampaoli’s side in the crowded battle to beat the drop.
Real Sociedad earned a welcome 2-0 home win over bottom club Elche, David Silva setting up Takefusa Kubo for the opener before Ander Barrenetxea sealed victory late on. The Basque side stay three points clear of Real Betis, who beat Mallorca 1-0 at home, in the race to finish fourth.
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