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Champions-elect Inter were held to a 2-2 draw at Torino on Sunday, with the Serie A leaders letting slip a two-goal lead and leaving the title race ticking over with four rounds left.
Inter appeared to be cruising after Marcus Thuram put them in front in the 23rd minute and Yann Bisseck doubled their lead 16 minutes after the break with another header but Torino clawed their way back into the game.
Giovanni Simeone pulled one back with 20 minutes remaining after a nicely crafted buildup and Nikola Vlasic equalised from the penalty spot nine minutes later.
Inter move to 79 points, 10 ahead of Napoli who won 4-0 at Cremonese on Friday.
Milan and Juventus played out a 0-0 draw at San Siro, a second stalemate between the sides in Serie A this season, with both clubs on course for a place in next season’s Champions League.
Inter lead the standings on 79 points, 10 ahead of Napoli with Milan a further two points back in third on 67. Juve hold the all-important fourth spot with 64 points, three ahead of Como and Roma with four rounds remaining.
Borussia Dortmund sealed Champions League qualification with an easy 4-0 win over Freiburg in the Bundesliga. Maximilian Beier, Serhou Guirassy and Ramy Bensebaini effectively decided the result in the first half-hour, before the substitute Fábio Silva completed the scoring late.
With three rounds remaining, Dortmund is assured of finishing among the top four to qualify for Europe’s premier club competition.
The Freiburg head coach, Julian Schuster, had made a host of changes to the team that suffered a bitter defeat against Stuttgart in the German Cup semi-finals on Thursday. Freiburg next face Braga away for the first leg of their Europa League semi-final.
Stuttgart were held to a 1-1 draw at home by Werder Bremen, denting their hopes of a return to the Champions League. Bremen’s Jens Stage continued his rich run of form, putting the visitors ahead early before Ermedin Demirovic levelled four minutes after coming on in the second half.
Stuttgart sit in fourth place and are level on points with Hoffenheim but ahead on goal difference, while Leverkusen are lurking two points behind. Stuttgart still have to play Hoffenheim and Leverkusen, as well as Frankfurt.
Rayo Vallecano rallied late to draw 3-3 with Real Sociedad in a La Liga match marked by a sudden turn of events after VAR erased a Rayo goal and awarded a penalty to Sociedad instead.
Rayo thought they had equalised 2-2 through Pedro Díaz in the 69th minute at Vallecas Stadium, but the goal was called back after the referee went to video review and awarded a penalty to Sociedad for a foul earlier in the buildup. Mikel Oyarzabal converted the 76th-minute penalty to make it 3-1 to the visitors. Rayo found a way to even the match with goals from Florian Lejeune in the 84th and Alemão in the ninth minute of stoppage time.
Sevilla plunged deeper into danger of relegation with a 2-1 defeat at Osasuna. The visitors took the lead through Neal Maupay in the 69th minute but Raúl García pulled the hosts level and Alejandro Catena struck in stoppage time. Sevilla are 18th, a point behind Real Mallorca, who lost at Alaves on Saturday.
Real Zaragoza’s goalkeeper Esteban Andrada was sent off for punching Huesca’s captain, Jorge Pulido, in a fiery Spanish second division clash that descended into a mass brawl, with Huesca’s keeper Dani Jiménez dismissed for punching Andrada.
Zaragoza’s Dani Tasende was also dismissed after a VAR review of the brawl.
With tensions simmering in a relegation scrap, Argentinian Andrada lost his composure moments before the final whistle. Ignoring the run of play, he approached Pulido and struck him in the face with his right hand, sparking chaotic scenes eight minutes into stoppage time. It was an ugly flashpoint in a match already short on finesse and heavy on nerves, and could carry serious consequences for the goalkeeper.
Huesca’s manager, José Luis, did not attempt to defend the scenes. “It’s hard to explain – I think it’s a complete loss of control. I can put myself in their shoes, given what was at stake and all. But it’s unjustifiable. It’s just that I don’t know what to do or how to stop it; a brawl breaks out,” he said.
“It’s ugly; this was supposed to be a celebration of Aragonese football. I’d like people to talk about the match, even though it was ugly, with little play but a lot of hard work.“
Óscar Sielva’s goal secured a 1-0 win for Huesca, lifting them to 36 points in 19th place, while Zaragoza remain second-bottom on 35.
