European football: Bayern stay top after hitting Schalke for six, Spezia stun Milan | European club football
Bayern Munich powered past struggling Schalke 6-0, with two goals from Serge Gnabry, to close in on their 11th straight Bundesliga crown with two games remaining.
Thomas Müller, whose future at the club has been in doubt since his benching with the arrival of Thomas Tuchel in March, opened their account in the 21st minute and Joshua Kimmich doubled their lead eight minutes later with a well-struck penalty.
With Schalke offering no resistance, the Bavarians picked up where they had left off after the break and Gnabry drilled in his shot in the 50th after João Cancelo’s superb early work in the box.
Gnabry then made it 4-0 with a dizzying sprint in the 65th before the substitute Mathys Tel also got on the score sheet from a Jamal Musiala assist. Tel then turned provider for Noussair Mazraoui in stoppage time to make it half a dozen goals for the hosts.
Bayern are on 68 points and have two games left to play. Their closest rivals, Borussia Dortmund, sit one point behind on 67 after beating Borussia Mönchengladbach 5-2 in the day’s late game.
The hosts went in front after five minutes when Donyell Malen nodded in from close range after Sébastien Haller’s shot from the edge of the box was deflected. Jude Bellingham slotted in a penalty in the 18th minute before Haller’s spectacular backheel flick made it 3-0 just two minutes later.
Haller added another goal with a well-timed volley from Malen’s cutback before Dortmund gradually eased off, allowing their opponents to pull a goal back via a Ramy Bensebaini penalty in the 75th minute.
Gladbach further cut the gap with Lars Stindl’s low drive five minutes before the end but Gio Reyna struck against for the hosts with the last kick of the game. Dortmund travel to Augsburg next weekend while Bayern face Champions League hopefuls RB Leipzig.
Two second-half goals secured lowly Spezia a shock 2-0 home win over Milan in Serie A on Saturday, condemning Stefano Pioli’s side to their first league defeat in two months and denting their top-four hopes.
The defender Przemyslaw Wisniewski and the midfielder Salvatore Esposito helped Spezia earn their first win in nine games and move them closer to safety.
Milan, who lost 2-0 at home to Internazionale in the first leg of their Champions League semi-final on Wednesday, had clear chances to take the lead in an entertaining first half when Sandro Tonali hit a post in the sixth minute and a powerful shot from Theo Hernández was saved by Bartlomiej Dragowski.
In the second half the Milan forward Brahim Diaz hit the outside of a post from a tight angle while Spezia’s M’Bala Nzola forced Mike Maignan to save a low shot. Spezia then took a surprise lead in the 75th minute after a corner, when Kelvin Amian’s header bounced off the post and Wisniewski netted the rebound.
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Esposito sealed the win for Spezia with a stunning free-kick that flew into the top left corner five minutes from time. It was the first time since 2017 that Milan had lost to opponents in the bottom three sin the table.
MIlan remain fifth with 61 points, two behind fourth-placed Inter who host Sassuolo later on Saturday. Spezia are still in the relegation places but move to 30 points, level with 17th-placed Verona who have a game in hand.
Atalanta dropped one place to seventh after losing 1-0 at 15th-placed Salernitana who sealed the win in stoppage time through the midfielder Antonio Candreva.
Real Madrid, who host Getafe in the late game in Spain, have lost a €400m (£350m) court battle with the Abu Dhabi sovereign investor Mubadala over the proposed sponsorship of the Santiago Bernabéu, sources with knowledge of the case have told Reuters.
Madrid had claimed the money because it said Mubadala had failed to honour a sponsorship deal under which it would acquire rights to name the stadium for 20 years. An arbitral tribunal under the court of international trade in Paris has ruled that delays and changes in the redevelopment of the ground meant the sponsorship deal had expired, the source told Reuters.
This story will be updated