adminLONDON. — Real Madrid’s Gareth Bale hit back at his critics with a double in a 2-0 win over Levante to keep them on the coattails of Spanish La Liga soccer leaders Barcelona, who won 2-0 at Eibar with two Lionel Messi goals.
In the English Premier League champions, Manchester City suffered a shock 1-0 defeat at Burnley that left Chelsea six points clear at the top after they drew 1-1 at home to Southampton.
Juventus opened a 14-point gap at the top of the Italian Serie A with a 1-0 win at Palermo and Bayern Munich stayed 11 points clear in the Bundesliga with a 4-0 win at Werder Bremen.
Manchester City’s fading Premier League title hopes were dealt another blow as the champions lost 1-0 at struggling Burnley and although leaders Chelsea were held 1-1 at home by Southampton they moved six points clear.
Second-placed City were undone when George Boyd’s rifled finish handed Burnley a precious three points in their relegation battle on Saturday and Manuel Pellegrini’s stuttering side can count themselves lucky that Chelsea did not win.
The London side took the lead through Diego Costa at Stamford Bridge, but Dusan Tadic’s penalty levelled the match early in the first half and Southampton kept the hosts at bay for the remainder of the match.
Chelsea, who also have a game in hand over City, extended their lead at the top by a point, with Jose Mourinho’s side on 64 from 28 matches.
Arsenal and Manchester United both won to improve their chances of a top-four finish.
Olivier Giroud was on target for the third-placed Gunners in a 3-0 home win over West Ham United on Saturday, while Manchester United in fourth showed some of their long-lost verve in a 3-0 win against sorry visitors Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday.
In Spain, Real Madrid’s Gareth Bale ensured his second-placed side will head to Barcelona for this coming weekend’s “Clasico” a point behind the leaders when he struck twice in 2-0 win at home to Levante on Sunday.
Barca had moved four points clear on Saturday when Lionel Messi struck twice in a 2-0 success at Eibar, putting the Argentina forward two clear of Real’s Cristiano Ronaldo at the top of the La Liga scoring charts on 32 goals.
Barca lead on 65 points with 11 games left, with Real, who ended a run of three games without a victory, on 64.
Valencia climbed to third on 57 points with Friday’s 2-0 win at home to Deportivo La Coruna, above champions Atletico Madrid, who were held 0-0 at Espanyol on Saturday and have 56.
Sevilla strengthened their grip on fifth spot and closed within four points of Atletico when Carlos Bacca struck twice in a 3-0 triumph at home to Elche on Sunday. In Italy, Juventus moved 14 points clear in Serie A when Alvaro Morata’s curling shot gave them a 1-0 win at Palermo. — Reuters.
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