ANKARA
Croatian veteran midfielder Luka Modric on Sunday scored a late winner against Sevilla as Real Madrid won the match 1-0, propelling them eight points clear at the top of the Spanish La Liga.
At Madrid’s Santiago Bernabeu Stadium, Real Madrid were without their top scorer Jude Bellingham, but Modric, 38, who has been a club regular since 2012, made a powerful strike outside the area in the 81st minute to give the Spanish leaders a narrow win.
Having won the 2018 Ballon d’Or award, Modric came off the bench to rescue Real Madrid.
He will be a free agent in June.
Real Madrid boosted their points to 65 in 26 matches. Second-place Barcelona have 57 points following a 4-0 home win over Getafe on Saturday.
Girona are a point behind Barcelona to be in the third position. They will play their game in hand against Rayo Vallecano on Monday evening.
Man City win at Bournemouth to be hot on Liverpool’s trail
English star Phil Foden guided defending champions Manchester City to a 1-0 win over Bournemouth on Saturday.
Thanks to the away victory, second-place Man City have 59 points in English Premier League standings to be hot on Liverpool’s trail.
Liverpool, the league leaders with 60 points, did not play a Premier League match on the weekend as they won the English League Cup, beating Chelsea 1-0 at London’s Wembley Stadium on Sunday.
Title contenders Arsenal hammered Newcastle United 4-1 at a home match on Saturday to keep chasing the top two clubs.
Third-place Arsenal have 58 points to go six points clear of Aston Villa, who are fourth.
Next weekend will see a derby as Manchester City will face archrivals Manchester United at Etihad Stadium on Sunday.
Bayer Leverkusen continue title march in Germany
Confident Bayer Leverkusen, who are in a dream season in Germany, beat Mainz 2-1 on Friday.
Still undefeated, Leverkusen are getting closer to the local success at a rapid pace. Xabi Alonso’s men have 61 points to be on top of the Bundesliga.
English star Harry Kane scored double as Bayern Munich on Saturday beat RB Leipzig 2-1 in a home match to narrow the gap against Leverkusen.
Defending champions Bayern Munich have 53 points to be second. They should rely on Leverkusen’s mistakes to catch them up.
After a 1-1 draw with Cologne on Saturday, Stuttgart are in third place with 47 points.
Italian leaders Inter Milan dominate Lecce
Inter Milan maintained their march at the top of the Italian Serie A after they hammered Lecce 4-0 on Sunday.
Argentine captain Lautaro Martinez scored his 100th and 101st Serie A goals in this match.
Martinez, 26, has been playing in Italy since 2018 after he left Argentina’s Racing Club for Inter.
Simone Inzaghi’s Inter, who have a game in hand, increased their points to 66. Inter will next face Atalanta on Wednesday in Milan.
Inter, who eye the 2024 Italian title, restored a nine-point lead against Juventus, which beat Frosinone 3-2 on Sunday.
AC Milan have 53 points after a 1-1 draw with Atalanta on Sunday.
PSG rescue 1 point with late penalty
French Ligue 1 leaders Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) on Sunday salvaged a 1-1 draw against Rennes in Paris with a last-gasp penalty scored by Portuguese forward Goncalo Ramos.
Visitors’ Algerian winger Amine Gouiri scored a solo effort goal to give Rennes a 1-0 lead, but it was canceled out by Ramos in the 97th minute.
PSG lead with 54 points.
Second-place Brest are 11 points behind after beating Strasbourg 3-0 on Saturday.
Monaco won at Lens 3-2 on Sunday to be third with 41 points.
On Friday, PSG will visit Monaco.
