ANKARA
The leaders in the Italian, English, German, and Spanish top-tier football leagues ended the last weekend with a draw each, missing their chances to extend the gap on top of their divisions.
Italian Serie A leaders Napoli, who are in a dream season, were handed a 0-0 draw with Hellas Verona in a Saturday league match at Naples’ Diego Armando Maradona Stadium.
Despite the goalless draw, the Naples club have 75 points in 30 matches in the Italian league that will end in eight weeks.
There is a quite big gap between Napoli and second-place Lazio from Rome.
Lazio boosted their points to 61 after a 3-0 win at Spezia on Friday.
Roma are third with 56 points to chase archrivals Lazio, as Giallorossi beat Udinese 3-0 in a Sunday home match.
Napoli are seeking their first Italian league title since 1990.
Bayern Munich cannot secure lead, drop points in title race
German Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich took an unexpected home draw with Hoffenheim 1-1 in a Saturday match.
Bayern Munich’s French defender Benjamin Pavard scored the opener in the first half.
But Hoffenheim stole a point after Croatian forward Andrej Kramaric’s freekick in the 71st minute at Munich’s Allianz Arena.
Bayern Munich are battling Borussia Dortmund for the 2023 German league title. Now second in the standings, Dortmund missed the chance to level points with Bayern Munich after a 3-3 thriller at Stuttgart on Saturday.
Dortmund are looking for a mistake of the leaders but they must win their game as well.
Bayern Munich have 59 points in 28 matches. Dortmund have 57 points to come after them. Union Berlin are third with 52 points.
In six weeks, the 18-team Bundesliga will conclude.
Leaders Arsenal’s title hopes in England hurt
English Premier League leaders Arsenal on Sunday dropped two more crucial points in the division’s title race by getting a 2-2 draw with West Ham United in London.
The Gunners, who are eyeing their first league title since 2004, were unable to hold on to their two-goal lead in a vital match at West Ham’s home ground.
Arsenal took a lead with Gabriel Jesus in the seventh minute. Just three minutes later, Martin Odegaard made it 2-0 for the visitors.
Said Benrahma took one back for West Ham with a penalty kick in the 33rd minute, then Jarrod Bowen leveled the score in the 54th minute.
So Arsenal, who settled for a draw two weeks in a row, have 74 points.
Reigning champions Manchester City beat Leicester City 3-1 on Saturday at Manchester’s Etihad Stadium as Norwegian forward Erling Haaland scored twice.
This season Haaland scored 32 league goals to tie Mohamed Salah for the most goals in a 38-game English Premier League season set in 2017-18. Salah is still playing for Liverpool.
Haaland-led Man City are second in the Premier League table with 70 points to stick to the title race.
Arsenal’s four-point lead to Manchester City does not mean much, as Manchester City still have one more game to play.
The pressure seems to be on the Gunners as the next Premier League clash between the two sides will be on April 26 at Etihad Stadium.
In the next fixture, Arsenal will face a critical match against Southampton at London’s Emirates Stadium on Friday, days before their visit to Manchester City.
Manchester United climbed to the third spot with 59 points as they beat Nottingham Forest 2-0 on Sunday.
Barcelona take goalless draw at Getafe
Spanish La Liga leaders Barcelona drew with Getafe 0-0 in a Sunday match to be held to a second straight goalless draw in the league.
Barcelona have 73 points in 29 matches to be on top. Second-place Real Madrid, who won at Cadiz 2-0 on Saturday, increased their points to 62.
Real Madrid clinched the away win with two successive goals in the second half. Nacho and Marco Asensio were the scorers for the Whites.
Third-place Atletico Madrid beat Almeria 2-1 on Sunday to have 60 points.
Barcelona will next play against Atletico Madrid on Sunday.
PSG beat title contenders Lens, Mbappe goes down club history
French Ligue 1 leaders Paris Saint-Germain took a crucial 3-1 win over title contenders Lens on Saturday.
Kylian Mbappe, Vitinha and Lionel Messi were the scorers for PSG at Paris’ Parc des Princes. Lens midfielder Salis Abdul Samed was shown a red card in the 19th minute to leave them with 10 players.
Przemyslaw Frankowski’s penalty goal in the 60th minute was the only goal for Lens.
Mbappe has become PSG’s all-time Ligue 1 top goal scorer with 139 goals as the French forward beat his former teammate Edinson Cavani. The Uruguayan forward scored 138 league goals for Paris from 2013 to 2020.
PSG carried on to lead the Ligue 1 with 72 points with seven weeks remaining to the end of the season. Lens moved to the third spot with 63 points after Olympique Marseille beat Troyes 3-1 on Sunday.
Olympique Marseille boosted their points to 64 to oust Lens.
