(Skip to 8.45 for Güler’s goal from inside his own half)
ARDA GÜLER SCORED from inside his own half and Fede Valverde capped an excellent week with another fine strike as Real Madrid thrashed Elche 4-1 in La Liga.
Los Blancos, second, cut the gap on Barcelona at the top of La Liga to a point before the Catalans host Sevilla on Sunday.
Uruguayan midfielder Valverde, who scored a sensational hat-trick against Manchester City in the Champions League in midweek, whipped the ball into the top corner before half-time after Antonio Rudiger blasted the hosts ahead.
Dean Huijsen headed home the third for Alvaro Arbeloa’s side, who visit Man City on Tuesday aiming to reach the Champions League quarter-finals.
The goal of the night, though, was scored by Turkish playmaker Güler late on, who spotted Elche goalkeeper Matias Dituro off his line and lobbed home from near the centre circle.
“He hit the bar (from there in another game) and today he pulled it off, what a goal,” Madrid forward Brahim Diaz told Real Madrid TV.
“Everyone had their hands on their head… it’s worth buying a ticket to see that goal,” added Arbeloa.
Earlier, Nahuel Molina scored a spectacular long-range strike as Atletico Madrid scraped a 1-0 win over Getafe to cut the gap to the top two.
Getafe were reduced to 10 men early in the second half when Abdel Abqar was sent off for appearing to pinch Atletico’s Alexander Sorloth in a sensitive area.
Atletico coach Diego Simeone rotated his line-up ahead of Wednesday’s Champions League last 16 second leg trip to Tottenham, but was still able to secure a sixth win in the last seven matches across all competitions.
Defender Molina’s superb strike, lashed into the top corner from over 25 yards out after eight minutes, was enough to split the teams at Atletico’s Metropolitano stadium.
Leaders Bayern Munich held on for a 1-1 draw at Bayer Leverkusen despite finishing with nine men in an eventful Bundesliga clash on Saturday.
Second-placed Borussia Dortmund’s comfortable home win at Augsburg drew them nine points behind reigning champions Bayern with eight games to play.
Aleix Garcia’s goal gave Leverkusen the lead and Bayern striker Nicolas Jackson saw red before half-time.
Luis Diaz levelled things up but then picked up a second yellow card for diving in the box.
Bayern held firm to grab a point, even as Leverkusen had two efforts chalked off in stoppage time.
Bayern also had strikes from Jonathan Tah and substitute Harry Kane ruled out by VAR for handball in a sometimes manic match at the BayArena.
“It was a poor performance from the referee,” Bayern coach Vincent Kompany told DAZN.
“Why he (Diaz) gets a red card, nobody in the stadium knows anymore, it’s insane… someone needs to explain to me why that’s a yellow card at that stage of the game. It’s a huge blow and he’ll be out for the next game.”
Referee Christian Dingert admitted he made an error by sending Diaz off.
“I perceived the incident as him diving. Looking at the footage, it’s clear it wasn’t a penalty. But the red card was very harsh — I wouldn’t give that now,” Dingert told Sky.
Leverkusen, who held Arsenal to the same scoreline on Wednesday, travel to London for the second leg of thei
Inter Milan suffered another wobble in their bid to reclaim the Serie A title after Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Atalanta, who bounced back from Champions League humiliation against Bayern Munich.
Nikola Krstovic earned a point for Atalanta by scoring in the 82nd minute at the San Siro, cancelling out Pio Esposito’s angled drive after 26 minutes for the hosts who had looked to be extending their league lead to 10 points.
But Inter coach Cristian Chivu and his players were livid at Krstovic’s goal being awarded after what they saw as a push on Denzel Dumfries by Kamaldeen Sulemana, whose saved shot led to the leveller.
Chivu was sent off for his vehement protests against the officials in a heated end to what had up to that point been a humdrum affair in soaking wet Milan.
Dumfries held his head in his hands when referee Gianluca Manganiello pointed to the centre circle to give the goal which handed AC Milan the chance to move to within five points of their local rivals.
Home fans were again outraged moments later when Davide Frattesi went down looking for a penalty under a challenge from Giorgio Scalvini, who tapped his Italy teammate’s foot and was cleared of committing a foul.
No-one from Inter spoke to media after the game in protest at the decisions.
Reigning champions Napoli trail Inter by nine points in third place after coming from behind to beat Lecce 2-1 in Naples where Scott McTominay made his return from injury.
Rasmus Hojlund and Matteo Politano’s goals overturned Jamil Siebert’s surprise early opener for Lecce as Napoli consolidated their top-four position, eight points above Roma and Como.
Back in business: Scott McTominay. Alamy Stock Photo
Alamy Stock Photo
More good news for coach Antonio Conte, who has had to deal with a raft of injury problems all season, came in the shape of McTominay who made his first appearance in over a month as a half-time substitute.
Scotland midfielder McTominay has become a huge fan favourite at Napoli since arriving from Manchester United, and his return came as Kevin De Bruyne and Andre-Frank Anguissa continued their comebacks from injury.
De Bruyne replaced Anguissa at the break and looked in decent nick in his second appearance since tearing his hamstring while scoring a penalty against Inter in October.
There was a worrying moment late on when Lecce attacker Lameck Banda had to be rushed from the field with the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona in hushed silence after he fell to the turf.
Lecce coach Eusebio Di Francesco told broadcaster DAZN that Banda was not in danger and that it was a blow to the chest moments before which caused a fall reminiscent of Edoardo Bove’s on-pitch heart attack while playing for Fiorentina last season.
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Watch: Real Madrid's Arda Güler scores from inside own half
LAST UPDATE | 14 Mar
La Liga
(Skip to 8.45 for Güler’s goal from inside his own half)
ARDA GÜLER SCORED from inside his own half and Fede Valverde capped an excellent week with another fine strike as Real Madrid thrashed Elche 4-1 in La Liga.
Los Blancos, second, cut the gap on Barcelona at the top of La Liga to a point before the Catalans host Sevilla on Sunday.
Uruguayan midfielder Valverde, who scored a sensational hat-trick against Manchester City in the Champions League in midweek, whipped the ball into the top corner before half-time after Antonio Rudiger blasted the hosts ahead.
Dean Huijsen headed home the third for Alvaro Arbeloa’s side, who visit Man City on Tuesday aiming to reach the Champions League quarter-finals.
The goal of the night, though, was scored by Turkish playmaker Güler late on, who spotted Elche goalkeeper Matias Dituro off his line and lobbed home from near the centre circle.
“He hit the bar (from there in another game) and today he pulled it off, what a goal,” Madrid forward Brahim Diaz told Real Madrid TV.
“Everyone had their hands on their head… it’s worth buying a ticket to see that goal,” added Arbeloa.
Earlier, Nahuel Molina scored a spectacular long-range strike as Atletico Madrid scraped a 1-0 win over Getafe to cut the gap to the top two.
Getafe were reduced to 10 men early in the second half when Abdel Abqar was sent off for appearing to pinch Atletico’s Alexander Sorloth in a sensitive area.
Atletico coach Diego Simeone rotated his line-up ahead of Wednesday’s Champions League last 16 second leg trip to Tottenham, but was still able to secure a sixth win in the last seven matches across all competitions.
Defender Molina’s superb strike, lashed into the top corner from over 25 yards out after eight minutes, was enough to split the teams at Atletico’s Metropolitano stadium.
Bundesliga
Leaders Bayern Munich held on for a 1-1 draw at Bayer Leverkusen despite finishing with nine men in an eventful Bundesliga clash on Saturday.
Second-placed Borussia Dortmund’s comfortable home win at Augsburg drew them nine points behind reigning champions Bayern with eight games to play.
Aleix Garcia’s goal gave Leverkusen the lead and Bayern striker Nicolas Jackson saw red before half-time.
Luis Diaz levelled things up but then picked up a second yellow card for diving in the box.
Bayern held firm to grab a point, even as Leverkusen had two efforts chalked off in stoppage time.
Bayern also had strikes from Jonathan Tah and substitute Harry Kane ruled out by VAR for handball in a sometimes manic match at the BayArena.
“It was a poor performance from the referee,” Bayern coach Vincent Kompany told DAZN.
“Why he (Diaz) gets a red card, nobody in the stadium knows anymore, it’s insane… someone needs to explain to me why that’s a yellow card at that stage of the game. It’s a huge blow and he’ll be out for the next game.”
Referee Christian Dingert admitted he made an error by sending Diaz off.
“I perceived the incident as him diving. Looking at the footage, it’s clear it wasn’t a penalty. But the red card was very harsh — I wouldn’t give that now,” Dingert told Sky.
Leverkusen, who held Arsenal to the same scoreline on Wednesday, travel to London for the second leg of thei
Serie A
Inter Milan suffered another wobble in their bid to reclaim the Serie A title after Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Atalanta, who bounced back from Champions League humiliation against Bayern Munich.
Nikola Krstovic earned a point for Atalanta by scoring in the 82nd minute at the San Siro, cancelling out Pio Esposito’s angled drive after 26 minutes for the hosts who had looked to be extending their league lead to 10 points.
But Inter coach Cristian Chivu and his players were livid at Krstovic’s goal being awarded after what they saw as a push on Denzel Dumfries by Kamaldeen Sulemana, whose saved shot led to the leveller.
Chivu was sent off for his vehement protests against the officials in a heated end to what had up to that point been a humdrum affair in soaking wet Milan.
Dumfries held his head in his hands when referee Gianluca Manganiello pointed to the centre circle to give the goal which handed AC Milan the chance to move to within five points of their local rivals.
Home fans were again outraged moments later when Davide Frattesi went down looking for a penalty under a challenge from Giorgio Scalvini, who tapped his Italy teammate’s foot and was cleared of committing a foul.
No-one from Inter spoke to media after the game in protest at the decisions.
Reigning champions Napoli trail Inter by nine points in third place after coming from behind to beat Lecce 2-1 in Naples where Scott McTominay made his return from injury.
Rasmus Hojlund and Matteo Politano’s goals overturned Jamil Siebert’s surprise early opener for Lecce as Napoli consolidated their top-four position, eight points above Roma and Como.
More good news for coach Antonio Conte, who has had to deal with a raft of injury problems all season, came in the shape of McTominay who made his first appearance in over a month as a half-time substitute.
Scotland midfielder McTominay has become a huge fan favourite at Napoli since arriving from Manchester United, and his return came as Kevin De Bruyne and Andre-Frank Anguissa continued their comebacks from injury.
De Bruyne replaced Anguissa at the break and looked in decent nick in his second appearance since tearing his hamstring while scoring a penalty against Inter in October.
There was a worrying moment late on when Lecce attacker Lameck Banda had to be rushed from the field with the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona in hushed silence after he fell to the turf.
Lecce coach Eusebio Di Francesco told broadcaster DAZN that Banda was not in danger and that it was a blow to the chest moments before which caused a fall reminiscent of Edoardo Bove’s on-pitch heart attack while playing for Fiorentina last season.
– © AFP 2026
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