FORMER STOKE STAR Marko Arnautovic helped move Inter Milan six points clear at the top of Serie A with a goal and assist in Saturday’s 3-1 win over Cagliari, ahead of their Champions League showdown with Bayern Munich.
Playing in place of Marcus Thuram with coach Simone Inzaghi looking ahead to Wednesday’s quarter-final second leg with Bayern, Arnautovic lashed Inter ahead in the 13th minute.
And the Austria international laid on a perfect sweeping pass 13 minutes later for Lautaro Martinez, who dinked home his 20th goal of the season in all competitions.
Yann Bisseck’s thumping header in the 55th minute made sure Inter would collect all three points at the San Siro, after Roberto Piccoli halved the deficit for 15th-placed Cagliari shortly after half-time.
Arnautovic has played a bit-part role at Inter but has had an impact in recent weeks with crucial goals, Saturday’s being his fifth in his last 10 club appearances.
Inter now wait for the result of closest challengers Napoli’s home fixture with Empoli on Monday, by which time attentions will be squarely on Bayern.
Inzaghi’s team lead Bayern 2-1 after Tuesday’s win in the first leg in Germany, and are gunning for a repeat of the Serie A, Champions League and Italian Cup treble they conquered under Jose Mourinho 15 years ago.
Earlier Venezia boosted their survival hopes by beating rock-bottom Monza 1-0 and moving to within two points of Lecce who sit just outside the relegation zone and are at Juventus later on Saturday.
Juve will move back into the top four with a win in Turin, with third-placed Atalanta host Bologna — in fourth — on Sunday.
Bayern's Eric Dier, left, reacts after the German Bundesliga match. Alamy Stock Photo
Alamy Stock Photo
In Germany, Bayern Munich were held to a 2-2 home draw with Borussia Dortmund on Saturday, failing to take advantage of Bayer Leverkusen’s slip-up earlier in the day.
With defending champions Leverkusen held to a scoreless draw at home with Union Berlin just an hour before kickoff, Bayern knew a win would move them further ahead.
Dortmund took the lead through Maximilian Beier in the 48th minute, but Bayern hit back with two goals in four minutes, before Waldemar Anton equalised for the visitors with 15 minutes remaining.
Usually a fixture on the German football calendar, the buzz around the match was comparatively muted.
The visitors came to Munich nine spots and 27 points behind in the table, while both Bayern and Dortmund are in the midst of Champions League quarter-finals, having lost the first legs to Inter Milan and Barcelona respectively.
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Bayern, enduring an injury crisis with several first-teamers missing, were camped out in Dortmund’s box for almost the entire first half. Visiting goalkeeper Gregor Kobel needed to snuff out great chances for Harry Kane and Michael Olise.
Seemingly on the ropes at half-time, Dortmund opened the scoring three minutes into the second period, Beier heading between Bayern goalie Jonas Urbig’s legs to finish off a length-of-the-field counter.
With Dortmund in the ascendancy and probing for a second, Kompany brought on Serge Gnabry, and the move worked a treat.
The former Arsenal forward created the equaliser for former Dortmund midfielder Raphael Guerreiro on the 65-minute mark and then scored a goal of his own four minutes later, slaloming through the visiting defence before hammering home.
Dortmund hit back to level things up 15 minutes from time when Anton knocked in a rebound from a Serhou Guirassy shot.
Despite the draw, Bayern remain heavy favourites to lift the Bundesliga title. The Bavarians are six points ahead with five games remaining this season.
Nursing an ongoing Achilles injury, Bayern centre-back Kim Min-jae was subbed off in the second half, leaving the Germans with just one fit central defender ahead of Wednesday’s trip to Inter.
- Leverkusen held at home -
Despite welcoming back star midfielder Florian Wirtz from a foot injury, Xabi Alonso’s Leverkusen lacked fluency in attack, carving out few clear-cut opportunities in a 0-0 home draw with Union Berlin.
Union had the ball in the net after 14 minutes when Andrej Ilic headed in a rebound after a save from Lukas Hradecky, but the Serbian was flagged for offside.
Wirtz came on after 57 minutes and, despite giving his side an initial boost, was unable to break down Union’s defence.
Granit Xhaka had a free-kick from the edge of the box in stoppage time but blasted his shot well over the bar.
“We’re dropping too many points at home,” Leverkusen captain Hradecky said, adding “mathematically there’s a small chance (of defending the title), but the probability has decreased.”
The draw continues a poor April for last season’s unbeaten domestic double winners, who were eliminated from the German Cup semi-finals by third division Arminia Bielefeld.
The draw took Union to 34 points, 12 clear of the relegation spots with five games remaining.
The Berliners have taken 11 points from an unbeaten five-game run against Leverkusen, Bayern, Eintracht Frankfurt, Freiburg and Wolfsburg.
Borussia Moenchengladbach’s hopes of returning to the Champions League took a hit with a 2-1 home loss to Freiburg.
Freiburg snatched all three points when Johan Manzambi scored a 90th minute header, allowing the visitors to leapfrog their opponents into sixth.
Augsburg continued their strong 2025 with a 2-1 win at lowly Bochum, climbing past Dortmund into eighth. Augsburg have only lost one of their past 13 games.
Elsewhere, Hoffenheim took a step towards beating the drop with a 2-0 home win over Champions League hopefuls Mainz, with Andrej Kramaric scoring a brace.
St Pauli also boosted their hopes of top-division football next season with a 2-1 win over fellow promoted side Holstein Kiel.
In Spain, Barcelona needed a Jorge Saenz own goal to edge Leganes 1-0 and move seven points clear of Real Madrid at the top of La Liga on Saturday.
Second-placed champions Madrid face Alaves on Sunday and have to play catch-up after Hansi Flick’s side scraped their way to a narrow but vital win on the road.
The Catalan giants are fighting for a potential quadruple this season and took another small step towards the league title at Butarque stadium.
“The fight and the mentality the team showed today was great,” said Flick, whose side beat Borussia Dortmund 4-0 in the Champions League quarter-finals on Wednesday.
“(Madrid) have a match tomorrow but we’re only looking at ourselves, three points is good and we had a great week.”
Despite Barca’s display lacking the style and danger in front of goal they have shown for much of the season, the players celebrated vehemently at the end.
“In the end what is important in these games are three points,” Barca defender Eric Garcia told DAZN.
“I think this is the type of game where the league is won… we’re top of the table, which is where we want to be, and today we could extend that distance a bit.”
Barcelona lost 1-0 at home against Leganes in December during a slump which they have turned around in 2025, now 24 consecutive matches unbeaten since the turn of the year.
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Former Stoke star pushes Inter Milan 6 points clear in Serie A
LAST UPDATE | 12 Apr 2025
FORMER STOKE STAR Marko Arnautovic helped move Inter Milan six points clear at the top of Serie A with a goal and assist in Saturday’s 3-1 win over Cagliari, ahead of their Champions League showdown with Bayern Munich.
Playing in place of Marcus Thuram with coach Simone Inzaghi looking ahead to Wednesday’s quarter-final second leg with Bayern, Arnautovic lashed Inter ahead in the 13th minute.
And the Austria international laid on a perfect sweeping pass 13 minutes later for Lautaro Martinez, who dinked home his 20th goal of the season in all competitions.
Yann Bisseck’s thumping header in the 55th minute made sure Inter would collect all three points at the San Siro, after Roberto Piccoli halved the deficit for 15th-placed Cagliari shortly after half-time.
Arnautovic has played a bit-part role at Inter but has had an impact in recent weeks with crucial goals, Saturday’s being his fifth in his last 10 club appearances.
Inter now wait for the result of closest challengers Napoli’s home fixture with Empoli on Monday, by which time attentions will be squarely on Bayern.
Inzaghi’s team lead Bayern 2-1 after Tuesday’s win in the first leg in Germany, and are gunning for a repeat of the Serie A, Champions League and Italian Cup treble they conquered under Jose Mourinho 15 years ago.
Earlier Venezia boosted their survival hopes by beating rock-bottom Monza 1-0 and moving to within two points of Lecce who sit just outside the relegation zone and are at Juventus later on Saturday.
Juve will move back into the top four with a win in Turin, with third-placed Atalanta host Bologna — in fourth — on Sunday.
In Germany, Bayern Munich were held to a 2-2 home draw with Borussia Dortmund on Saturday, failing to take advantage of Bayer Leverkusen’s slip-up earlier in the day.
With defending champions Leverkusen held to a scoreless draw at home with Union Berlin just an hour before kickoff, Bayern knew a win would move them further ahead.
Dortmund took the lead through Maximilian Beier in the 48th minute, but Bayern hit back with two goals in four minutes, before Waldemar Anton equalised for the visitors with 15 minutes remaining.
Usually a fixture on the German football calendar, the buzz around the match was comparatively muted.
The visitors came to Munich nine spots and 27 points behind in the table, while both Bayern and Dortmund are in the midst of Champions League quarter-finals, having lost the first legs to Inter Milan and Barcelona respectively.
Bayern, enduring an injury crisis with several first-teamers missing, were camped out in Dortmund’s box for almost the entire first half. Visiting goalkeeper Gregor Kobel needed to snuff out great chances for Harry Kane and Michael Olise.
Seemingly on the ropes at half-time, Dortmund opened the scoring three minutes into the second period, Beier heading between Bayern goalie Jonas Urbig’s legs to finish off a length-of-the-field counter.
With Dortmund in the ascendancy and probing for a second, Kompany brought on Serge Gnabry, and the move worked a treat.
The former Arsenal forward created the equaliser for former Dortmund midfielder Raphael Guerreiro on the 65-minute mark and then scored a goal of his own four minutes later, slaloming through the visiting defence before hammering home.
Dortmund hit back to level things up 15 minutes from time when Anton knocked in a rebound from a Serhou Guirassy shot.
Despite the draw, Bayern remain heavy favourites to lift the Bundesliga title. The Bavarians are six points ahead with five games remaining this season.
Nursing an ongoing Achilles injury, Bayern centre-back Kim Min-jae was subbed off in the second half, leaving the Germans with just one fit central defender ahead of Wednesday’s trip to Inter.
- Leverkusen held at home -
Despite welcoming back star midfielder Florian Wirtz from a foot injury, Xabi Alonso’s Leverkusen lacked fluency in attack, carving out few clear-cut opportunities in a 0-0 home draw with Union Berlin.
Union had the ball in the net after 14 minutes when Andrej Ilic headed in a rebound after a save from Lukas Hradecky, but the Serbian was flagged for offside.
Wirtz came on after 57 minutes and, despite giving his side an initial boost, was unable to break down Union’s defence.
Granit Xhaka had a free-kick from the edge of the box in stoppage time but blasted his shot well over the bar.
“We’re dropping too many points at home,” Leverkusen captain Hradecky said, adding “mathematically there’s a small chance (of defending the title), but the probability has decreased.”
The draw continues a poor April for last season’s unbeaten domestic double winners, who were eliminated from the German Cup semi-finals by third division Arminia Bielefeld.
The draw took Union to 34 points, 12 clear of the relegation spots with five games remaining.
The Berliners have taken 11 points from an unbeaten five-game run against Leverkusen, Bayern, Eintracht Frankfurt, Freiburg and Wolfsburg.
Borussia Moenchengladbach’s hopes of returning to the Champions League took a hit with a 2-1 home loss to Freiburg.
Freiburg snatched all three points when Johan Manzambi scored a 90th minute header, allowing the visitors to leapfrog their opponents into sixth.
Augsburg continued their strong 2025 with a 2-1 win at lowly Bochum, climbing past Dortmund into eighth. Augsburg have only lost one of their past 13 games.
Elsewhere, Hoffenheim took a step towards beating the drop with a 2-0 home win over Champions League hopefuls Mainz, with Andrej Kramaric scoring a brace.
St Pauli also boosted their hopes of top-division football next season with a 2-1 win over fellow promoted side Holstein Kiel.
In Spain, Barcelona needed a Jorge Saenz own goal to edge Leganes 1-0 and move seven points clear of Real Madrid at the top of La Liga on Saturday.
Second-placed champions Madrid face Alaves on Sunday and have to play catch-up after Hansi Flick’s side scraped their way to a narrow but vital win on the road.
The Catalan giants are fighting for a potential quadruple this season and took another small step towards the league title at Butarque stadium.
“The fight and the mentality the team showed today was great,” said Flick, whose side beat Borussia Dortmund 4-0 in the Champions League quarter-finals on Wednesday.
“(Madrid) have a match tomorrow but we’re only looking at ourselves, three points is good and we had a great week.”
Despite Barca’s display lacking the style and danger in front of goal they have shown for much of the season, the players celebrated vehemently at the end.
“In the end what is important in these games are three points,” Barca defender Eric Garcia told DAZN.
“I think this is the type of game where the league is won… we’re top of the table, which is where we want to be, and today we could extend that distance a bit.”
Barcelona lost 1-0 at home against Leganes in December during a slump which they have turned around in 2025, now 24 consecutive matches unbeaten since the turn of the year.
– © AFP 2025
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