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Saturday European Rewind: Juventus defeats Inter, Chelsea downs Swansea, and more

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Juventus had seen their lead over Napoli cut trimmed to one point going into Saturday’s clash with Inter Milan. With only a few matches remaining, the Old Lady knew there was no room for any mistakes if they wanted to win another Serie A title.

Max Allegri’s side fought their way back for a 3-2 road win after seeing their early lead vanish at the San Siro. An 89th minute winner from Gonzalo Higuain completed the comeback for Juventus who had to dig deep for a result. Douglas Costa’s fourth league goal of the season, gave Juve a 1-0 lead in the 13th minute. Matias Vecino was sent off for Inter in the 18th minute, after a vicious foul on Mario Mandzukic. Mauro Icardi leveled the score for Inter in the 52nd minute, heading home from a set piece situation. An own goal from Andrea Barzagli extended Inter’s advantage to 2-1 in the 65th minute and flipped momentum onto the hosts side. However, Juve continued to fight and their pressure was rewarded late. An own goal by Inter’s Milan Skriniar leveled the score at 2-2 in the 87th minute, before Higuain headed in the winner from a set piece two minutes later. Juventus are four points clear of Napoli in the table, while Inter are in fifth.

Elsewhere in Europe, Real Madrid hosted Leganes in La Liga play while Chelsea traveled to Swansea City in England. Schalke welcomed Borussia Monchengladbach to Veltins Arena in the Bundesliga match of the round. St. Etienne traveled to Montpellier in a top-ten Ligue 1 clash on Friday.

Here’s a closer look at all of Friday and Saturday’s European action:

ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE

Chelsea won its fourth consecutive fixture in all competitions, squeaking past Swansea City 1-0 at the Liberty Stadium. Cesc Fabregas’ first goal since Nov. 22nd sealed the win for Chelsea, after the Spaniard scored in the fourth minute. Both sides had three shots on goal in the match, with Thibaut Courtois earning the clean sheet. Swansea has now lost two in a row, and are winless since March 3rd. Chelsea are in fifth place on 66 points, while Swansea sits a point clear of the bottom three.

Here’s all of Saturday’s EPL results:

Liverpool 0 – Stoke City 0

Newcastle United 0 – West Bromwich Albion 1

Southampton 2 – AFC Bournemouth 1

Huddersfield Town 0 – Everton 2

Crystal Palace 5 – Leicester City 0

Burnley 0 – Brighton & Hove Albion 0

Swansea City 0 – Chelsea 1

SPANISH LA LIGA

Real Madrid grabbed their third consecutive victory out of their past four matches in all competitions, defeating Leganes 2-1 at home. Gareth Bale’s opener in the eighth minute gave Real Madrid an early lead against their opponents. Borja Mayoral added to the lead in the first-half, scoring his sixth goal of the season in all comps before halftime. Darko Brasanac pulled a goal back for Leganes in the 66th minute but it proved to be a mere consolation. Kiko Casilla made five saves in the win for Real Madrid, starting for the rested Keylor Navas. Leganes are in 16th place, while Los Blancos are a point behind Atletico.

Here’s all of Friday and Saturday’s La Liga results:

Levante 2 – Sevilla 1

Espanyol 1 – Las Palmas 1

Real Sociedad 3 – Athletic Bilbao 1

Real Madrid 2 – Leganes 1

Villarreal 4 – Celta Vigo 1

GERMAN BUNDESLIGA

10-men Schalke battled their way back for a point in their home 1-1 draw with Borussia Monchengladbach on Saturday. Daniel Caligiuri’s penalty kick equalizer in the 45th minute drew the sides level before halftime. Nabil Bentaleb was shown the exits early for Schalke in the 12th minute, seeing a straight red card for violent conduct. Raffael’s right-footed finish in the 32nd minute opened scoring for Gladbach, but eventually was not enough to earn all three points. American midfielder Weston McKennie played 30 minutes off the bench for Schalke, coming on as a second-half substitute. Gladbach drop to ninth, while Schalke could drop to third pending Borussia Dortmund’s result on Sunday.

VfB Stuttgart grabbed a huge points on the road as they defeated Bayer Leverkusen 1-0 away from home. Christian Gentner played the hero as his header in the 67th minute proved to be the difference in the score. Gentner got on the end of Dennis Aogo cross on a fast break and headed it into the top-left corner. It was the midfielder’s second league goal of the current campaign. Ron-Robert Zieler made seven saves in the clean sheet for Stuttgart who move up to eighth place. Leverkusen are down to fifth place with the loss.

Here’s all of Friday and Saturday’s Bundesliga results:

1899 Hoffenheim 3 – Hannover 1

Schalke 1 – Borussia Monchengladbach 1

Bayern Munich 4 – Eintracht Frankfurt 1

SC Freiburg 3 – FC Koln 2

VfL Wolfsburg 1 – Hamburg SV 3

Hertha Berlin 2 – FC Augsburg 2

Bayer Leverkusen 0 – VfB Stuttgart 1

ITALIAN SERIE A

Here’s all of Saturday’s Serie A results:

AS Roma 4 – Chievo Verona 1

Inter Milan 2 – Juventus 3

FRENCH LIGUE 1

Lyon continued their quest for a top-two finish as they eased past visiting Nantes 2-0 at the Parc OL. Memphis Depay’s hot run of form for Lyon continued as the Dutch winger opened the scoring in the 39th minute from long-range. It was Depay’s 19th goal of the season in all competitions. Bertrand Traore got in on the action in the 68th minute as the striker received Depay’s assist and finished from the center of the box. Nantes was held to four shots in the defeat, which is their third out of the last six matches. Lyon are sitting on 72 points this season and currently occupy second place.

In a battle of top-ten teams on Friday, St. Etienne used a first-half goal to defeat Montpellier 1-0 away from home. Romain Hamouma’s close-range finish for the visitors was all they needed to grab three points. Giovanni Sio had a huge chance to equalize  before halftime for Montpellier, but the striker saw his penalty kick saved by Stephane Ruffier. Ruffier made five saves in total to give St. Etienne their third consecutive victory in Ligue 1 play. Montpellier are in eighth place following the home defeat.

Here’s all of Friday and Saturday’s Ligue 1 results:

Montpellier 0 – St. Etienne 1

Lyon 2 – Nantes 0

Strasbourg 1 – Nice 1

Bordeaux 3 – Dijon 1

Lille 3 – Metz 1

Troyes 3 – Caen 1

AS Monaco 0 – Amiens 0

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