European football: Barcelona close on La Liga title; PSG and Bayern held at home

Barcelona could secure the La Liga title on Sunday after Robert Lewandowski and Ferran Torres struck late in a 2-1 victory at Osasuna. With four games remaining, Barça top the table on 88 points, 14 clear of second-placed Real Madrid, who have a game in hand and visit Espanyol on Sunday. Should Madrid fail to win, Barcelona will be confirmed champions for the second successive season.

Barça broke through in the 81st minute when Marcus Rashford crossed from the right and Lewandowski rose to head in. Five minutes later Fermín López slipped Torres clear and he finished low past Sergio Herrera. Raúl García pulled back a goal from close range two minutes later, but it was too little to late for Osasuna, who remain 10th on 42 points.

Hansi Flick, the Barcelona coach, said: “For me the important thing was that today we did our job, it’s not in our hands what happens tomorrow. It’s like that. We have to wait – this is a good situation … If we win the title [by Madrid slipping up], we will also celebrate, I think it doesn’t matter [how].”

The Barça striker Torres said he would prefer for the title to be sewn up “as soon as possible”. “We’ve put the pressure on Madrid because tomorrow, if they don’t win, then we really will be champions,” Torres told Dazn.

Villarreal guaranteed themselves a Champions League qualification spot with a 5-1 romp over Levante. Marcelino’s third-placed side moved 18 points clear of fifth-place Real Betis, who have five games left to play. Georges Mikautadze struck twice in the Yellow Submarine’s derby victory, with Alberto Moleiro, Tajon Buchanan and Nicolas Pépé also on target. Carlos Espí scored for Levante, 19th, provisionally three points from safety and in danger of relegation, with Sevilla and Alavés above them still to play this weekend.

Villarreal are five points clear of fourth-place Atlético Madrid, who 2-0 won at Valencia despite Diego Simeone rotating all 11 players from the Champions League semi-final first leg 1-1 draw against Arsenal. This was match number 1,000 for Simeone in his coaching career, but he was thinking more about 1001, in London on Tuesday against Mikel Arteta’s Premier League leaders. The youngsters Iker Luque and Miguel Cubo struck second-half goals for Atlético, with defeated Valencia, 13th, only five points clear of the relegation zone.

Meanwhile, Real Madrid’s captain Dani Carvajal has suffered a foot injury as the right-back approaches the final weeks of a contract that expires in June. The 34-year-old Spain international could be sidelined for up to two weeks, raising the possibility that he may still be available for their final home game of the season against Athletic Bilbao at the Bernabéu later this month. After facing Espanyol on Sunday, Real travel to Barcelona for el clásico on 10 May.

In France, Paris Saint-Germain warmed up for the second leg of their Champions League semi-final against Bayern Munich by fielding a second-string lineup and throwing away the lead twice in a 2-2 draw with Lorient in Ligue 1.

Ibrahim Mbaye’s lucky early goal to put PSG in front at the Parc des Princes was soon cancelled out by Pablo Pagis for mid-table Lorient, but Warren Zaïre-Emery gave the hosts the lead for the second time when he scored moments after coming on as a second-half substitute.

However, a mistake by the teenage debutant Pierre Mounguengue allowed Aiyegun Tosin to run through and score a second equaliser for Lorient, and PSG could not find a winner – even being awarded a penalty in stoppage time for a nonexistent handball which was eventually overturned after the video assistant referee intervened.

Their title rivals, Lens, failed to take full advantage, though, drawing 1-1 at Nice. A win for the second-placed side would have cut PSG’s lead to four points – with Lens hosting PSG on 13 May – but the gap remains six points with three rounds remaining.

Left winger Allan Saint-Maximin put Lens ahead in the 61st minute against his former club, latching on to Adrien Thomasson’s fine pass from deep and netting with a composed finish. But after the Lens defender Saud Abdulhamid was sent off in the 81st minute, Nice equalised moments later when defender Ali Abdi turned in Sofiane Diop’s deflected free kick.

Bayern Munich, who are already confirmed as Bundesliga champions, scored through Michael Olise with the last kick of the game to snatch a 3-3 draw against bottom-placed Heidenheim after battling back from two goals down. Like PSG’s head coach Luis Enrique, Vincent Kompany rotated his side heavily before the return match in Munich.

Heidenheim quickly found themselves two goals up with Budu Zivzivadze and Eren Dinkci finding far too much space and beating second-choice keeper Jonas Urbig. But Bayern, who last Saturday came from 3-0 down to beat Mainz 05 4-3 in the Bundesliga then on Tuesday cut the deficit against PSG from 5-2 to 5-4, began their latest comeback with Leon Goretzka’s free kick just before the break.

The midfielder, who will be leaving Bayern at the end of the season, scored again in the 57th minute to level but Heidenheim, desperate for points to have a shot at reaching the relegation playoff spot, hit back once more. Zivzivadze curled a shot into the top far corner after shaking off Olise in the 76th to put his team 3-2 up.

But in the 10th minute of stoppage time, Olise grabbed a point for Bayern with a long-range effort that went in off the back of Diant Ramaj, the Heidenheim keeper.

Schalke secured promotion back to the Bundesliga after beating Fortuna Düsseldorf 1-0 at home. Kenan Karaman’s 15th-minute goal proved enough to earn a top-flight return for Schalke, who have spent four of the last five seasons in the second tier.

In Italy, Napoli were held to a 0-0 draw at Como, a result that means Inter, the Serie A leaders, now need just one point to secure the league title. Inter hold a nine-point lead over Napoli, who have three matches left, and a draw at home to Parma on Sunday night would clinch the Scudetto. Como, meanwhile, boosted their chances of qualifying for Europe for the first time.

Cesc Fàbregas’s side are fifth in the standings on 62 points, two behind Juventus, who host already relegated Verona on Sunday and, with the top six guaranteed European football, Como are eight points ahead of Atalanta in seventh.

Como looked the more likely side to take all three points, with Vanja Milinkovic-Savic in the visitors’ goal coming to Napoli’s rescue on more than one occasion, while Matteo Politano hit the post late on for the defending champions.