GARETH Bale broke his goal drought, the Bundesliga’s top scorer added another two and Roma’s defensive woes deepened. It was another huge night of action across Europe and we’ve got the pick of the La Liga, bundesliga and Serie A action in Eurobeat. LA LIGA Gareth Bale scored his first goal in three months for Real Madrid before Cristiano Ronaldo added a penalty to secure a 2-0 win at Eibar on Sunday and end its two-game losing run in the Spanish league. Bale headed in Luka Modric’s cross two minutes before halftime, and Ronaldo converted a spot kick in the 82nd after a penalty was awarded when substitute Lucas Vazquez went down after slight contact with Dani Garcia. Madrid’s win at Ipurua Stadium came after the team was heavily criticised for a loss at Sevilla and last weekend’s 4-0 defeat to Barcelona.


Madrid remained in third place, six points
behind leader Barcelona and two points behind
Atletico Madrid after they both won on
Saturday.
“We arrived here after going through some
difficult moments, and we are all aware that we
have to improve,” said Madrid goalkeeper Keylor
Navas. “These are three important points that
keep us in the title race.”
Ronaldo, who hadn’t escaped criticism from
Madrid’s fans for the loss to Barcelona, spent
most of the game lamenting missed chances
before he got his ninth league goal of the
season from the spot.
Until the Portugal forward put the result beyond
doubt, the hosts had matched Madrid’s talent
with effort and constantly appeared threatening.
Eibar, which was missing injured top scorer
Borja “Baston” Gonzalez and suspended forward
Sergio “Keko” Gontan, slipped two spots into
eighth place after just its third loss in 13
rounds.
“We played a good game in defence, but we
needed to show more fire going forward,” said
Eibar manager Jose Mendilibar.
Also Sunday, Aritz Aduriz scored a hat trick to
lead Athletic Bilbao to a 3-0 rout at Rayo
Vallecano, moving the Basque visitors up to
seventh. With 10 goals this season, Aduriz is
third on the highest scorers list behind
Barcelona duo Neymar (14) and Luis Suarez
(12).
In the capital, Angel Lafita scored one goal and
set up Alvaro Vazquez for another as Getafe
beat sixth-place Villarreal 2-0 to move away
from the relegation zone.

BUNDESLIGA
Bundesliga top scorer Pierre-Emerick
Aubameyang got another two goals for Borussia
Dortmund in its 4-1 home victory over Stuttgart
to consolidate second place on Sunday.
Interim Stuttgart coach Juergen Kramny got off
to a bad start when Gonzalo Castro scored in
the third minute and then set up Aubameyang in
the 19th.
Castro was first to the rebound when
Przemyslaw Tyton saved Henrikh Mkhitaryan’s
initial effort and set up Aubameyang with his
heel. The Gabon striker lifted the ball over the
outrushing Tyton for Dortmund’s second.
“The goal was easier than the assist,” Castro
said of his first goal for Dortmund.
Tyton made a fine save to deny Mkhitaryan
again in the 30th, before Daniel Didavi pulled
one back from Filip Kostic’s cross in the 40th.
Hopes of a comeback effectively ended when
Georg Niedermeier turned Marco Reus’ cross
into his own net in the 65th.
Aubameyang claimed his second in injury time
when he was set up by substitute Adrian
Ramos. It was the forward’s 17th league goal
of the season.
Dortmund stayed eight points behind leader
Bayern Munich, while Stuttgart slipped to its
third straight defeat.

Bayer Leverkusen salvaged a 1-1 draw with
Schalke after an own goal forced by Javier
“Chicharito” Hernandez with five minutes
remaining.
The Mexico forward ran onto Kevin Kampl’s
through ball and cut it back toward goal, where
goalkeeper Ralf Faehrmann’s block rebounded
off Sascha Riether’s head into the goal.
It had looked like Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting’s
50th-minute strike would be enough for the
visitors.
Leon Goretzka played a perfect pass into the
path of Choupo-Moting, who held off Giulio
Donati and poked the ball beyond Leverkusen
‘keeper Bernd Leno.
Leverkusen stayed sixth, 19 points behind
Bayern. Schalke dropped to eighth behind
Leverkusen and Hamburger SV on goal
difference.
Third-place Wolfsburg could only manage a
goalless draw at Augsburg, which climbed
above Stuttgart into the relegation playoff place
on goal difference.
SERIE A
Five days after a humiliating 6-1 rout by
Barcelona in the Champions League, Roma’s
defensive deficiencies were highlighted again in
an alarming 2-0 loss at home to Atalanta in
Serie A on Sunday.
Alejandro Gomez intercepted a poor pass from
Roma defender Lucas Digne to score from
outside the area before halftime. Then
substitute fullback Maicon was sent off for
tripping Gomez to set up a penalty for German
Denis eight minutes from the end.


Roma remained fourth, wasting a chance to pull
level with leader Inter Milan, which visits
second-place Napoli on Monday.
Roma has scored a league-best 29 goals but
has conceded 17 — more than twice as many
as both Inter and Napoli.
Later, four-time defending champion Juventus
was aiming for its fourth consecutive win at
Palermo.
Elsewhere, Cyril Thereau scored twice, including
an 81st-minute winner, as Udinese won 3-2 at
Chievo Verona; and Carpi came from behind for
a 2-1 victory at 10-man Genoa with Marco
Borriello scoring one goal and setting up
another for former Italy international Cristian
Zaccardo.
Also, Hellas Verona remained winless after a 3-2
loss at Frosinone after goalkeeper Rafael was
sent off near the start for elbowing an
opponent’s head. Matteo Ciofani scored twice
for Frosinone, which moved one point above the
drop zone.