International football – Kroos brings Real Madrid closer to top duo – sport

Los Blancos win against Bilbao. Chelsea missed the leap to first place. Lazio Rome, Bavaria’s next Champions League opponent, only plays a draw.

With Toni Kroos as the goalscorer, Spain’s soccer record champions Real Madrid celebrated a lackluster 3-1 (1-0) home win against Athletic Bilbao and caught up with the leading duo of the Primera División on points. The national player brought the royal team into the lead on Tuesday evening at the Estadio Alfredo Di Stefano shortly before the half-time whistle (45th + 1 minute). Torgarant Karim Benzema (74./90.+2) once again provided the redeeming hits. Bilbao only briefly dreamed of scooping the favorites after a 1-1 draw from Ander Capa (52nd).

Real played 80 minutes outnumbered because Raul Garcia (Bilbao) had to leave the field with a yellow-red in the 13th minute. League leaders Real Sociedad San Sebastian and Atlético Madrid also have 26 points, but Real’s city rivals Atlético have played two games less.

Havertz and Werner miss a jump to the top

The German national players Timo Werner and Kai Havertz missed the championship lead in the English Premier League with Chelsea. On matchday 13, the Blues lost 1: 2 (0: 0) at the last minute on Tuesday at Wolverhampton Wanderers and remain fifth with 22 points for the time being.

The team of coach Frank Lampard was for a long time the superior team, but only after the break were the Londoners successful. Werner put Ben Chilwell in the limelight on the left, whose cross French world champion Olivier Giroud converted to 1-0 (49th minute). Chelsea didn’t manage to calm the game afterwards – on the contrary: A shot by Wanderers offensive player Daniel Podence was deflected slightly by Chelsea defender Reece James and landed in the goal to equalize 1-1 (66th). When everything looked like a draw, Pedro Neto caused the second Chelsea defeat in a row in the fifth minute of stoppage time.

Despite oppressive superiority, Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City only scored 1-1 (1-1) against West Bromwich Albion and is sixth. Borussia Mönchengladbach’s eighth-final opponent in the Champions League took the lead after half an hour with Ilkay Gündogan’s first goal of the season, but Semi Ajayi surprisingly equalized shortly before the break. More than 75 percent possession of the ball and numerous top-class opportunities were no longer enough for City to win.

Lazio missed victory

In the Inzaghis’ brother duel, Simone is further ahead – at least as a coach. The 44-year-old came on Tuesday evening in the Italian football championship with Lazio Rome to a 1-1 draw against Benevento Calcio – trained by Filippo Inzaghi (47), who became world champion as a player with Italy in 2006. After two duels so far, it is still 1-0 after victories for the younger Inzaghi. Simone won the only previous meeting of the two as coach when Lazio beat Filippo Inzaghis Bologna 2-0 in December 2018.

The draw now was too little for Lazio, which will meet FC Bayern in the eighth final of the Champions League. Lazio striker Ciro Immobile (25th) put the Romans in the lead against the promoted team before Pasquale Schiattarella (45th) equalized before the break. Lazio are already clearly behind the leaders and are behind the European Cup places. Newcomer Benevento is six points behind Lazio in the middle of the table.