Harry Kane struck twice, including a stoppage-time winner, to guide Bayern Munich to a 2-1 victory over RB Leipzig, snapping a three-game losing run in all competitions and staying eight points off leaders Bayer Leverkusen.
Kane had hit the post with a fifth-minute header but completed a quick break with a crisp, low finish after good early work from Jamal Musiala to put Bayern ahead in the 56th.
Leipzig levelled in the 70th with a deflected Benjamin Sesko shot after the Slovenian had twice earlier been denied by keeper Manuel Neuer. Kane, however, came to the rescue once more with his 27th league goal of the season, drilling in a powerful low drive to snatch the three points.
Elsewhere in the Bundesliga, last-place Darmstadt had two late goals ruled out by VAR and conceded an own-goal as they were held 1-1 at Werder Bremen.
Tim Skarke thought he had won the game in the seventh minute of added time for Darmstadt, but the goal was ruled out as the ball had hit his arm from an attempted clearance by the Bremen goalkeeper, Michael Zetterer. Skarke had another goal ruled out for offside in the 78th minute, and Christoph Zimmermann’s early own-goal gave Bremen a share of the points.
Third-place Stuttgart were held 1-1 by visiting Cologne. Borussia Mönchengladbach defeated Bochum 5-2.
Union Berlin and promoted Heidenheim also drew, 2-2, earning a point in their fight against relegation. Nikola Dovedan fired Heidenheim ahead with a cool finish in the third minute, but Union struck back with two quickfire goals before the break. Robin Gosens equalised in the 44th minute before András Schäfer’s shot took a decisive deflection off Brenden Aaronson’s back to go inside the right post. Jan-Niklas Beste finished off a counterattack with a lob over the Union goalkeeper, Frederik Rønnow, to equalise in the 71st minute, but the Heidenheim forward had to immediately go off with what looked like a hamstring injury.
Raphinha, João Félix, Frenkie De Jong and Fermín López scored to give Barcelona a 4-0 win over visitors Getafe on Saturday that lifts Xavi Hernández’s side to second in La Liga.
It was a much-needed win for last year’s champions who are enduring difficult season and have been under pressure after Xavi announced he was stepping down as manager at the end of the campaign.
In a half-empty Olympic stadium, the hosts dominated from the start and opened the scoring through Raphinha in the 20th minute.
In a quick counter, the Brazilian winger beat the offside trap to latch on to Jules Koundé’s long pass and blast the ball past the Getafe keeper, David Soria.
Raphinha wasted two chances in similar fashion and Luis Milla almost equalised in the 49th minute with a long-range strike that hit Marc-André ter Stegen’s right post.
João Félix extended Barça’s lead in the 53rd minute with a tap-in from a low cross by Andreas Christiansen from the right and De Jong struck from the edge of the box to score the third, following good work by Raphinha.
The substitute López lashed in a rebound in added time to complete the rout for the champions who moved to second in the standings on 57 points, five behind the leaders, Real Madrid, and one ahead of third-place Girona, both of whom have a game in hand.
Real Madrid host Sevilla on Sunday while Girona face Rayo Vallecano as they look to bounce back from two consecutive losses to keep their surprise La Liga title ambitions alive.
“We played a very complete game both in defence and attack, I’m satisfied with the performance and the result, now we’ll wait to see what Girona and Real Madrid do ...” Xavi told Movistar Plus.
The substitute Simone Bastoni scored deep in added time to help Empoli snatch a 3-2 win at Sassuolo in a Serie A relegation fight and continue their positive run under Davide Nicola.
Bastoni was brought on with 10 minutes remaining and headed in the winner in the fourth minute of added time. Empoli were one spot above last place when Nicola replaced Aurelio Andreazzoli as coach last month but have not lost a game since. They have moved up to 13th and are five points above the relegation zone.
Sassuolo are in freefall and have now lost five of their past six matches to leave them level on points with 18th-place Hellas Verona.
