MADRID — Casemiro scored in the 89th-minute to earn Real Madrid a 2-1 win at Las Palmas in the Spanish league Sunday, keeping his team on course for an automatic spot in next season’s Champions League.
Casemiro headed the winner from a corner just two minutes after Las Palmas equalized with striker Willian Jose to ignite the local fans in the Canary Islands. Sergio Ramos had put Madrid ahead with another header in the 24th, before being sent off in injury time.
Las Palmas played better most of the match and goalkeeper Keylor Navas had to make several key saves to keep Madrid in the game.
“If we want anything from what’s coming up we have got to play better, that’s for sure,” Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane said. “Like this, we’ll get nowhere.”
It was Madrid’s third league win in a row, leaving it 10 points in front of fourth-place Villarreal, which lost to Sevilla earlier Sunday.
Defending champion Barcelona routed Getafe 6-0 at the Camp Nou Saturday to maintain an eight-point lead over second-place Atletico Madrid, which kept pace by defeating Deportivo La Coruna 3-0 at the Vicente Calderon Stadium a few hours later.
Earlier Sunday in Seville, Ukraine midfielder Yevhen Konoplyanka scored the decisive goal with a 65th-minute long-range shot as Sevilla beat Villarreal 4-2 to stay in the fight for a Champions League spot.
The team’s 13th straight home victory in the league helped it move within five points of Villarreal.
Also Sunday, striker Giuseppe Rossi scored a 65th-minute winner to give last-place Levante a 1-0 win over Valencia in the city derby.
Sixth-place Athletic Bilbao defeated Real Betis 3-1 at home to win its fourth league game in a row and remain one point behind Sevilla.
Dortmund blanks Mainz
One fan died and another was taken to hospital after both suffered heart attacks during Borussia Dortmund’s 2-0 victory over Mainz in the Bundesliga Sunday.
One of the supporters died despite efforts to save him, while the other was “in a stable condition” in hospital, Dortmund media director Sascha Fligge told the Associated Press. Dortmund restored the five-point gap behind Bayern Munich with eight rounds of games remaining. Mainz dropped to sixth.
Earlier, an own goal from Albin Ekdal was enough for Bayer Leverkusen to beat visiting Hamburger SV 1-0 and climb to seventh, a point behind Mainz.
Higuain hits 27th goal
In Milan, Gonzalo Higuain struck from the spot to claim his 27th Serie A goal this season as Napoli maintained its push for a first ‘scudetto’ in 26 years with a patchy 1-0 win at Palermo Sunday.
A 1-0 win for Juventus over Sassuolo Friday meant the champions opened up a six-point gap at the top days before a Champions League last 16 decider at Bayern Munich.
But Napoli made sure the suspense is maintained for yet another week with a dominant but cagey performance that was settled by Higuain’s 23rd-minute opener.
Roma sits eight points behind Juve and five behind Napoli but, after Edin Dzeko and Alessandro Florenzi struck in a 2-1 win at Udinese, Luciano Spalletti’s men have tightened their grip on third place.
Elsewhere Sunday, Miroslav Klose struck a second-half brace as Lazio ended a three-game winless run with a 2-0 home win over Atalanta that left Stefano Pioli’s men in eighth but 13 points behind Inter in the Europa League spots. — Agencies
