SATV April 07, Kathmandu: Paris Saint-Germain clinched the Ligue 1 title on Saturday with a 1-0 win at home against Angers as they prepare for a Champions League quarter-final showdown with Aston Villa.
PSG needed just a draw in front of their own fans to be confirmed as champions again, having started the day a huge 21 points clear of nearest challengers Monaco with seven matches left.
Desire Doue's strike early in the second half decided the game in PSG's favour, allowing Luis Enrique's team to take the title with six matches still to play.
It is a fourth consecutive Ligue 1 title for the club from the French capital and their 11th in the last 13 seasons, highlighting the extent to which they have dominated domestically since being taken over by Qatar Sports Investments in 2011.
"Our ambition is to win everything," said captain Marquinhos, who has now won 10 titles since joining the club in 2013, to broadcaster beIN Sports.
"It is a nice feeling. It is the reward for the work we have put in throughout the season, for our consistency, and the team deserves it," added the Brazilian centre-back, who will be suspended for the first leg against Villa.
PSG's overall tally of 13 French league titles is three more than Saint-Etienne, who are the next most successful club with 10 but have not been champions since 1981.
Marseille have won nine titles, while Nantes and Monaco have each been champions on eight occasions.
The extent to which winning the French league has become a routine exercise for the Parisian outfit helps explain why celebrations were far from excessive on a beautiful spring day in the city.
However, Luis Enrique was raised aloft by members of his coaching staff while the PSG players undertook a lap of honour of the Parc des Princes pitch.
Barcelona increase Liga lead
Barcelona failed to break down a frantic Real Betis defence as they were held to a 1-1 draw in La Liga on Saturday but still gained ground on Real Madrid who earlier conceded deep into added time to lose 2-1 at home to Valencia.
Barcelona moved four points ahead of Real Madrid atop La Liga. Both teams face Champions League first-leg ties this week, Real visit Arsenal on Tuesday and Barcelona play in Dortmund the following evening.
Barcelona cut open Betis in the seventh minute and Gavi slid the ball past goalkeeper Adrian from inside the six-yard box.
But the hosts were unable to turn a series of lively attacks into goals. Instead the visitors hit back after 16 minutes when centreback Natan Souza escaped the clutches of his defender to head home a Giovani Lo Celso corner.
"If we had won we would be further clear, but in the end it's football," Gavi told Movistar. "The draw leaves a bitter taste, because we were unable to take advantage of the chances we had."
The draw lifted Betis to fifth.
"La Liga is more complicated, but we have to fight until the last game," said Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti.
"They didn't need to do much to score two goals," said Ancelotti. "We took risks at the end and found ourselves hit on the counter-attack.
"We've had deserved defeats this season, but I don't think we lacked attitude today," he added. "It's not a deserved defeat. We created lots of chances but lacked a little effectiveness."
The victory lifted Valencia to 15th, seven points clear of the bottom three.
Real had an early chance to take control when Valencia's Cesar Tarrega was adjudged to have fouled Kylian Mbappe in the penalty area, but Giorgi Mamardashvili saved a weak spot-kick from Vinicius Junior.
It was the Brazilian's second consecutive miss from the spot for Real, after he wasted a Champions League penalty against Atletico Madrid.
Within a minute Valencia went up the other end and won a corner. From it Mouctar Diakhaby outjumped Antonio Rudiger and rocketed home a header.
Real levelled after 50 minutes when Vinicius tapped over the line in a scramble following a Real corner. It was his 104th goal for Los Blancos, matching Brazilian compatriot Ronaldo.
Real gave a lacklustre performance, nevertheless, Mbappe carved out enough chances to win, but wasted opportunities in the 36th, 37th, 48th, 49th and 68th minutes.
Valencia's Georgian goalkeeper Mamardashvili was in imperious form keeping his team in the game until Duro delivered his winner.
Valencia stunned the dominant hosts deep into injury time when a slick countering-attacking move was emphatically finished by Duro from Rafa Mir's cross.
Ancelotti started third-choice 'keeper Fran Gonzalez following injuries to Thibaut Courtois and Andriy Lunin, although the Ukrainian was fit enough to be named on the bench.
Arsenal held by Everton
Arsenal's faint hopes of catching Premier League leaders Liverpool are almost over after their 1-1 draw at Everton, while Aston Villa bolstered their bid for Champions League qualification with a 2-1 win against Nottingham Forest on Saturday.
Leandro Trossard's opener for the Gunners was cancelled out by Iliman Ndiaye's penalty to leave Arsenal trailing 11 points behind Liverpool.
Liverpool need just 11 points from their remaining eight games to secure a record-equalling 20th English top-flight title and first since 2020.
With just two wins in their last six league matches, Arsenal have tamely surrendered in the title race and are destined to go another year without their first English crown since 2004.
At Villa Park, Unai Emery's side climbed into sixth as early goals from Morgan Rogers and Donyell Malen saw off third-placed Forest, who got one back through Jota Silva.
Villa's seventh consecutive victory in all competitions was the ideal preparation for Wednesday's trip to
Palace striker Eddie Nketiah was sent off for two bookings in the space of nine minutes, then team-mate Marc Guehi was dismissed for picking up a second yellow card in the 90th minute.
Inter throw away points at Parma
Inter Milan stumbled in their bid to retain the Serie A title after throwing away a two-goal lead to draw 2-2 at Parma on Saturday, giving Napoli a chance to cut the champions' league lead to a single point.
Goals in the first half from Matteo Darmian and Marcus Thuram appeared to have sent Inter on their way to moving six points clear at the top of the division ahead of their Champions League quarter-final with Bayern Munich.
But Adrian Bernabe halved the deficit for Parma on the hour mark with a daisy cutter from distance, and the hosts were level nine minutes later when Jacob Ondrejka's strike was deflected past Inter goalkeeper Yann Sommer.
