Asensio, Vinicius shine in Real win.
- Madrid: Marco Asensio and Vinicius Jr. scored second-half goals to earn Real Madrid solid 2-0 win over struggling Valencia on Thursday as the visitors finished the match with 10 men.
- Valencia defender Gabriel Paulist was shown a straight red 18 minutes from time for chopping down Vinicius with a wild tackle that almost started a brawl among players on the pitch.
- The Liga champions climbed to 45 points in second place in the standings, five behind leaders Barcelona. Valencia, who fired manager Gennaro Gattuso on Wednesday, are on a five-game winless streak and are 14th on 20 points, one clear of the relegation zone. Real, bidding to retain the title, are under pressure from their archrivals Barca who are unbeaten in their last 14 matches in all competitions and on
- They were the better side for large parts of the game and controlled the tempo on a chilly night, but it took them a while to find their mojo in front of goal, Cius and Karim Benzema wasting good opportunities in the first half.
- Meanwhile, Antonio Rudiger had a goal ruled out by VAR for a Benzema foul in the build-up just before half-time. But Real looked sharper after the break and struck twice in two minutes. It was not all good news for Real Madrid, however, with de- fender Eder Militao and forward Benze-ma, key players for coach Carlo Ancelotti, leaving the match early due to leg injuries.
- Juventus beat Lazio to reach semis: Juventus will face Inter Milan in the last four of the Italian Cup after beating Lazio 1-0 in Thursday's final quarterfinal tie.
- Gleison Bremer headed home the decisive goal a minute before half-time when he beat Lazio goalkeeper Luis Maximiano to Filip Kostic's cross. The Brazilian's second goal of the season won a tight contest in Turin and set up a two-legged semifinal against Juve's biggest rivals Inter:
- Mbappe injury hits PSG hard: An injury to a key player is once again threatening to derail a Champions League campaign for Paris Saint-Germain with Kylian Mbappe having been ruled out of the first leg of their last-16 tie against Bayern Munich. Mbappe suffered the injury to his left thigh at Montpellier in midweek and had to come off, having already twice missed a penalty in the early stages.