Plus: Robert Lewandowski matches Gerd Muller's record of 40 goals in a Bundesliga season as Bayern Munich draw 2-2 at Freiburg; Eintracht Frankfurt shocked 4-3 by Schalke 04 to hand Borussia Dortmund chance to seal Champions League spot
Sunday 16 May 2021 12:08, UK
Juan Cuadrado scored a double as Juventus kept their Champions League qualification hopes alive with a 3-2 win over Serie A champions Inter Milan on Saturday despite spending most of the second half with 10 men.
The result lifted Andrea Pirlo's side into fourth place with one game remaining, level on 75 points with AC Milan in third.
However, Napoli will knock the Turin club back into fifth if they beat Fiorentina on Sunday and Milan will be assured of a top-four finish if they beat Cagliari, thanks to their better head-to-head record against Juve.
"It was a difficult game against a great team like Inter. Even with a man down, we had to get the job done, make sacrifices, and I think that we got the result as a team," Cuadrado told Sky Italia.
Both sides were awarded first-half penalties in a game dominated by VAR decisions. Cristiano Ronaldo scored on the rebound to put Juve ahead after his spot-kick was saved, and Romelu Lukaku scored his penalty for Inter soon after.
Juve regained the lead on the brink of half-time through a deflected Cuadrado strike, but the hosts were reduced to 10 men early in the second half when Rodrigo Bentancur picked up a second yellow.
Inter drew level through a Giorgio Chiellini own goal and Cuadrado responded with the winning penalty in the 88th minute. There was still time for Marcelo Brozovic to be sent off for the visitors for a second booking.
Inter ended Juves nine-year stranglehold of the Serie A title with four games to spare and had the chance to land a huge blow to their rivals' top-four hopes.
But Juve took the lead when Chiellini was wrestled to the ground at a corner and won a penalty following a VAR review. The spot-kick was saved, but Ronaldo tapped in the rebound.
Inter drew level when Matthijs de Ligt was judged to have fouled Lautaro Martinez in the box after a VAR review, and Lukaku converted the resulting penalty.
Juve edged back in front deep in first-half stoppage time when a powerful Cuadrado shot took a deflection and flew past Handanovic.
The hosts were reduced to 10 men on the 55th minute after Bentancur tripped Lukaku to earn a second yellow, and Pirlo decided to take Ronaldo off for the final quarter of the match in a bid to see out the game.
The match burst into life in the final 10 minutes. Chiellini bundled a cross into his own net but the goal was disallowed for a foul, only for the decision to be overturned following a VAR review.
Three minutes later, Cuadrado was tripped by Ivan Perisic to earn the third penalty of the game and the Colombian slotted it home before Inters night got worse when Brozovic picked up a second yellow for a clumsy challenge.
Borussia Dortmund were handed a boost in the race for fourth place as Bundesliga rivals Frankfurt dropped points, while Robert Lewandowski set another goalscoring record.
Eintracht Frankfurt crashed to a 4-3 defeat at relegated Schalke 04 to all but dash their hopes of a top-four finish with one game left in the season.
Eintracht are in fifth place on 57 points, with Borussia Dortmund fourth on 58 and in action against Mainz 05 on Sunday. A win would see them secure fourth place before the final matchday.
Eintracht battled back after Klaas-Jan Huntelaar had put the hosts in front in the 15th minute, scoring the rebound after his penalty was saved.
Andre Silva levelled in the 29th and Evan Ndicka put them 2-1 up six minutes after the restart.
But Schalke, in last place and already relegated, struck three times in 12 minutes through Blendi Idrizi, Florian Flick and Matthew Hoppe to turn the game around.
Portuguese Silva struck again to set a club record with his 27th league goal in the season, one better than Bernd Hoelzenbein's 1976/77 run, but it was not enough.
Bayern Munich striker Lewandowski on equalled Gerd Muller's 49-year-old German league goal record when he scored with a 26th-minute penalty in their 2-2 draw at Freiburg to take his season tally to 40 goals.
The Poland striker is already second on the all-time scorers list in the Bundesliga, with 276 goals, behind only Muller's 365. He has one more chance to break Muller's 1971/72 record, with one game left in the season.
The Bavarians, who have already secured their ninth consecutive league crown, had their first good chance in the 20th minute when Lewandowski's shot from the edge of the box sailed wide.
He did it much better six minutes later, sending keeper Mark Flekken the wrong way to equal the record.
Freiburg levelled three minutes later with Manuel Gulde's header, but the Bavarians went back in front with Leroy Sane sliding in to connect with a Thomas Mueller cutback in the 53rd.
Lewandowski missed a chance in front of goal in the 78th minute and also had an 83rd-minute header saved by the keeper after Christian Guenter had drawn the hosts level.
Union Berlin ended Bayer Leverkusen's outside hopes of finishing fifth with a 1-1 draw at the BayArena, while Werder Bremen's chances of avoiding a relegation play-off took another hit as they were beaten 2-0 by Augsburg.
Similarly, Koln missed the chance to climb out of the bottom two with a 0-0 draw at Hertha Berlin, who are now mathematically safe. Arminia Bielefeld's 1-1 draw with Hoffenheim means they go into the final day knowing only a win will guarantee their survival.
In the day's midtable dead rubber, Stuttgart won 2-1 at Borussia Monchengladbach.
