Croatia extend Scotland’s losing streak

MADRID: Real Madrid’s winning run ended in stunning fashion after losing at relegation-threatened Espanyol 1-0 on Saturday in La Liga.
Defender Carlos Romero’s late goal beat the La Liga leader and moved Espanyol out of the bottom three.
Espanyol inched two points clear of the drop zone, while Madrid’s lead was cut to one point after Atletico Madrid beat Mallorca 2-0 earlier.
Madrid, which found out on Friday that it will face Manchester City in the Champions League knockout playoff round, traveled to Espanyol with 10 victories in its last 11 matches in all competitions.
It dominated and Vinícius Júnior thought he gave the visitors the lead in the 21st minute but it was ruled out due to a foul by Kylian Mbappé on Espanyol midfielder Pol Lozano.
Madrid was made to pay for its missed opportunities five minutes from time when Romero volleyed in Omar El Hilali’s cross, much to the home fans’ raucous — and surprised — delight.
Back to winning ways
Atletico went into its match against seventh-placed Mallorca having lost both of its last two league matches and with only two wins in its last four games after a run of 15 consecutive victories.
It took the lead in the 26th minute when Giuliano Simeone sprinted down the right before rolling the ball across the edge of the area for Samuel Lino to fire into the bottom right corner.
Rodrigo Riquelme hit the crossbar with a free kick two minutes from time and provided the through ball for substitute Antoine Griezmann to run onto and delightfully chip the goalkeeper and seal the match in stoppages.
Fifth-placed Villarreal crushed bottom club Real Valladolid 5-1 and Getafe drew with Sevilla 0-0.

PARIS: Ousmane Dembele scored a hat-trick for the second time in four days as Paris Saint-Germain hammered Brest 5-2 on Saturday in a dress rehearsal of the upcoming Champions League clash between the two sides.
Dembele followed up his three-goal haul in Wednesday’s 4-1 win at VfB Stuttgart which saw PSG secure a place in the knockout phase play-offs of Europe’s elite club competition.
The France winger opened the scoring in the first half, and netted two more after Romain Del Castillo had briefly brought Brest level.
Ludovic Ajorque pulled another one back for the home side to set up a grandstand finale, but substitute Goncalo Ramos wrapped up the win for PSG with a late double.
Luis Enrique’s side are still unbeaten domestically this season and now sit 13 points clear at the top of the Ligue 1 table.
Marseille, who are second, can narrow that gap a little when they host Lyon on Sunday, but PSG are cruising to their 11th French league title in 13 years.
Dembele, meanwhile, is loving playing in a central attacking role rather than his traditional position wide on the right.
He has now scored 14 goals in his last nine games in all competitions, and is Ligue 1’s leading marksman with 14 for the season.
“I am well positioned in the number nine role. I owe it to myself to score goals,” Dembele told broadcaster beIN Sports.
“It was important to win today to keep our good run going and now we will see what happens in the Champions League.”
PSG’s record against domestic opponents this season means Brest will surely be dreading having to face Luis Enrique’s side again over two legs in the Champions League.
The teams will meet in the first leg on February 11 in Guingamp, where Brest are having to host Champions League games this season as their own Stade Francis-Le Ble does not meet UEFA requirements.
They were in their usual home stadium for this game, but they could not stop PSG making it 14 games unbeaten in all competitions.
Bradley Barcola raced onto a through ball before squaring for Dembele to open the scoring just before the half-hour mark.
Brest, who lost 3-0 against Real Madrid in midweek, came out fighting after the break and drew level five minutes into the second half thanks to a lovely low strike by Del Castillo from the edge of the box.
However, the visitors were back ahead before the hour mark as Khvicha Kvaratskhelia was denied in the box but the ball broke for Dembele to score.
He then completed his hat-trick soon after, having been picked out by a superb Lee Kang-in pass.
Ajorque’s terrific hit made it 3-2, but Ramos came on for Dembele and made it 4-2 on 89 minutes at the end of a counterattack led by Desire Doue, who had replaced Kvaratskhelia.
Ramos, the Portugal striker, then scored again deep in injury time, his eighth goal of the season coming as he tried to set up a teammate but saw the ball break back to him.
Brest are eighth, four points outside the European places for next season.
Monaco play Auxerre and Lille host Saint-Etienne in Saturday’s other matches.