Carlo Ancelotti lauded Vinicius Junior as an "extraordinary player" after the Real Madrid star stepped up in the absence of Karim Benzema.

Madrid's LaLiga top scorer Benzema was rested for the trip to Osasuna on Saturday ahead of Tuesday's Champions League last-16 clash at Liverpool.

Vinicius twice saw goals ruled out for offside at El Sadar and assisted Federico Valverde as Madrid ran out 2-0 winners to cut Barcelona's lead at the top-flight summit to five points.

The Brazil winger created a team-leading three chances for Los Blancos, much to the delight of coach Ancelotti.

"It is clear that Vinicius is a player who makes a difference," the Italian said at his post-match press conference.

"He played an outstanding game. He is an extraordinary footballer."

Ancelotti was less impressed with the manner of Madrid's victory, though, after waiting until the 78th minute for Valverde's opener before Marco Asensio sealed the points 14 minutes later.

"What I liked least is that we have done in the second half what we could have done in the first," he added.

"What I liked most is that the team has not lost its mind and has been patient [in the final stages]. 

"The team has played well. They have had to suffer when they had to suffer and we are very satisfied with that."

Toni Kroos also missed the visit to Osasuna, as well as Aurelien Tcouhameni, but Ancelotti assured Madrid will be prepared for the first leg at Anfield in Europe.

"We had a last-minute problem with Tchoaumeni, but we're fine," he continued. 

"We will go into Tuesday's game with good dynamics. The players are recovering and we will arrive with all the confidence in the world."

Real Madrid closed the gap on Barcelona at the LaLiga summit after late goals from Federico Valverde and Marco Asensio downed Osasuna 2-0 on Saturday.

Carlo Ancelotti rested Karim Benzema ahead of Tuesday's Champions League clash at Liverpool as Madrid, also without Toni Kroos, struggled to victory at El Sadar.

Chances were limited without top scorer Benzema, but Valverde's calm finish after 78 minutes and Asensio's similarly cool strike 14 minutes later snatched a vital win in Madrid's title defence.

Victory moved Los Blancos five points behind Barca ahead of Xavi's side hosting Cadiz on Sunday.

Sergio Herrera thwarted a glorious Vinicius Junior chance after an errant Jon Moncayola pass, while Thibaut Courtois parried away from Moi Gomez in an entertaining opening.

Valverde whistled a long-range attempt narrowly off target before Ante Budimir whipped the best first-half opportunity just wide from the edge of the area.

A resurgent Madrid twice went close to breaking the deadlock after the interval.

Rodrygo had Herrera scrambling with a curling effort that evaded the bottom-right corner and Vinicius' cool finish was denied for offside from David Alaba's throughball.

Osasuna responded as Gomez struck the right post with a driven effort through a crowd of Madrid defenders before Moncayalo volleyed narrowly wide with Courtois static.

Madrid finally edged in front against their mid-table opponents as Vinicius crossed for Valverde to coolly poke into the bottom-right corner, before the Brazil international saw another goal ruled out for offside.

Asensio sealed victory in the closing stages with a deadly finish past Herrera following Alvaro Rodriguez's selfless pass.

What does it mean? Madrid keep feint title hopes alive with another Osasuna win

Madrid have enjoyed their recent visits to Osasuna, winning four of their past five LaLiga trips – they had triumphed just once in their previous six league games at El Sadar before that.

Yet another success on the road at Osasuna means Xavi's Barca cannot afford to slip up, with a potentially title-deciding Clasico at Camp Nou coming in March.

But for now, Madrid's attention will turn to defending their European crown at the resurgent Liverpool, who have won back-to-back games to end a poor start to 2023.

Energetic Vinicius leads the way

Vinicius was central to all of Madrid's attacking play as the Brazil star shone in the absence of key attacker Benzema.

The winger was twice denied by offside decisions and created a team-leading three chances, including the pivotal assist from the left flank for Valverde's opener.

Ancelotti record over Osasuna continues

Ancelotti continued his impressive managerial record against Osasuna with this victory.

The Italian has faced Osasuna eight times in all competitions without losing (W4 D4) – only against Elche (W7 D1) has he managed as many games without defeat (among LaLiga teams).

What's next?

Los Blancos visit Anfield in the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie on Tuesday, before a crucial derby at home to Atletico Madrid in LaLiga four days later.

Henrikh Mkhitaryan's superb second-half volley helped Inter overcome a stubborn Udinese in Serie A on Saturday, claiming a 3-1 win at San Siro.

Romelu Lukaku's 20th-minute penalty after Denzel Dumfries was brought down saw the hosts initially lead, only for Sandi Lovric's breakaway finish to reel them in before the break.

But just as it looked like the Nerazzurri would be forced to settle for a point, the Armenia international rode to their rescue with an excellent 73rd-minute strike.

Martinez made sure of the points in the 89th minute as Simone Inzaghi's side stretched their lead over third-place Milan to three points, ahead of the congested European race beneath them.

Inter entered the match with a verve and energy their visitors struggled to handle early on, and won a penalty after Walace was deemed to have fouled Dumfries by the VAR.

Lukaku initially saw his first effort saved by Marco Silvestri, but the goalkeeper was adjudged to be off his line and the Belgian made no mistake with his second attempt.

Yet the hosts failed to capitalise on their advantage, and Udinese deservedly drew level two minutes from the interval when Lovric finished off a shrewd counter-attack.

Dumfries fluffed his lines when presented with a chance to restore Inter's lead with a cross from Mkhitaryan, who achieved that feat with 17 minutes of normal time remaining when he lifted Federico Dimarco's square delivery beyond Silvestri.

Martinez added a late touch of gloss by powering a strike home in the closing stages to ensure there would be no late capitulation from Inter.

Daniil Medvedev had no problems against Grigor Dimitrov as he eased into Sunday's Rotterdam Open final.

The former world number one took just 82 minutes to win 6-1 6-2, converting six of 13 break points against his Bulgarian opponent.

Medvedev rises back up to 10th in the world rankings after the win, and will go ninth if he can claim the title.

"It was an amazing match," Medvedev said after his victory. "The score [looks] easy, but the match was not. I felt physically like I was playing five sets.

"It would be amazing [to win the tournament]. Every time I come here, and I think it is my fifth time here, everywhere there are photos of the winners and their names.

"I don't remember who won it first time, but then Arthur Ashe won it [twice]. Then [John] McEnroe, [Bjorn] Borg, [Stefan] Edberg, and I'm like, 'Well, that tournament has a history for sure'. To add my name there would be amazing, but for this I need to play well in the final."

That final will be against Jannik Sinner after the Italian overcame spirited home wildcard Tallon Griekspoor.

It was Sinner's impressive serve that saw him through 7-5 7-6 (7-5), not facing a single break point, and ruthlessly taking the only one he carved out all match to take the first set.

He kept his nerve to see out a second set tie-break, and now has the chance to follow up last week's Open Sud de France title with another in Rotterdam.

Jurgen Klopp declared Liverpool's 2-0 win at Newcastle United a "massive result" but was left concerned about a shoulder injury suffered by Darwin Nunez.

The Uruguayan striker gave Liverpool the lead after 10 minutes at St James' Park, with Cody Gakpo doubling it soon after.

Nick Pope's red card in the 22nd minute for handling the ball outside his penalty area to deny Mohamed Salah a run on goal effectively ended it as a contest, though Newcastle were still able to fashion some chances to keep the visitors honest.

Speaking to Sky Sports after his team's second league win in six days, Klopp said: "Massive result, clean sheet, two wonderful goals, and space for improvement, obviously.

"Wonderful goals, the red card would have been a wonderful goal as well probably. If Pope doesn't get his hands on it, then Mo probably would have scored. I would have taken that [over the red card] to be honest.

"Against 10 men we didn't react particularly well, in that moment we still had momentum and it was difficult to get back, and Newcastle had nothing to lose anymore, we could see that.

"Top team, top character, they threw everything on the pitch and we gave them too many set pieces, and with set pieces it is not important how many players you have on the pitch.

"If we had scored a third, I think that would have been it, but we didn't so it was exciting until the end."

Nunez was substituted after an hour following a clash with Kieran Trippier that left him holding his shoulder, which could potentially see him miss Tuesday's Champions League last-16 first leg against Real Madrid.

"The most negative thing was that Darwin had to go off," Klopp said. "He would have come off anyway but then he had something with his shoulder and so we'll have to see how serious that is, hopefully not too much."

The win moves Liverpool up to eighth in the Premier League, just six points off Newcastle in fourth, and Klopp is hopeful this victory could remind the Reds what they are capable of after also beating rivals Everton this week.

"You need results. That's how it is," he continued. "The boys need to feel it as well, that if you do this and that then you have a good chance to be on the right side of the result... In the end I am really happy that we got over the line because so many things have happened to us this season, this time nothing really happened.

"We were not perfect but good enough to win the game and that's what we did."

Virgil van Dijk suggested Liverpool's win over Newcastle United could mark a turning point in the Reds' season.

The Magpies had not lost a Premier League game at St James' Park since April last year – coincidentally also against Liverpool – but came unstuck on Saturday.

Darwin Nunez's clinical strike and Cody Gakpo's close-range finish had Liverpool 2-0 up early on, and Nick Pope's red card for handling the ball outside his area in the 22nd minute seemingly doomed Newcastle.

Eddie Howe's side put up a good fight and hit the crossbar twice, but Liverpool did enough to take the points as they completed a double over their hosts.

Liverpool's win followed on from Monday's Merseyside derby victory over Everton and means they will be just three points behind fourth-placed Newcastle if they win their game in hand next weekend.

Asked if it was a significant result for the Reds, Van Dijk told Sky Sports: "Let's hope so.

"We have had results in the season already where we felt like now is the time to kick on, but this feels a little bit different.

"I think coming away from the big win against Everton, it was important for us to keep going, find a way to win, show your intensity, particularly in the beginning.

"The red card changed the game a little bit for them, also for us, and we could've done better.

"But to win here…there's a reason we are the only team so far this season that has beaten them [in the Premier League], so I'm very proud of the boys."

Trent Alexander-Arnold concurred with his team-mate, the right-back adamant Liverpool needed to follow up the derby victory with another positive result if beating Everton was to mean anything.

"It's massive for us. This was a big one," the England international added.

"We got our win against Everton, I think that was massive as well, but it wouldn't have meant anything if we'd not come here and backed it up with another win.

"That's what we came to do. They're a tough side to beat, very tough, but we picked them apart with two good goals, then obviously the red card settles the game down for us, makes it even harder for them.

"It was tough, it's a tough place to come, not many teams win here, so we are delighted to take the three points home."

The Premier League title race took another twist on Saturday, with Arsenal now back atop the pile.

Manchester City's 3-1 win at Emirates Stadium in midweek had seemingly given them control of the two-horse race for the trophy.

But City's failure to build on that success and Arsenal's late heroics on the road at Aston Villa mean the Gunners have a two-point lead over Pep Guardiola's men with a game in hand.

Elsewhere, Liverpool boosted their top-four aspirations while denting those of Newcastle United, who have now won just one of their last seven Premier League games.

Here, Stats Perform looks at Saturday's biggest games through the lens of Opta data.

Aston Villa 2-4 Arsenal: Jorginho and Martinelli produce late show

Saturday saw Arsenal reassume command of what is fast becoming an engrossing title race, but it looked for a long time as if they would suffer another setback.

The Gunners appeared set to settle for a 2-2 draw at Villa Park, only for Jorginho's rasping injury-time drive to cannon off the crossbar and then deflect in off Emiliano Martinez. Gabriel Martinelli made it 4-2 in the 98th minute.

It marked the first time Arsenal have scored a 90th-minute winner away from home in the league since Martinelli netted against Crystal Palace in May 2021, which was also the last time they scored twice in the 90th minute in the same game in the competition.

Arsenal's joy should be tempered somewhat by defensive concerns.

Indeed, Arsenal have now conceded the opening goal in four of their last five Premier League games, one more than they did in their first 18 games of the 2022-23 campaign (3).

Chelsea 0-1 Southampton: Saints pile pressure on Potter

The result was overshadowed by the head injury suffered by Cesar Azpilicueta, but it was an extremely significant one for Southampton, who boosted their survival hopes by completing the league double against Chelsea for the first time since the 1987-88 season.

Defeat for Chelsea was their first at home against the team starting the day bottom of the Premier League table for the first time since April 2014 vs Sunderland (1-2).

The Blues have lost three of their last six Premier League home games (W2 D1), as many defeats as in their previous 25 league games at Stamford Bridge combined (W13 D9), that run piling the pressure on manager Graham Potter.

Chelsea's latest home loss was engineered by James Ward-Prowse, who in scoring his 17th direct free-kick goal in the Premier League moved just one behind record holder David Beckham (18), netting 13 of them away from home.

Nottingham Forest 1-1 Manchester City: Forest hold champions at bay

If Forest do manage to stay up, their home from will be a significant reason why. They are unbeaten in eight home games in the Premier League (W4 D4), their best home unbeaten run in the top-flight since a 20-game stretch between February 1995 and January 1996.

Prior to this stalemate, Forest had lost their last seven Premier League games against the reigning champions, by an aggregate score of 29-3, including a 6-0 defeat to Man City earlier this season. They avoided defeat against the reigning champions for the first time since December 1994, when they beat Manchester United.

Bernardo Silva's fine opener initially looked like it would be enough for City to take all three points and return to the top of the league, and continued a recent theme for the Portugal international, who has 32 Premier League goals for the club. Three of his last four goals in the competition have been scored from outside the box, with only three of his first 28 coming from distance.

Jack Grealish laid on the assist for Silva. Grealish has been directly involved in six goals (2 goals, 4 assists) in the Premier League since the conclusion of the World Cup. Grealish had one goal and no assists in eight league appearances this season prior to the World Cup break.

Newcastle United 0-2 Liverpool: Pope sends Magpies hopes up in smoke

Newcastle have an EFL Cup final with Manchester United to look forward to next Sunday, but they will be without goalkeeper Nick Pope after his red card in this one for handling the ball outside the area.

Pope's red card was the fifth instance of a Newcastle goalkeeper being sent off in the Premier League, with only Liverpool and Aston Villa (6 each) seeing more keeper reds in the competition. 

He conceded twice before being sent off in the 22nd minute - the earliest a goalkeeper has conceded twice and been sent off in a Premier League game.

Those two goals came inside 17 minutes and were as many as Newcastle had conceded in their previous eight Premier League games combined, proving enough to extend the Magpies' winless league run against Liverpool to 13 matches (D4 L9) and end their 17-game unbeaten run in the competition.

The Reds are the only team to beat Newcastle in the Premier League this season, with victory coming on the back of just their second away clean sheet in 2022-23.

Stefano Pioli credited his Milan players for their efforts in a "perfect week" after Junior Messias' goal guided them to victory at Monza.

Messias' well-taken volley ensured Milan secured a third 1-0 win in the space of eight days, having previously gone seven games without winning across all competitions. 

While that run left Milan's Scudetto defence in tatters, the Rossoneri are third in the Serie A table after keeping three clean sheets in a row for the first time since a run of seven ended last April.

Having seen Milan build on Tuesday's Champions League last-16 victory against Tottenham, Pioli hailed his team's powers of recovery and challenged them to kick on.

"It was the perfect week, we can start over from here," Pioli said at his post-match press conference. "We haven't even conceded a goal and we're on the right track. 

"We needed to regain unity, the difference now isn't tactics but the desire we've regained to win, to compete for the second balls. 

"Monza were brilliant in the second half but we fought until the end and this is important. It's a shame we didn't finish the game in the second half."

Milan have now won back-to-back Serie A games for the first time since the Italian top flight restarted after the World Cup, having only tasted victory twice in their previous five league contests.

Pioli's decision to switch to a three-man backline has provoked Milan's revival, with wing-backs Messias and Theo Hernandez impressing once again at Monza.

Asked about Milan's change of system, Pioli said: "We'll go back to playing with four when we find the right characteristics. 

"Malik Thiaw gives us physicality and the possibility of duelling with physical forwards. The other players also have the characteristics to play in a three."

Fulham head coach Marco Silva praised the "desire and belief" of his team to snatch a late 1-0 win at Brighton and Hove Albion.

Manor Solomon's 88th-minute goal sent Fulham up to sixth in the Premier League, leapfrogging Brighton in the process.

The hosts had the majority of the chances, recording 21 shots to five, with the Cottagers not having any in a one-sided first half.

However, Solomon struck in the dying minutes after racing onto a throughball from Carlos Vinicius, hitting a shot low and hard across Robert Sanchez to win it.

Speaking to BBC Sport after the game, Silva said: "It was a tough game against a very good side, the way they play and the way they are dominant. They did against us what they have been doing against all the teams in this league.

"We improved in the second half, in the first half we were not at our best. We made changes and we improved.

"Overall it wasn't our best performance, but we showed the resilience, the desire and the belief until the last minute to keep the clean sheet and win the game.

"They created more chances than us, but we have lost some games where we have been the better team."

All six of Solomon's league appearances for Fulham have been from the bench, with the Israeli netting in his last two games, averaging a goal every 41 minutes in the competition.

"He deserves all the credit, a great finish from him," Silva said of the goalscorer. "It was another great moment for him. Everyone expected him to cut inside and finish with the right foot but he did the opposite.

"He's getting better and better and better and deserves all the good things because 2022 was so difficult for him on and off the pitch. He's helping us scoring goals and is loving the Premier League. He is ready to help us."

As for Fulham's prospects of qualifying for Europe in their first season back in England's top flight, Silva added: "Of course I congratulate the boys, but my focus is on them to recover and prepare them better for the next game because we have to do better with the ball.

"All my focus is making them better."

Liverpool breathed life into their top-four hopes with a 2-0 win at fourth-placed Newcastle United, who had Nick Pope sent off to rule him out of the EFL Cup final.

Newcastle had only lost once – to the Reds last April – at St James' Park in the league over the past 12 months, but they came unstuck on Saturday thanks to the visitors' clinical finishing.

Darwin Nunez's first Premier League goal since November edged Liverpool ahead before Cody Gakpo netted for the second game running, but it was not until Nick Pope's dismissal in the 22nd minute that Newcastle looked doomed.

Even then, Eddie Howe's men coped well with the disadvantage and had chances to reduce the arrears, but the crossbar and Alisson kept them at bay as Liverpool moved to within six points of the top four.

Newcastle began brightly but were trailing in the 10th minute, Nunez beating Pope after exquisitely bringing down Trent Alexander-Arnold's pass.

It was 2-0 soon after.

Another divine pass, this time from Mohamed Salah, sliced open Newcastle's defence to find Gakpo, who stabbed home under Pope.

Things quickly got even worse for Newcastle as Pope rushed out of his box and fell on the ball hands first, earning him a straight red.

Newcastle responded well, almost pulling one back twice as Allan Saint-Maximin and Dan Burn both hit the bar.

But Liverpool reached the break unscathed, and they gave little away in the second half.

Callum Wilson should have halved the deficit late on, however, failing to beat Alisson when one-on-one as the Brazilian preserved his clean sheet.

Julian Nagelsmann was left furious by Dayot Upamecano's red card as Bayern Munich suffered a 3-2 Bundesliga defeat at Borussia Monchengladbach.

Upamecano was sent off in the eighth minute after being adjudged to have brought down Alassane Plea, who got goal-side of the centre-back after a hopeful long ball.

Goals from Lars Stindl, Jonas Hofmann and Marcus Thuram lifted Gladbach to a deserved win. Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting equalised after Stindl's opener for Bayern, but Mathys Tel's late strike was scant consolation.

The defeat leaves Bayern in danger of being knocked down to second place when Union Berlin face Schalke on Sunday, while Borussia Dortmund will have the chance to move level on points with Nagelsmann's Bavarians when they host Hertha Berlin.

But Nagelsmann seemed less concerned with Bayern's league position than confronting referee Tobias Welz, reportedly storming through the media area after the game to loudly knock on the match official's door.

Afterwards, he told Sky: "In my eyes, Upa has only a minimal touch on his shoulder, but he doesn't pull.

"And you can see in the slow motion that Plea's shoulder does not move back a millimetre."

Insisting Welz should have explained himself, Nagelsmann added: "You can decide all this, but maybe you could stand up after the game and say that the red card might have been a bit exaggerated.

"Everyone can live with it, he is also a person who sometimes makes mistakes."

Bayern's Alphonso Davies, meanwhile, expressed pride in the spirit they showed after going down to 10 men.

"It's tough having a red card so early in the match," Davies told Bundesliga.com.

"It's not good for any team, but we just kept fighting, we kept playing the way we knew how to play. We continued on.

"I mean, it's unfortunate with the red card. You know, it can happen to anyone. We don't put our head down. We kept our head up, we kept fighting."

Milan climbed into Serie A's top four as Junior Messias secured a 1-0 win at Monza, whose owner Silvio Berlusconi failed to get one over on his old club.

Messias fired home on the turn just after the half-hour mark after Monza – who entered the game as Serie A's only unbeaten team in 2023 – twice went close in a fast start to Saturday's match.

Monza played their part in a lively affair but were unable to give Berlusconi – who bankrolled Milan to five European crowns – a result to cherish against his beloved Rossoneri.

Milan were able to claim victory without calling on Zlatan Ibrahimovic for the first time this season, with the striker again an unused substitute as they moved above Atalanta and Roma into third place.

Ciprian Tatarusanu was forced into action twice in the first two minutes, turning Patrick Ciurria's attempt away at the near post before denying Andrea Petagna from the resulting corner.

Rafael Leao saw a dipping 25-yard strike brush the post as Milan played their way into the game, while Michele Di Gregorio made two sharp saves to keep out Brahim Diaz and Fikayo Tomori.

Di Gregorio was finally beaten 31 minutes in, however, getting a hand to Messias' powerful left-footed volley but failing to stop the ball from finding the bottom-right corner.

Ciurria drilled a 20-yard effort against the foot of the post with 17 minutes remaining, but Milan stood firm and almost added a second through Charles De Ketelaere. 

Cesar Azpilicueta is responsive after being stretchered off following a head injury in Chelsea's 1-0 home defeat to Southampton, boss Graham Potter has revealed.

The defender took a boot to the face from Sekou Mara while defending a corner at Stamford Bridge, with a lengthy stoppage in play while he was attended to by medics.

The Blues captain was subsequently taken from the field and to hospital, as the hosts failed to find a response to James Ward-Prowse's first-half free-kick.

Potter offered an update on Azpilicueta's status after the game, revealing the 33-year-old is in medical care and able to hold a conversation.

"He is in hospital," he said. "He is conscious and speaking to his wife. Hopefully, he is in the best place.

"We are monitoring him. He needs to take all the precautions we need to take now."

Defeat marked a fourth game without victory in the Premier League for Chelsea, who remain firmly mired in mid-table despite a raft of expensive transfers last month.

Potter acknowledged the blame is his to shoulder for now, adding: "It was below par in the first half. I take as much responsibility as anyone in that.

"I thought we deserved a goal in the second half. When you don't score, it is obviously difficult. After a 1-0 defeat at home, any criticism you get is understandable.

"We've had a lot of injuries [and] challenges integrating players. A lot of people will say I'm the problem, and I'm not saying that their opinion is not worth articulating. My job is to work."