SHORT CORNER
Mbappe gives PSG narrow win
Kylian Mbappe continued his prolific form with a brace as Paris Saint-Germain came from behind to win 2-1 at struggling Caen in Ligue 1 on Saturday, their final outing before their Champions League last 16, second leg against Manchester United.
A week after reaching a half-century of goals in France's top flight at the age of 20, Mbappe netted a penalty for the first time in his Ligue 1 career just before the hour mark.
That cancelled out Chadian forward Casimir Ninga's opener for Caen, and Mbappe then grabbed the winner in the 87th minute for his 29th goal in all competitions this season.
Of those, 24 have come in the league -- two more than the entire Caen team -- including six in the last four games.
This was an eighth successive win for PSG in all competitions, and their enormous lead at the top of Ligue 1 is now 20 points before second-placed Lille play Dijon on Sunday. --Afp
Mueller stunned by Bayern's recovery
Thomas Mueller said he was stunned that his Bayern Munich team had reined in Bundesliga leaders Borussia Dortmund whose nine-point lead has evaporated.
Bayern moved level on points with Dortmund on Saturday after a 5-1 thrashing of Borussia Moenchengladbach.
Dortmund, meanwhile, had stumbled to a shock 2-1 defeat at Augsburg on Friday.
Bayern pounced on Dortmund's slip-up with Robert Lewandowski scoring twice and Javi Martinez, Mueller and Serge Gnabry also netting at Borussia Park.
"It was a good day for us. I can't remember the last time we won by such a margin at Moenchengladbach," Mueller told Sky.
"We didn't think we would catch Dortmund up so early. We are better now than we were last autumn and want to continue."
This was Bayern's 11th win in 12 league games, a run which has allowed them to erode the nine-point lead Dortmund held in December with only a goal difference of two now separating the sides, both on 54 points.
Despite illness and injury hitting their squad, Bayern needed just two minutes to take the lead when Martinez headed home from a corner.
Mueller made it 2-0 after 11 minutes by tapping home a Gnabry cross.
Gladbach briefly rallied when their captain Lars Stindl pulled a goal back eight minutes from the break, but Lewandowski made sure of the win after he converted Thiago Alcantara's pass to smash the ball home on 47 minutes. Gnabry added Bayern's fourth before Lewandowski netted a late penalty for his 195th Bundesliga goal -- making him the league's joint top-scoring foreign player alongside Werder Bremen's 40-year-old Peru striker Claudio Pizzaro. --Afp
Watford mar Rodgers's return
Brendan Rodgers's first match as Leicester boss ended in a dramatic defeat as Andre Gray scored in stoppage time to give Watford a 2-1 win at Vicarage Road.
The former Liverpool boss was given a tough welcome back to the Premier League when substitute Gray pounced on Troy Deeney's fine through ball.
The Hornets had taken an early lead when Deeney flicked home Gerard Deulofeu's free-kick and looked set for all three points as Leicester laboured despite dominating possession.
One incisive Youri Tielemans pass, though, undid the Watford defence and Jamie Vardy prodded home his 10th goal of the season 15 minutes from time.
But Leicester were hit by a sucker punch when Gray brilliantly controlled Deeney's lofted pass and kept his cool to fire low past Kasper Schmeichel to spark contrasting reactions in the dugouts. --Afp