Antoine Griezmann answered his critics in style on Sunday by scoring with a sensational chip as Barcelona thrashed Villarreal 4-1 to keep their faint La Liga title hopes alive.

After the humiliation of being brought on in the 90th minute against his former club Atletico Madrid, Griezmann was back in the starting line-up at La Ceramica and repaid the faith with a stunning goal, teed up by Lionel Messi.

Messi also laid on a curling Luis Suarez shot into the top corner after Gerard Moreno cancelled out a Pau Torres own-goal that had put Barca in front. Ansu Fati then added a fourth late on.

An impressive victory for Quique Setien's side reduces the gap back to four points behind Real Madrid, who earlier ground out another 1-0 win over Athletic Bilbao at San Mames, with a Sergio Ramos penalty proving the difference.

This was Madrid's toughest fixture left and they might have been content even with a point against a robust, well-organized Bilbao side.

But after edging out Getafe on Thursday, through a Ramos spot-kick, Madrid repeated the trick at San Mames, their captain's nerve from the spot combining with a gutsy display to clinch a pivotal win.

Ramos was perhaps fortunate not to concede a penalty himself when, off the ball, he seemed to slip and tread on the foot of Raul Garcia, but Madrid escaped.

Instead, the defender's 10th goal of the season, the best tally of his career, gave Madrid their third 1-0 win in a row, as well as a fourth consecutive clean sheet.

Meanwhile, bottom-placed Espanyol were left on the brink of being relegated from La Liga for the first time in 27 years after they were beaten 1-0 at home by fellow strugglers Leganes.

Jonathan Silva struck the only goal early in the second half, controlling a long ball and entering the box unmarked to lash past Espanyol keeper Diego Lopez.

Espanyol, who have been in the top-flight since winning promotion in 1994, are on 24 points after 34 games. They are 11 points adrift of the safety zone and their fate could be sealed today if 17th-placed Eibar win at Sevilla.

Should they survive that test, they will need to beat champions Barcelona on Wednesday to avoid relegation.

Elsewhere, Inter Milan coach Antonio Conte said his team "gifted" Bologna a 2-1 win on Sunday after they blew a goal and a man advantage to see their Serie A title challenge all but ended in dramatic fashion.

Antonio Conte's men needed a win to move back to within eight points of leaders Juventus, and one of second-placed Lazio, but despite leading through Romelu Lukaku's 20th league goal of the campaign and playing against 10 men, contrived to collapse to defeat.

Juventus sit seven points clear at the top after beating Torino in the Turin derby on Saturday, when second-placed Lazio were thumped by AC Milan.

Inter, who also missed a penalty when 1-0 up, are now 11 points off the pace with only eight matches of the season remaining and just one point ahead of fourth-placed Atalanta who beat Cagliari 1-0.

Atalanta were not at their free-flowing best but still did enough to claim their tenth straight win in all competitions against 10-man Cagliari.

Gian Piero Gasperini's men looked set to battle Roma for the fourth and final Champions League place when Serie A restarted following the coronavirus lockdown, but are now closer to leaders Juventus than they are to the fifth-placed capital club.

Luis Muriel scored what proved to be the winner from the penalty spot in the 27th minute after teenage Cagliari defender Andrea Carboni was sent off.

In England, Sadio Mane helped Liverpool keep alive their bid to set a new Premier League points record as the champions beat Aston Villa 2-0 to restore a 23-point lead over Manchester City, who were beaten at Southampton.

Just four days after City thrashed Liverpool 4-0 to seemingly lay down a marker next season's title race, both sides showed why there has been a chasm between them in the Reds' romp to a first league title in 30 years.

Mane broke struggling Villa's stubborn resistance by smashing Naby Keita's pass in off the underside of the crossbar from close range for his 20th goal of the season before substitute Curtis Jones rounded off a big weekend for the 19-year-old after signing a new five-year contract on Saturday.

Victory moved Liverpool onto 89 points and they need four wins from their remaining five games to surpass City's record 100-point total from 2017-18.

City, by contrast, saw another dominant display go unrewarded as Che Adams' spectacular first goal for Southampton claimed a 1-0 win for the Saints.

Pep Guardiola's men had 74 percent possession and had 26 shots but could not find a way past Alex McCarthy as Fernandinho hit the post and Gabriel Jesus, David Silva and Bernardo Silva all wasted huge chances.

"It was a little bit of a resume of this season – one mistake and they punished us," said Guardiola. "We played a really good performance but it was not enough."