Barcelona's Raphinha (C) celebrates scoring the winner during their clash with Athletic Club Bilbao at the San Mames stadium in Bilbao, Spain, March 12, 2023. /CFP
Raphinha's strike earned Barcelona an agonizing 1-0 win over Athletic Bilbao on Sunday to restore their nine-point lead over Real Madrid at the top of La Liga.
Real Sociedad stumbled to a 1-1 draw at Real Mallorca, with their bid to finish in the top four losing steam at an alarming rate.
Struggling Sevilla earned an important 2-1 win over Almeria to climb to 13th, two points clear of the relegation zone, leaving their opponents 19th.
In Barcelona's first game after being charged with corruption by Spanish prosecutors, they shut out the noise and took another step towards their first title since 2019.
The Catalans secured their 19th clean sheet in 25 La Liga games this season as they held on to earn their ninth 1-0 win of the season, keeping second place Madrid at arm's length after the champions beat Espanyol on Saturday.
Goalkeeper Marc-andré ter stegen made some superb saves in the second half and Alex Berenguer struck the post, but Athletic could not break down the league leaders.
Roma's Paulo Dybala in frustration during their clash with Sassuolo at the Olympic stadium in Rome, Italy, March 12, 2023. /CFP
In Italy, Roma dropped out of Serie A's Champions League places on Sunday after falling to a shock 4-3 home defeat to Sassuolo.
Roma could have moved level on points with second-placed Inter Milan who lost at struggling Spezia on Friday but were stunned by an Armand Lauriente double, Domenico Berardi's penalty and Andrea Pinamonti's neat finish with 15 minutes remaining.
Roma were without the suspended Jose Mourinho and had to play the entire second half a man down after Marash Kumbulla was sent off for kicking Berardi and conceding the spot-kick from which the Italy international gave Sassuolo a two-goal half-time lead.
Mourinho's team, who netted through Nicola Zalewski, substitute Paulo Dybala and Georginio Wijnaldum, are now fifth, level on 47 points with fourth-placed AC Milan but below the champions by virtue of having played a game more.
There is little chance of Roma moving back into the top four as Milan host Salernitana on Monday night.
Mourinho was absent after his two-match ban for being sent off during Roma's defeat at Cremonese earlier this month was confirmed.
Matias Soule of Juventus celebrates after scoring the team's fourth goal during their clash with Sampdoria in Turin, Italy, March 12, 2023. /CFP
Elsewhere, Adrien Rabiot made sure Juventus continued their charge towards European football with a decisive brace in his team's hard-fought 4-2 Serie A win over struggling Sampdoria.
France midfielder Rabiot put Juve two ahead with a first-half header and then smashed them back in front in the 64th minute after Samp had stunned the home crowd by leveling before the break with two rapid-fire goals from Tommaso Augello and Filip Djuricic.
Youngster Matias Soule nodded home in stoppage time to make the scoreline more flattering against Samp who are at the bottom and 12 points from safety.
Rabiot almost left Juve in the summer but has become a key figure in Massimiliano Allegri's team, his double taking his league tally to seven and moving the Turin giants to within four points of the European places.