European round-up: Roger Schmidt causes chaos at Leverkusen

The Bundesliga clash between Bayer Leverkusen and Borussia Dortmund came to an extraordinary halt after 65 minutes when Roger Schmidt, the Leverkusen manager, refused to be sent off.

The match was suspended as protests followed Dortmund contentiously taking the lead at the BayArena.

After waving away calls for a foul on Stefan Kiessling, the visitors broke and took the lead through Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.

Schmidt was ordered to leave the dugout due to his protests and when he refused, referee Felix Zwayer took the players off the pitch.

After talks, the teams re-emerged without Schmidt and the match resumed around eight minutes after the impromptu break started.

Leverkusen’s director of sport Rudi Voller slammed referee Zwayer for going “over the top… To suspend the game and be so hectic was totally unnecessary,” said Voller.

The game finished 1-0 as Dortmund kept up their chase of Bayern Munich, who beat Darmstadt 3-1 on Saturday.

Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane admits his team’s hopes of winning the Primera Division are fading after Cristiano Ronaldo missed a penalty in a 1-1 draw with Malaga.

“We have dropped two points, but we won’t give up,” said Zidane, as Real fell nine points behind Barcelona.

Ronaldo headed the Merengues in front late in the first half at La Rosaleda but just a minute later had a spot-kick saved by Carlos Kameni, and in the second half Malaga grabbed an equaliser through centre-back Raul Albentosa.

Gary Neville’s improved fortunes were further lifted by Valencia’s 2-1 win at Granada, a third win in a row. Daniel Parego scored on 56 minutes before Santi Mina made the points safe on 90, though Édgar Méndez hit an even later consolation.

Second-placed Atletico Madrid were held to a 0-0 draw at home to Villarreal.

In Italy, Fiorentina maintained their pursuit of the Serie A title with a 3-2 win over Atalanta 3-2 in Bergamo. Mati Fernandez and Cristian Tello put Fiorentina 2-0 up. Andrea Conti replied for Atalanta, before being dismissed in stoppage time. Nikola Kalinic grabbed what proved Fiorentina’s winner, as Mauricio Pinilla’s second for Atalanta came too late. Edin Dzeko scored twice and had a contender for miss of the season as Roma climbed to fourth, walloping Palermo 5-0.

In Holland, Arek Milik scored twice as Ajax climbed to within a point of leaders PSV with a 3-0 home win against Excelsior. PSV beat Heracles 2-0 on Saturday.