1 year ago
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Milan and Juventus both fell to home defeats in Serie A, with the defending champions losing 5-2 at home to Sassuolo before Juventus, mired in mid-table following their 15-point penalty, going down 2-0 to Monza. In the late kick-off, Napoli extended their lead at the top by beating Roma 2-1 thanks to Giovanni Simeone’s late strike.
Stefano Pioli is under mounting pressure as the Milan manager following a fourth defeat in five matches. The hosts were comfortably second-best to Sassuolo at San Siro in a bad-tempered game.
Olivier Giroud thought he had given Milan the lead in the eighth minute, but his celebrations were cut short after being ruled offside by VAR. Sassuolo, a lowly 16th in the table, went in front after 19 minutes when Domenico Berardi sent a cross into the box and an unmarked Grégoire Defrel tapped in.
Davide Frattesi doubled the lead two minutes later when he hammered a low shot into the net. Giroud pulled one back for Milan, heading Davide Calabria’s cross into the top corner, but Berardi quickly restored Sassuolo’s two-goal lead.
Milan went in 3-1 down at half-time and any hope of a comeback was all but ended when Armand Laurienté converted a penalty two minutes after the restart. Matheus Henrique added the fifth for Sassuolo 11 minutes from time. Divock Origi got Milan’s second late on, but the damage was done.
Juventus have dropped to 13th place in the table as they were overtaken by Monza after a 2-0 loss in Turin. Massimiliano Allegri’s side were docked 15 points this month following an investigation into the club’s transfer dealings and their hopes of a top-four finish now look remote.
Gianluca Caprari thought he had given promoted Monza the lead after 10 minutes, but he was ruled offside by VAR. The visitors did score after 18 minutes when José Machín sent a well-timed through ball to Patrick Ciurria, who shot high into the net. Dany Mota doubled Monza’s lead as he picked up the ball inside the box, rounded Wojciech Szczesny and finished into the empty net.
“We were sluggish and didn’t even react after the first goal they had disallowed, which was a warning,” Allegri told Dazn after the game. “We’ve been making too many mistakes and haven’t had the right mentality. It went better after the break, but we must admit responsibility for the overall performance. We were unbeaten at home until now. Monza are a good side, but we cannot concede those two goals so softly.”
Napoli stretched their lead at the top to 13 points with a hard-fought 2-1 win at home against Roma. Victor Osimhen’s sensational volley opened the scoring for Luciano Spalletti’s title favourites in the first half.
The hosts held on to their lead until the 75th minute when Stephan El Shaarawy equalised from Nicola Zalewski’s cross. But just when it seemed like Roma had done enough to earn a point, the substitute Simeone curled a shot into the top corner with four minutes left to play to secure Napoli a fourth successive Serie A win.
Lazio missed the chance to move up to second when they were held to a 1-1 draw by Fiorentina at home. Nicolò Casale scored for the hosts after eight minutes, while Nicolás González equalised four minutes after the break with a well-placed shot from outside the box.
In La Liga, battling Real Sociedad survived a pounding at Santiago Bernabéu when they held Real Madrid to a goalless draw in a frantic match. Real Madrid recorded 20 attempts on goal compared to only seven created by the visitors who held on to a point thanks to a string of saves by Álex Remiro.
Vinícius Júnior wasted two chances from close range, one in each half, with Remiro denying him on both occasions. The goalkeeper also made critical stops from efforts by Karim Benzema, Toni Kroos and Rodrygo. The result leaves Real Madrid five points behind Barcelona while Real Sociedad are another three points back in third.
Atlético Madrid needed a second-half goal from Saúl Ñíguez to earn a hard-fought 1-0 away win against in-form Osasuna. Saúl came off the bench to score in the 74th minute on a counterattack when Rodrigo De Paul showed great vision to see his teammate ghosting in behind Osasuna’s defence and delivered a perfectly placed long ball through.
Celta Vigo climbed out of the relegation zone after Iago Aspas’s second-half strike gave the hosts a 1-0 win against Athletic Bilbao. Cyle Larin enjoyed a dream debut for Real Valladolid, coming off the bench and scoring in stoppage time to give his side a 1-0 victory over Valencia.
In Germany, Borussia Dortmund cruised past hosts Bayer Leverkusen 2-0 for their third win in three league matches since the winter break, climbing to within three points of Bayern Munich in top spot.
Karim Adeyemi’s first Bundesliga goal and a second-half own goal from Edmond Tapsoba gave Dortmund a comfortable victory. The result snapped Leverkusen’s five-game winning run in the Bundesliga, leaving them in ninth place. Schalke, currently bottom of the table, drew 0-0 at home with Cologne leaving the hosts six points off safety.
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