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Marco Asensio missed a penalty as a depleted Real Madrid lost 1-0 at Mallorca in La Liga on Sunday in their last match before traveling to Morocco for the Club World Cup.
The draw gives Barcelona the chance to increase their lead at the top when they host struggling Sevilla later on Sunday. The Catalan club will enter the match at the Camp Nou with a five-point lead over second-placed Madrid.
“We already expected a very tough match,” the Madrid coach, Carlo Ancelotti, said. “We had our chances but couldn’t take advantage of them.”
Ancelotti was without several players through injury, including Karim Benzema, Éder Militão and Thibaut Courtois, who was dropped from the squad at the last minute after getting injured during the warmup. Ancelotti also rested the midfielders Toni Kroos and Luka Modric, who came on in the second half.
Asensio missed a chance to equalise when his 60th-minute penalty was saved by the Mallorca goalkeeper Predrag Rajkovic after Vinícius Júnior had been fouled.
The hosts’ winner came through an own-goal by Nacho Fernández, who was replacing Militão in defence. Nacho went for a high cross and deflected the ball into his own net over the goalkeeper Andriy Lunin, who started in place of Courtois.
It was the second win in three league matches for Mallorca, and the fourth straight at home. They remain mid-table with 28 points from 20 matches.
Napoli’s march towards the Serie A title continued when Victor Osimhen scored two more goals on Sunday to help Luciano Spalletti’s side win 3-0 at Spezia and move 16 points clear of second-placed Internazionale, who host Milan in the derby later on Sunday.
It was the fifth straight league match in which Osimhen has scored. The Nigeria forward has scored seven in that run to take his tally to 16 in the league.
Spezia had defended well against Napoli’s stellar attack but gifted the visitors a penalty less than 10 seconds after the break when the defender Arkadiusz Reca was trying to hold off Matteo Politano but did not anticipate that the bounce of the ball would take it on to his outstretched arm. Khvicha Kvaratskhelia converted the penalty.
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Osimhen had a goal ruled out in the 62nd minute for pulling back Mattia Caldara but he headed in his first in the 68th and doubled his tally five minutes later after another assist from Kvaratskhelia. Spezia remain five points above the relegation zone.
In Germany, Bayern Munich held on despite Joshua Kimmich’s sending off to win 4-2 at Wolfsburg and return to the top of the Bundesliga. Kimmich was sent off with his second yellow card in the 54th minute but Wolfsburg were unable to make their dominance count as the visitors delivered a lesson in efficiency. Kingsley Coman scored twice and Thomas Müller and Jamal Musiala added two more while Bayern also needed the goalkeeper Yann Sommer at his best to secure the team’s first Bundesliga win of 2023. It was enough for Bayern to move one point clear of Union Berlin.
Paris Saint-Germain are in talks with Lionel Messi about extending the Argentina captain’s contract. Speaking to Telefoot, the PSG adviser Luis Campos said: “Yes, we are in discussions with Leo for his extension. I would like to keep him in this project, I cannot hide it. We are talking at the moment to achieve this goal and continue to have him with us.”
In Ligue 1 on Sunday Monaco won 2-0 at Clermont to extend their unbeaten run to seven matches and move two points behind third-place Lens. Early goals from the central defender Guillermo Maripan and striker Breel Embolo allowed fourth-place Monaco to control the game.
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