Title contenders Lazio top Cagliari with two late goals

Zaha earns point for Palace

CAGLIARI, Sardinia, Dec 17, (AP): Lazio scored twice in stoppage time for a dramatic 2-1 comeback win over Cagliari to keep alive their surprise Serie A title challenge .

Felipe Caicedo scored the winner eight minutes into added time with a leaping header after Luis Alberto equalized six minutes earlier.

Giovanni Simeone put Cagliari ahead with a volley seven minutes in.

With their eighth straight win, Lazio moved within three points of Serie A leaders Inter Milan and Juventus.

The Roman club won their only two Serie A titles in 1974 and 2000 and were not expected to be a contenders this season.

Cagliari remained fifth after having a 13-match unbeaten streak ended.

Opposing fans clashed outside the stadium before kickoff.

Lazio, which were recently eliminated from the Europa League, meet Juventus in the Italian Super Cup on Sunday in Saudi Arabia.

Wilfried Zaha scored his third goal in five games to earn Crystal Palace a point from a 1-1 home draw with Brighton in an English Premier League game between teams in the middle of the standings .

The Ivory Coast winger collected the ball on the left flank, cut inside, then back outside before driving a fierce left-footed shot high into the net in the 76th minute.

Neal Maupay also kept up his impressive scoring form of late, netting for the third straight game to give Brighton the lead in the 54th. The striker pounced on a side-footed cross by Leandro Trossard from the right wing, also shooting high into the corner with his left foot from a central position in the area.

Argentina will host Ecuador to start their South American World Cup qualifying campaign in March, and without the suspended Lionel Messi.

The draw on Tuesday at CONMEBOL put Bolivia in Argentina’s path in the second round of qualifying. Messi will be eligible to play that match after his red card in the Copa America.

Brazil also received a comfortable launch, hosting Bolivia in the first round and visiting Peru in the second.

The biggest match of the first round will be between Uruguay and Chile.

South America’s superclasico will take place in the sixth round in October, when Brazil host Argentina. Their second World Cup qualifier will be in September 2021.

AC Milan said they were “surprised by the total lack of consultation” after Serie A installed a painting featuring monkeys at their headquarters for a league-wide anti-racism campaign.

Roma also said they “were very surprised” by the move.

“We understand the league wants to tackle racism but we don’t believe this is the right way to do it,” Roma tweeted.

While black players are regularly subjected to monkey chants in games, artist Simone Fugazzotto said his painting featuring three monkeys to represent three different races was meant “to show that we are all the same race.”

The league revealed the painting on Monday at a presentation of its antiracism campaign in Milan.

Nicklas Bendtner’s colorful and much-traveled soccer career could be coming to an end after the Danish striker was told by his latest club that he was being released after just four months.

Bendtner did not do enough to convince FC Copenhagen to give him a longer contract after scoring just one goal in nine appearances for the Danish team after joining on a short-term deal in September.

It has led the 31-year-old Bendtner to ponder retirement.

The likelihood of Paul Pogba resuming his Manchester United career this year diminished further after manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer said illness had delayed the midfielder’s return to training.

In comments made on Sunday but published only on Tuesday, Solskjaer said Pogba had been off for three days after being “struck down ill” and it had “probably set him back quite a bit.”

Videos were posted on social media on Monday of Pogba dancing at his brother Florentin’s wedding outside

Paris, which took place on Friday.

Pogba has played just six games for United this season – and not since September because of an ankle injury - fueling speculation about his future at the club.

In the offseason, Pogba said: “I think for me it can be a good time to have a new challenge somewhere.”

Solskjaer has maintained in recent weeks that Pogba would be back in the team by the end of the year, but he has yet to return to full training. It has been reported that Pogba is a target of Real Madrid, and Europe’s winter transfer window opens on Jan 1.

“As I’ve said so many times, Paul’s a top, top player that we want to see playing his best football at Man United,” Solskjaer said in his latest remarks about Pogba ahead of the English League Cup quarterfinal against fourth-tier Colchester on Wednesday.

Schalke goalkeeper Alexander Nübel has been suspended for four Bundesliga games for his dangerous high tackle on Eintracht Frankfurt’s Mijat Gacinovic.

Nübel knocked Gacinovic over with a studs-up challenge to the Serbian midfielder’s chest during Schalke’s 1-0 win on Sunday. Gacinovic was taken off with a bloody mouth and soiled jersey and was later diagnosed in hospital with severely bruised ribs.

Nübel, who was immediately sent off, was banned and fined 12,000 euros ($13,400) by the German football federation sports court on Tuesday.

Crystal Palace’s Cheikhou Kouyate (left), and Brighton and Hove Albion’s Davy Propper battle for the ball during their English Premier League soccer

match at Selhurst Park, London on Dec 16. (AP)

Lazio’s Lucas Leiva (center), in action during the Italian Serie A soccer match between Cagliari Calcio and SS Lazio at Sardegna Arena stadium in Cagliari, Italy on Dec 16. (AP)