THE REAL MCCOY
Zidane’s side ease past Sociedad to overcome league blip
MADRID four for the champions, while Dries Mertens also scored three goals as Napoli demolished Benevento 6-0.
Inter Milan beat Crotone 2-0 on Saturday for a maximum 12 points in the campaign.
Benevento were no match for Napoli, looking for a strong response after their 2-1 Champions League defeat to Shakhtar Donetsk.
“We were unlucky in Ukraine,” said Belgian forward Mertens.
“Against Shakhtar we made mistakes and didn’t play our game, but today we showed we can do damage.”
Napoli are the new leaders on goal difference, but Mertens played down title talk.
“It’s still a long journey, Inter and Juve are doing well but we’ll see game after game,” he added.
Dybala’s heroics helped Juve bounce back after their 3-0 Champions League flop in Barcelona.
“I wanted to score one and three came along,” said Dybala after his second hat-trick of the season and his 52nd goal in his 100th match for Juventus.
“The team gives me confidence and I also compliment the coach who gives me the freedom to play where I want.”
Behind the leaders, Lazio are fourth after struggling to get past Genoa 3-2 in Liguria to bring their tally to ten points.
AC Milan showed they had recovered from their 4-1 defeat by Lazio last week with a 2-1 win over Udinese thanks to a Nikola Kalinic double on his first Serie A start for the club.
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On the stroke of half-time, Cologne goalkeeper Timo Horn fumbled a cross and defender Sokratis Papastathopoulos tapped home the loose ball to make it 2-0 at the break.
There were furious protests from Cologne, as replays showed the whistle went before the goal was scored, but it stood even after the video assistant referee (VAR) checked.
“We will not sign off on the match log and will protest immediately,” said Cologne’s manager Joerg Schmadtke.
“That was clearly a wrong decision which decided the game.”
Cologne’s strong protests over the second goal went down badly in the Dortmund camp.
“The only thing which is clear is that Cologne can’t take losing,” said Borussia’s CEO HansJoachim Watzke. “And if you can’t take losing, then you turn to bad methods. If you do so after losing 5-0, then hats off.”
The win leaves Borussia top on goal difference from secondplaced Hanover 96 with defending champions Bayern Munich third and just a point behind after Saturday’s 4-0 win at home to Mainz when Lewandowski scored twice.
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Kylian Mbappe played a decisive role on his Parc des Princes debut for Paris SaintGermain on Sunday in a thrilling 2-0 win over Lyon with both goals accreditated to the visitors.
Lyon’s youngsters proved more than a match for PSG’s multimillionaires who had to wait until the last quarter of an hour before Lyon defender Marcelo deflected the ball into his own goal.
Then four minutes from time Mbappe rushed onto Neymar’s assist with his close range shot bounding off Jeremy Morel to settle the electric encounter.
This sixth successive league win pushed Unai Emery’s side three points clear of defending champions Monaco who had maintained their title push with a 3-0 win over Strasbourg 24 hours earlier.
Earlier a sizzling Mario Balotelli strike ten minutes from time gave Nice a 1-0 win at Rennes and Marseille pulled out of an early season slump when a Clinton Njie brace gave the ambitious southerners a 2-0 win at Amiens. Agencies