European roundup: Juventus suffer last-gasp home defeat to Sassuolo
Juventus slipped to a shock 2-1 defeat at home to Sassuolo in Serie A with Maxime Lopez’s stoppage-time winner stunning Massimiliano Allegri’s side.The hosts were well off the pace in the first half and fell behind to a fine team goal from Sassuolo two minutes before the break, with Davide Frattesi finishing well when put through on goal.
Juve stepped it up in the second half with Juan Cuadrado having a powerful effort cleared off the line while Federico Chiesa also missed with a header. The equaliser finally came when McKennie powered a header into the net in the 76th minute, much to the relief of everyone in the Juventus Stadium.
Juve threw everything at Sassuolo to find a winner, but they were caught on the break in the 95th minute, as Lopez raced clear before lofting a fine finish into the net to secure victory for his team.
Champions Internazionale got back to winning ways with a comfortable 2-0 victory at Empoli.After the home side had started brightly, Inter grew into the contest and edged in front thanks to Danilo D’Ambrosio’s well-timed header in the 34th minute.Inter were in total control after Empoli’s Samuele Ricci was sent off for a reckless tackle on Nicolo Barella just six minutes into the second half. Inter made the most of their numerical advantage when Federico Dimarco put the visitors 2-0 up in the 66th minute.
A first-half strike from Radamel Falcao was enough to hand Rayo Vallecano
a shock 1-0 win over Barcelona as the Catalans slumped to their second successive La Liga defeat.Following their defeat by rivals Real Madrid over the weekend, Wednesday’s result would have piled on even more pressure on coach Ronald Koeman as his side have won only two of their last seven league games and lie ninth in the standings with 15 points.
Colombian striker Falcao pounced in the 30th minute after Barça captain Sergio Busquets lost the ball in midfield and allowed Rayo to launch a quick counter-attack that led to the goal. After dribbling past Gerard Piqué, Falcao finished off in style by finding the back of the net.
Barça had a great chance to equalise in the 72nd minute but Rayo goalkeeper Stole Dimitrievski saved Memphis Depay’s penalty strike.
Real Madrid capped a day of topsyturvy results when they were held to a goalless draw by Osasuna.
Érik Lamela came off the bench to earn Sevilla a point and top spot in La Liga with a stunning second-half equaliser in a 1-1 draw away to RealMallorca.Sevilla were subdued in the first half at the Son Moix and trailed in the 22nd minute when Amath Ndiaye’s low cross was converted from close range by Antonio Sánchez.
The visitors had a let-off early in the second when Mallorca wasted a giltedged chance to double their lead when Ángel Rodríguez thumped a closerange effort against the post.But they began to dominate and Argentinian forward Lamela, who replaced Suso in the in the 53rd minute, levelled in the 73rd minute when he cut in from the right before planting an unstoppable shot into the top corner.
Borussia Mönchengladbach sensationally struck three times in the opening 21 minutes to demolish German champions Bayern Munich 5-0 and dump them out of the German Cup second round following their heaviest defeat in the competition.Gladbach’s dream start yielded two goals from Ramy Bensebaini and one from Kouadio Kone to put them in the driving seat before Breel Embolo struck twice early in the second half to kill off the game.
Dimitri Payet scored his sixth league goal this season to secure a 1-1 draw for Marseille against Nice in a rescheduled game. Payet’s equaliser came in the 41st minute after Amine Gouiri gave Nice the lead.