European roundup: Inter sweep away Napoli to return to Serie A summit
Paris Saint-Germain claimed their seventh consecutive Ligue 1 win with a 2-0 victory at Le Havre and stretched their lead at the top of the standings despite an early red card for their goalkeeper, Gianluigi Donnarumma.
PSG move to 33 points, four points clear of Nice who fell to their first defeat in a 1-0 loss at Nantes on Saturday, while Le Havre remain ninth on 16 points.
Donnarumma saw red in the 10th minute, the Italian coming out of his area to deal with a goal kick which sent Josué Casimir through on goal, but his mistimed attempt at a clearance caught the Nantes player in the head.
Luis Enrique sent on his substitute goalkeeper, Arnau Tenas, for his first PSG appearance in place of the forward Bradley Barcola having already been forced into a change by an injury to Fabián Ruiz just minutes earlier.
PSG regained their composure and Kylian Mbappé opened the scoring in the 23rd minute when he collected a pass from Ousmane Dembélé on the edge of the area, took a touch to control and a step back before curling his shot in off the post.
Tenas kept PSG in front with a string of fine saves as the home side piled on the pressure in the second half, including a double save at close range to deny Mohamed Bayo in the 58th minute.
The visitors wrapped up all three points in the 89th minute when a shot from Vitinha ricocheted off the defender Gautier Lloris and over the home keeper, Arthur Desmas.
Elsewhere, Brest beat Clermont 3-0 to strengthen their push for European football. Toulouse drew 1-1 with Lorient, with the latter requiring an injurytime equaliser from Bamba Dieng to salvage a point which does little to dispel fears of relegation.
Monaco overcame Montpellier 2-0 at the Stade Louis II, bouncing back from a 5-2 defeat to PSG last time out. Takumi Minamino, the former Liverpool
forward, opened the scoring early on, before Wissam Ben Yedder wrapped up the win at the death.
In Italy, Bologna’s hopes of a European place were hit in the dying moments at Lecce after VAR intervened in the award of a sensational late penalty for a foul on the attacking side’s goalkeeper, who was up for a late set piece.
Wladimiro Falcone was making a good run between the Bologna defence after the ball was nodded across the six-yard box, but he was bundled down unceremoniously by the Bologna defender Riccardo Calafiori.
After a stoppage of more than five minutes, and the clock into the 100th minute, the spot kick was put away smartly by Roberto Piccoli to leave the game at 1-1 after the Greek full-back Charalampos Lykogiannis had opened the scoring in the 68th minute.
Udinese were held to a 3-3 draw by Verona thanks to a spectacular late equaliser from Thomas Henry, the French forward charging on to a cross from Cyril Ngonge to loop in a header in the final seconds of injury time. Christian Kabasele had opened the scoring for Udinese and Lorenzo Lucca’s double looked to have secured victory, but a penalty from Milan Duric and a stunning overhead kick from Ngonge paved the way for the fightback.
Internazionale delivered a clinical performance as they made the most of their opportunities to secure a 3-0 victory at Napoli on Sunday, propelling them back to the Serie A summit.
While Napoli posed a challenge throughout the match, Inter were lethal in front of goal with Hakan Calhanoglu, Nicolò Barella and Marcus Thuram all scoring at crucial moments when Napoli were gaining momentum in the match.
Inter lead Serie A with 35 points, two points ahead of second-placed Juventus after 14 matches. The loss is another setback for Napoli’s hopes of retaining the title as they now trail Inter by 11 points. They are in fifth spot, level on 24 points with Roma, who are fourth.*
In the early La Liga game, on Sunday, Alavés were held to a goalless draw at Mallorca. There was another blank when Almería hosted Real Betis, before Sevilla drew 1-1 with Villarreal.
Later on, Barcelona edged Atlético Madrid 1-0 to strengthen their grip on third place. João Félix, the on-loan Atlético forward, got the only goal of the game and a measure of revenge on his parent club.
Meanwhile, in the Bundesliga, Bayer Leverkusen ceded ground at the top of the table after a 1-1 draw with Borussia Dortmund.
Julian Ryerson opened the scoring for Dortmund early on, but Victor Boniface ensured Leverkusen avoided defeat.