STILL INVINCIBLE
Pique keeps Barca unbeaten as Atletico cut gap
GERARD Pique salvaged a 1-1 draw for La Liga leaders Barcelona at city rivals Espanyol on Sunday, keeping their bid for an unbeaten campaign on track, while Atletico Madrid edged out Valencia.
Ernesto Valverde’s men were in danger of falling to their first league defeat of the season when Gerard Moreno nodded the hosts ahead midway through the second half, but centre-back Pique met a Lionel Messi corner in the 82nd minute to snatch a point.
Barcelona are now nine points clear at the top of the table from Atletico Madrid, who beat thirdplaced Valencia 1-0 at the Wanda Metropolitano.
The Catalan derby was played in pouring rain and Valverde slammed the “dangerous” pitch.
“Even though it was raining, we thought that the pitch would hold, but then we saw that the grass was not going to hold up and that the pitch was becoming dangerous,” the Barcelona coach said.
“On our passes from defence the ball could get stuck in a puddle and that’s why things got difficult.
“We give a lot of value to this draw, because it was hard to get because of this scenario and because it’s a derby and we didn’t want to lose.”
The five-time European champions also set a new club record of 22 matches unbeaten to start a league season on Sunday, and are still in the hunt for a La Liga, Copa del Rey and Champions League treble.
“We are still up there (top of the table). The conditions for them and for us were not the best, but it was an entertaining game,” Barca captain Andres Iniesta told BeIn Sports.
Atletico took advantage of Barcelona’s draw to revive their slim title hopes, as Angel Correa produced a moment of magic to win the game.
Antoine Griezmann was whistled by the home fans late on, when he opted to run down the clock instead of pushing for a second goal.
“Griezmann did what he had to do... That’s normal, people want to win,” coach Simeone said.
“The players are the ones who
best interpret what they have to do on the pitch. Griezmann made only good choices tonight, even though he didn’t score and couldn’t finish.
“Everyone is happy, all the fans are celebrating at home and everyone is happy.”
Earlier on Sunday, Girona moved into the top half of the table as Uruguayan international Cristhian Stuani scored a double in a 2-0 win over Athletic Bilbao, while Getafe and Leganes played out a goalless draw.
MILAN: Napoli clung to top spot in Serie A with a 2-0 win over tailenders Benevento on Sunday, after Gonzalo Higuain hit a rapid hat-trick and Sami Khedira two in three minutes as champions Juventus piled on the pressure in the title chase with a 7-0 win over Sassuolo.
Juventus were 4-0 up by halftime after Alex Sandro opened the scoring on nine minutes in Turin with a quick-fire Khedira brace and a Miralem Pjanic goal burying an overwhelmed Sassuolo who are rooted in 15th position.
Argentine ace Higuain dominated the second half with a hattrick in a 20-minute spell to bring his league tally to 13.
But Napoli replied with goals in
either half from Dries Mertens and Marek Hamsik keeping Maurizio Sarri’s side one point ahead of the six-time defending champions.
“We cannot afford any slip-ups with Napoli having an extraordinary championship. It was important to win today so we could definitively break away from the chasing pack,” said Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri.
“Many players are beginning to reach their peak.”
The only bad news for Juventus was Blaise Matuidi picking up a muscular injury which Allegri said should keep the French international out of the Champions League clash against Tottenham on Feb 13.
In Naples, Mertens opened the scoring after 20 minutes at neighbouring Benevento with a magnificent lob from a tight angle, but the Belgian limped off with an ankle injury in the final minutes of the game.
Slovak Hamsik doubled their lead just after the break, meeting Jose Callejon’s low cross for his 118th goal for the club.
“We suffered at the start, but then broke the deadlock with a great goal from Dries Mertens,” said Napoli skipper Hamsik.
“Once we went 2-0 up, we tried to slow it down a bit and control the game.
“We’re not afraid of anyone, as we must only focus on our own results.”
Earlier Roma got back to winning ways to move closer to the Champions League places with Turkish winger Cengiz Under scoring the only goal within the first minute in Verona.
Roma stay fifth but move to within a point of Inter Milan who occupy the final Champions League.
“We deservedly won. We went down to 10 men and still didn’t allow a shot on goal,” said Roma coach Eusebio Di Francesco.
AC Milan missed the chance to move into the Europa League places, being held 1-1 at Udinese with Davide Calabria sent off on 68 minutes.
Atalanta beat Chievo 1-0 with Gianluca Mancini’s winner on 72 minutes at first disallowed, then given after viewing VAR.
Midtable Fiorentina won 2-1 at Bologna with Federico Chiesa getting the winner after 71 minutes after Jordan Veretout’s opener was cancelled out by Erick Pulgar.
Cagliari earned a 2-0 win over relegation rivals SPAL in Sardinia, with goals from Luca Cigarini and substitute Marco Sau.
BERLIN: Marco Richter scored his first Bundesliga goal as Augsburg beat Eintracht Frankfurt 3-0 on Sunday, while a late Filip Kostic goal rescued a point for Hamburg in a 1-1 draw with Hanover.
The win saw Augsburg move up to seventh, while Frankfurt missed an opportunity to go second in the Bundesliga and remain sixth, one point adrift of fourthplaced Borussia Dortmund in the race for Champions League qualification.
“We were aggressive from the very first minute today,” Augsburg goalscorer Michael Gregoritsch told Sky. “I think that the win was a fair result.”
PARIS: Rony Lopes struck a dramatic late winner as Monaco recovered from two goals down and overcame the first-half dismissal of Keita Balde to stun Lyon 3-2 in Ligue 1 on Sunday.
“It was a very tough match. We conceded two goals far too early, we lost two players to injury and had a man sent off, everything was against us,” Lopes said.
“But we showed we are a strong team and we deserved to win on the basis of the second half. It’s our best match in terms of solidarity, but not in quality. We showed that we’re a real team.”
Earlier, Claudio Ranieri’s Nantes slumped to a 3-2 defeat at Caen. AFP