Napoli beats Udinese 3‑2 to go 11 points clear in Serie A

Napoli could end the year with a double‐digit points lead at the top of Serie A.

Goals from Victor Osimhen, Piotr Zieliński and Eljif Elmas saw Napoli beat Udinese 3‐2 on Saturday for its 11th straight league victory and open up a sig‐ nificant gap over its rivals.

It was a nervy finale for the home side, however, following two late goals from substitutes Ilija Nestorovski and Lazar Samardžić.

"Today was a further demon‐ stration of just how hard it is maintain the sort of performance levels we've had and how hard it is to win in Serie A," Napoli coach Luciano Spalletti said. "What we've managed to do up until now should not been seen as par for the course just because we're playing great football.

"The last 15 minutes today puts what my players have been doing into perspective and shows how hard they've had to work for it."

The five teams immediately below Napoli don't play until Sunday, with four of them facing each other.

Whatever happens, Napoli is guaranteed to spend the rest of the year at least eight points clear as Serie A pauses for the World Cup and the traditional winter break.

"I want to thank my players for a phenomenal first part of the season," Spalletti said. "Overall, the mentality, the dedication and the work ethic of my team have been exceptional.

"They're young, enthusiastic and they make my job easy be‐ cause they do everything I ask of them ... Now we must make sure we have exactly the same atti‐ tude when the season resumes."

By the time Italian soccer re‐ sumes it will have been three months since Udinese's last vic‐ tory, as the team has gone into free fall after an impressive start to the season.

It took Napoli just 15 minutes to break the deadlock as Os‐ imhen headed home Elmas' cross for his seventh goal in his past six league matches.

Osimhen also had a hand in Napoli's second goal in the 31st as he went on the counterattack and sent a cheeky backheel pass to Hirving Lozano in midfield. Lozano picked out Zieliński, who took one touch to control in the penalty area before curling into the far side of the net.

Napoli's third goal also came from a counterattack. André‐ Frank Anguissa picked out Elmas, who was in plenty of space on the left and he cut in‐ side to fire in at the near post.

Napoli appeared to be heading for a comfortable victory but Nestorovski pulled one back in the 79th and Samardžić reduced the gap still further three min‐ utes later when he robbed the ball off Kim Min‐jae and surged forward before placing it into the bottom left corner from 25 yards.

Sampdoria fans resoundly jeered their team and continued protests at the stadium after the game following a fourth straight defeat left the club mired in the bottom three amid its worst start to the season.

Lorenzo Colombo scored on the stroke of halftime and set up a late goal for Lameck Banda as Lecce won 2‐0 at Sampdoria.

Samp coach Dejan Stanković was suspended for the match and could only watch in obvious dismay from the stands as his team fell to its fifth defeat in the seven league matches since he took charge.

Sampdoria remained four points from safety ahead of the rest of the weekend's fixtures while Lecce moved eight points clear of the relegation zone.

Bayern stretches Bundesliga lead ahead of World Cup break

With players keen to avoid in‐ jury risks ahead of the World Cup, Bayern Munich stretched its Bundesliga lead to six points after a 2‐0 win over Schalke on Saturday in its last game before the tournament in Qatar.

Bayern lacked some of its usual intensity as Julian Nagelmann's team cruised to victory against last‐place Schalke thanks to goals from Serge Gnabry and Eric Maxim Choupo‐Moting.

Bayern was without Sadio Mané — because of a fibula in‐ jury which has made the Senegal forward a World Cup doubt — while Canada left back Alphonso Davies has a muscle issue and Nagelsmann opted not to risk Thomas Müller after the experi‐ enced German had a run of minor injuries.

Schalke held Bayern at bay until the 38th minute when Gnabry ran onto Jamal Musiala's smart backheel pass to score the opener. Choupo‐Moting, heading to his third World Cup with Cameroon, finished off a quick counterattack in the 52nd for his seventh goal in his last seven Bundesliga games.

Bayern forward Leroy Sané's younger brother Sidi made his league debut off the bench for Schalke. The brothers weren't on the field together as Leroy was taken off five minutes before his 19‐year‐old brother came on.

Around the country, German fan groups continued to display banners urging fans not to watch the upcoming World Cup. A large banner reading "Boycott Qatar 2022" was displayed along one side of Hertha Berlin's stadium, and similar messages were shown at Schalke, Werder Bre‐ men, Augsburg and at other games.

Leipzig rose to second with a 2‐ 1 win at Bremen. Xaver Schlager surged into the penalty area and held off a stern challenge from Amos Pieper to restore Leipzig's lead in the 71st minute after a fortunate deflected equalizer for promoted Werder.

Leipzig could drop back to fourth depending on results Sun‐ day.

Bayer Leverkusen continued its recent resurgence under coach Xabi Alonso, beating Stuttgart 2‐ 0 for its third consecutive win to move up to 11th after weeks of hovering just above the relega‐ tion zone.

Forward Moussa Diaby scored for the sixth time in Leverkusen's last seven league games.

Ecuador midfielder Carlos Gruezo covered his face with his jersey and was comforted by his Augsburg teammates as he limped off with an injury that could put his World Cup chances in jeopardy.

Bochum beat Augsburg 1‐0 for its third win in five league games but remains second from last.

Ridle Baku was overlooked for Germany's World Cup squad but the Wolfsburg wing back re‐ sponded by scoring the winning goal in a 2‐1 defeat of Hoffen‐ heim. Goals from Wilfried Kanga and Marco Richter lifted Hertha Berlin to a 2‐0 win over Cologne to stay clear of the relegation places.