European roundup: Barcelona held by Cádiz, Abraham scores in Roma win
Barcelona’s ongoing crisis worsened as they were held to a 0-0 draw by Cádiz in La Liga, extending their winless streak to three matches and adding pressure on their coach, Ronald Koeman.
Barcelona had to hold on after the midfielder Frenkie de Jong was sent off for picking up a second yellow card in the 65th minute. Koeman also was sent off for complaining to the referee in the final minutes.
The draw left Barcelona seventh in the league and seven points behind Real Madrid, who routed Mallorca 6-1 yesterday, albeit with a game in hand. “We have to be more united than ever,” said Barcelona’s Sergi Roberto. “The fans, the squad, the coach, the president . ... We have to be united to overcome this situation. We are not going through a good moment but I’m convinced that we will overcome it.”
Cádiz nearly opened the scoring through Álvaro Negredo’s shot from outside the area in the 46th minute, forcing Marc-André ter Stegen to make a difficult save. One of Barcelona’s best chances was a low shot by Memphis Depay that was stopped by the Cádiz goalkeeper Jeremías Ledesma a few minutes later, and the Dutch striker also missed an opportunity to score the winner deep into stoppage time after he shot wide when one-on-one.De Jong was sent off after sliding in to try to steal the ball from an opponent. With an extra man, Cádiz had most of the chances at the end but couldn’t capitalise.
Tammy Abraham’s first-half strike earned Roma a 1-0 win over Udinese to send them fourth in Serie A, but Lorenzo Pellegrini was sent off and will now miss the capital derby against Lazio.
England international Abraham steered in a close-range finish after 36 minutes thanks to a fabulous assist from the 19-year-old Riccardo Calafiori, who ran half the length of the pitch before beating his marker and sending in a fine cross.
“I knew there was a lot of pressure with me coming in, but I love the fans, the staff, they make me feel like family from the first day and I need to repay them,” Abraham told DAZN. “I came here to win, I love to win, the boys look to me, I have to give them confidence and hopefully we will continue getting results.”
Roma needed to deliver a result after suffering their first defeat under José Mourinho against Hellas Verona at the weekend. They began with intent as Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Nicolò Zaniolo both hit the post, before Abraham gave the hosts the lead with his third
goal since joining from Chelsea.
But Roma suffered a damaging blow in the dying minutes when their captain, Pellegrini, was shown a second yellow card for a high elbow.
Roma are on 12 points, three behind leaders Napoli, who impressed in a 4-0 win at Sampdoria. Victor Osimhen scored twice as the visitors continued their perfect start to the season.
Sampdoria were seen as a potential obstacle for Napoli but Luciano Spalletti’s team controlled the game from the start, as they went two points clear of Internazionale and AC Milan at the top of Serie A.
Osimhen started things off when he pushed in a cross from Lorenzo Insigne at the far post, before passes from Hiving Lozano and Insigne set up Napoli’s second for Fabián Ruiz from the edge of the 18-yard box.
Osimhen then needed only one touch to redirect a Lozano cross from the centre of the area, and Lozano also provided the assist when Piotr Zielinski pounded in another for Napoli.
Ciro Immobile converted a penalty in stoppage time to earn Lazio a 1-1 draw at Torino.
A header from Mark Pjaca had put Torino ahead in the 76th minute but Immobile rescued a late point for Lazio after scoring from the spot.