European roundup: Osasuna strike late to deny Barcelona, Empoli upset Napoli | European club football
The Barcelona coach, Xavi Hernández, has warned his workforce are caught in a “unfavourable spiral” after they let three factors slip from their grasp in a 2-2 draw at Osasuna.
Disadvantaged of seven key gamers by way of damage, Xavi was compelled to flip to his kids and it regarded to have paid off because the guests took an early lead. Seventeen-year-old Gavi discovered Nico González with a exact through-ball that left the 19-year-old to hearth previous the keeper.
Osasuna hit straight again with a header from defender David García, however Barça retook the lead on the counter when one other teenager, Abdessamad Ezzalzouli, volleyed residence from Ousmane Dembélé’s cross. Barcelona had damaged away whereas Osasuna’s gamers had been protesting that Sergio Busquets had dealt with the ball.
Barça held on till the 86th minute, when Chimy Ávila’s low shot from exterior the field deflected in off Samuel Umtiti’s proper foot. It was a bitter blow, however Xavi’s facet had struggled to management the sport or create possibilities in Pamplona.
“We’re in a unfavourable spiral and we’d like to discover a method to break it,” Xavi mentioned after the sport. “This draw shouldn’t be sufficient. After we scored the second aim we must always have taken management however we didn’t and that made us undergo.”
Elsewhere in La Liga, Actual Betis climbed to third with a 4-0 residence win over Actual Sociedad, with wing-back Álex Moreno scoring twice for Manuel Pellegrini’s facet. Villarreal adopted up their midweek Champions League triumph with a 2-0 residence win over Rayo Vallecano, Gerard Moreno’s penalty securing victory.
In Serie A, Napoli slipped to a shock 1-0 defeat at residence to Empoli, their third loss from their final 5 league video games. Eljif Elmas’ shot caught the highest of the crossbar within the first half, however the guests went in entrance by way of Patrick Cutrone’s header within the seventieth minute.
Luciano Spalletti’s facet threw all the things at Empoli late on – the hosts completed the match having had 30 pictures at aim – however with out injured striker Victor Osimhen, and a bunch of different key gamers, they may not muster an equaliser and fall to fourth within the desk.
Atalanta moved above them into third after successful 2-1 at Verona to bolster their title credentials. Giovanni Simeone’s twelfth league aim of the season put the hosts in entrance, however Aleksey Miranchuk’s close-range end and Teun Koopmeiners’ deflected strike turned the sport round.
Elsewhere, Sassuolo struck twice in fast succession within the second half to beat Lazio 2-1 at residence. Objectives from Domenico Berardi and Giacomo Raspadori sealed the hosts’ comeback after Mattia Zaccagni had put Lazio forward. Antonio Sanabria opened the scoring for Torino as they beat Bologna 2-1 at residence.
Marseille are up to second in Ligue 1 after incomes a 2-0 win at Strasbourg. Bamba Dieng’s spectacular bicycle kick broke the impasse simply after the hour mark earlier than Duje Caleta-Automotive headed the second for Jorge Sampaoli’s facet. Rennes are third after a 2-1 residence defeat to Good, who’re one level behind in fourth after targets from Kasper Dolberg and Youcef Atal earned victory.
The Fiver: join and get our day by day football electronic mail.
In Germany, Bayer Leverkusen took a two-goal lead at Eintracht Frankfurt by way of Patrik Schick’s double, however had been rocked by the hosts’ unbelievable comeback to win 5-2. Lucas Tuta and Jesper Lindstrom shortly obtained Eintracht on phrases, earlier than Evan N’Dicka stabbed residence from shut vary. Wonderful finishes from Kristjan Jakic and Djibril Sow accomplished the rout.
Backside club Greuther Fürth earned their first league win of the season as they edged out Union Berlin 1-0. Havard Nielsen’s winner ended a run of 12 straight league defeats, however the promoted facet are nonetheless 13 factors from security with simply 4 factors.
