AC Milan maintain impressive Serie A form with narrow win over Napoli
By PA Sport Staff
AC Milan’s unbeaten start to the year in Serie A continued with a 1-0 victory over Napoli at the San Siro.
Scudetto champions Napoli have failed to match the form which saw them win the title last season and were beaten by Theo Hernandez’s first-half strike.
The France international latched onto Rafael Leao’s through ball and fired into the bottom corner to secure Milan a sixth win in seven league games.
Fiorentina snapped a three-game winless run with a crushing 5-1 victory over Frosinone.
The hosts were out of sight by half-time through goals from Andrea Belotti, Jonathan Ikone and Lucas Martinez.
Nicolas Gonzalez made it four eight minutes into the second half and Antonin Barak completed the rout after Luca Mazzitelli’s brilliant free-kick had pulled one back for Frosinone.
Bologna’s quest for European football continued in style with an emphatic 4-0 victory over Lecce.
Sam Beukema put the hosts 1-0 up before Riccardo Orsolini bagged a brace and Jens Odgaard added a fourth with eight minutes to go to give Bologna back-to-back wins.
Atalanta earned a fourth consecutive Serie A win with a 4-1 triumph over Genoa.
Charles De Ketelaere opened the scoring in the 22nd minute but Ruslan Malinovskyi levelled things up in the second half.
However, Genoa were not level for long as Teun Koopmeiners fired Atalanta back in front and stoppage-time goals from Davide Zappacosta and El Bilal Toure made it 4-1.
Hellas Verona picked up a vital point in their fight for survival with a goalless draw at Monza.
In LaLiga, Barcelona slipped 10 points behind leaders Real Madrid after twice coming from behind to draw 3-3 with Granada.
Lamine Yamal’s opener was cancelled out by Ricard Sanchez two minutes before the break and Granada took the lead in the second half when on-loan Manchester United midfielder Facundo Pellistri bundled into an empty net at the back post.
Robert Lewandowski crashed in his 15th goal of the campaign on the hour but Granada regained the lead three minutes later, only for 16-year-old Yamal to rescue a point for Barcelona with 10 minutes to go.
Sevilla pulled six points clear of the relegation places with a 1-0 victory over Atletico Madrid, who also lost further ground in the title race.
The winner came in the 15th minute when Lucas Ocampos flicked a header on for Isaac Romero to nod in at the back post.
Rayo Vallecano slipped to a fourth defeat in five as Vedat Muriqi scored a last-minute winner to earn Mallorca a 2-1 win, while Jaime Mata also left it late to snatch Getafe a dramatic 3-2 victory over Celta Vigo.
In Ligue 1, Denis Zakaria scored twice as Monaco moved a point behind second-placed opponents Nice with a 3-2 victory.
Zakaria put Monaco in front with a 30-yard screamer before Gaetan Laborde equalised, but the Swiss midfielder bagged his second of the night five minutes after the break.
Nice’s hopes of taking anything from the game diminished when Dante was handed a straight red card for a late challenge on Takumi Minamino.
But Evann Guessand did manage to level, only for Aleksandr Golovin to nick a winner.
Fourth-placed Brest were held to a 1-1 draw by rock-bottom Clermont Foot as both sides were reduced to 10 men in the closing stages.
Lyon came from behind to beat Montpellier 2-1 and earn a second successive win as second-half goals from Alexandre Lacazette and Maxence Caqueret cancelled out Armaud Nordin’s opener.
Goals from Mohamed Bamba and Tiemoue Bakayoko boosted Lorient’s survival hopes as they ran out 2-0 winners over Reims.
Nantes moved above opponents Toulouse with a 2-1 victory after goals from Mostafa Mohamed and Tino Kadewere put them two up before Thijs Dallinga scored a consolation late on.
Benjamin Bourigeaud struck on the hour to give Rennes earned a fifth straight win – 1-0 over Le Havre.
In the Bundesliga, Stuttgart kept their bid for Champions League football on course with a 3-1 win against Mainz.
Maximilian Mittelstadt, Jamie Leweling and on-loan Brighton striker Deniz Undav gave the hosts a commanding three-goal lead before Ludovic Ajorque grabbed a consolation as Mainz slipped to an 11th game without a win.
Hoffenheim’s Andrej Kramaric snatched a last-gasp equaliser to cancel out Max Finkgrafe’s 79th-minute opener to deny Cologne three vital points in their survival bid as the two sides drew 1-1.