European football: Monaco miss chance to go top; Bayer Leverkusen find form
Noah Cadiou’s second-half penalty for Lorient prevented Monaco returning to the top of Ligue 1 as they fell to a 1-0 defeat in Brittany on
Noah Cadiou’s second-half penalty for Lorient prevented Monaco returning to the top of Ligue 1 as they fell to a 1-0 defeat in Brittany on Sunday. Monaco are one of four teams level on points at the top of the table as they were joined by Paris FC, who edged Rennes 4-3 thanks to Lassine Sinayoko’s injury-time penalty. Rennes dropped to fifth, a point behind, despite forward Estéban Lepaul’s hat-trick of penalties in Paris. That left champions Paris Saint-Germain, who beat Strasbourg 3-1 on Saturday, top on goals scored ahead of their cross-town rivals and Lille, with Monaco just behind on goal difference. Lyon have a chance to overtake PSG when they host Nice later on Sunday. Marseille picked up a much-needed win as they thumped Angers 5-2 to pull away from the relegation zone.
Le Havre remain rooted to the foot of the table as Cameroon forward Danny Namaso’s double helped Auxerre come away from Normandy with a 3-1 victory. Ibrahim Maza and Patrik Schick combined to score two goals as Bayer Leverkusen came from behind to beat in-form Freiburg 2-1 in the Bundesliga on Sunday. After a shock defeat to Elversberg in the season opener, Leverkusen have now picked up 13 of a possible 18 points and sit fourth, level with third-placed Freiburg – who host Bayern Munich next weekend – on points. Rock bottom Borussia Mönchengladbach are still searching for a first point of the season after losing 2-1 at home against fellow strugglers Hoffenheim. Hoffenheim’s Bambasé Conté opened the scoring with his second goal in two games since a surprise call-up to the Germany squad in October.
Wael Mohya levelled for the hosts just after the break but Alexander Prass put Hoffenheim back in front shortly afterwards as the visitors, who host Lyon in the Europa League on Thursday, won just their second game of the season. View image in fullscreen Nico Paz climbs above the Fiorentina defence to head Como’s second goal. Photograph: Massimo Paolone/LaPresse/AP Cesc Fàbregas’s Como ended their three-game winless streak in Serie A on Sunday with a 3-1 victory at lowly Fiorentina. First-half goals by Mattia Liberali and Nico Paz put the visitors in charge, before Marin Pongracic halved the deficit shortly before the interval. Anastasios Douvikas netted early in the second period to put to bed any hope of a Fiorentina comeback and keep the hosts locked in the relegation zone on four points. Milan leapfrogged Como into fourth as they survived a second-half comeback from Atalanta to win 3-2.
Goals from Gonçalo Ramos, Adrien Rabiot and Mario Gila put Milan 3-0 ahead after 58 minutes before Atalanta rallied through Gianluca Gaetano and Nikola Krstovic. Lazio travel to Juventus later on Sunday where a win would take the Romans level on 19 points with Inter at the top of the table. Earlier, Lecce won 3-0 at Udinese, with Kialonda Gaspar, Konan N’Dri and Jamil Siebert all finding the net. An early penalty from Ante Budimir and a late Asier Osambela goal from earned Osasuna a 2-0 win against Racing Santander in La Liga while Celta Vigo won 2-1 at home against Alavés. Later on Sunday, Real Madrid host Sevilla, needing a win to narrow the nine-point advantage held by Barcelona.
The BriefWire