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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Sport
Agencies

Milan draw with Juventus as De Jong scores late winner for Barcelona

Éder Militão’s stoppage-time equaliser earned Real Madrid a point against struggling Elche.
Éder Militão’s stoppage-time equaliser earned Real Madrid a point against struggling Elche. Photograph: Rodrigo Jimenez/EPA

La Liga leaders Real Madrid fought back from two goals down at home to rescue a 2-2 draw against lowly Elche thanks to a last-gasp Éder Militão goal in stoppage time. Real wasted a golden opportunity to widen the gap at the top of the table after second-placed Sevilla stumbled at home with a draw against Celta Vigo on Saturday.

Real have 50 points from 22 games, four points ahead of Sevilla. Elche opened a two-goal lead with Lucas Boyé netting in the first half and Pere Milla scoring after the break. Luka Modric reduced the deficit with a penalty after 82 minutes and Vinícius Júnior found Militão inside the box in the 92nd minute and he headed the equaliser.

A late strike by Frenkie de Jong earned Barcelona a 1-0 win at Alaves in La Liga on Sunday and rescued three points for Xavi Hernández’s team on another day of struggling against lowly opposition.

Alaves squandered a number of chances before Barcelona scored the winner in the 87th minute when De Jong latched on to a Ferran Torres pass to fire in from close range.

Osasuna defeated Granada 2-0 in the early kick-off, Rubén García breaking the deadlock in the second half before Kike sealed the visitors’ victory in the 90th minute.

Frenkie de Jong celebrates his late winner for Barcelona at Alaves
Frenkie de Jong celebrates his late winner for Barcelona at Alaves. Photograph: Vincent West/Reuters

Bayern Munich completely outclassed Hertha Berlin to restore their six-point lead at the top of the Bundesliga with a 4-1 win. The visitors should have won by more with Bayern missing a host of missed chances and having two goals rightly ruled out through VAR.

Corentin Tolisso and Thomas Müller scored in the first half before Leroy Sané and Serge Gnabry rewarded Bayern’s dominance in the second. Substitute Jurgen Ekkelenkamp netted seconds after coming on for Hertha’s consolation goal, but the scoreline didn’t reflect a game in which the home team had four attempts on goal compared to the visitors’ 30. RB Leipzig defeated Wolfsburg 2-0 in the Bundesliga’s early kick-off, stretching the visitors’ winless run to 11 games across all competitions.

AC Milan were held to a 0-0 draw by Juventus at the San Siro as they dropped to third in Serie A, four points behind the leaders Internazionale. In a first half of few chances, Milan were dealt a blow after Zlatan Ibrahimovic picked up an injury and had to be taken off.

While Juve were content to sit back, Milan looked the more likely to snatch victory, with Rafael Leão and Olivier Giroud forcing the visiting goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny into several saves.

Juventus never looked like scoring, but the hard-earned point stretched their unbeaten run to nine league games. They stay fifth on 42 points after 23 matches.

Roma secured a 4-2 victory at Empoli in Serie A thanks to four goals in 13 first-half minutes, including a double from Tammy Abraham. The hosts started brightly, but they fell apart after Abraham’s swift turn and shot broke the deadlock in the 24th minute.

Abraham squeezed the ball home in the 33rd minute to double Roma’s lead, before January signing Sérgio Oliveira scored his second goal since joining on loan from Porto two minutes later. José Mourinho’s side added a fourth in the 37th minute, Nicolò Zaniolo converting at the end of a swift counterattack. Andrea Pinamonti and Nedim Bajrami reduced the deficit in the second half but Roma held on for the three points.

Lorenzo Insigne sent a clear message to Napoli fans after scoring in a 4-1 win over bottom club Salernitana. The Napoli captain celebrated by pointing to the badge on his jersey and clearly saying to the camera, in Italian, “I love you, I will always love you.”

It was the 30-year-old’s first goal since signing a pre-contract agreement to join Toronto at the end of the season. Napoli moved second in Serie A, ahead of Milan’s match against Juventus. Salernitana remained rooted to the bottom of the table, eight points from safety.

Former Cagliari forward Riccardo Sottil scored against his old club to salvage a 1-1 draw for 10-man Fiorentina. Sottil netted in the 75th, 10 minutes after Álvaro Odriozola had been sent off for handball. João Pedro had headed in the opener for Cagliari at the start of the second half. Both teams also had penalties saved. Cagliari remained 18th, but moved to within a point of safety.

Sampdoria’s poor season continued as they slipped to defeat at Spezia, Daniele Verde scoring the game’s only goal. Sassuolo’s Giacomo Raspadori scored a late equaliser to grab a 1-1 draw at Torino, who had taken the lead in the first half through Antonio Sanabria.

Paris Saint-Germain eased to a 4-0 home victory over Reims to move 11 points clear at the top of Ligue 1.

Marco Verratti opened the scoring just before half-time with his first league goal since 2017. Sergio Ramos scored his first goal since his summer move to PSG in the 62nd minute.

Verratti’s shot deflected off Wout Faes for an own goal to stretch the hosts’ lead. Mauricio Pochettino’s team rounded off the scoring with Danilo’s goal in the 75th minute after an assist from Kylian Mbappé.

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