Ousmane Dembélé sinks Atlético Madrid to send Barcelona clear at top

Barcelona went three points clear at the top of La Liga on Sunday with a 1-0 away win at Atlético Madrid, thanks to a first-half goal from Ousmane Dembélé.

Rivals and second-placed Real Madrid suffered 2-1 defeat at Villarreal on Saturday, giving Barça the chance to seize the advantage in the league after 16 rounds.

The visitors got the only goal of the game after 22 minutes when Dembélé was played clear inside the box and sent the ball into the bottom right corner.

The hosts started to wake up at the end of the half, taking over possession and sending Barcelona into defensive mode.

Two minutes into stoppage time Barça’s Ferran Torres and Atlético’s Stefan Savic were sent off for violent conduct as the visitors held on for the narrow win.

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Napoli secure seven-point lead at Serie A summit

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Serie A table-toppers Napoli have a seven-point lead at the summit after beating Sampdoria 2-0 at the Stadio Luigi Ferraris, where tributes were paid – as elsewhere – to the late former Blucerchiati players Gianluca Vialli and Sinisa Mihajlovic.

After Sampdoria goalkeeper Emil Audero saved a Matteo Politano penalty, Victor Osimhen gave the visitors the lead with a 20th-minute strike.

Sampdoria were then reduced to 10 men towards the end of the first half when Tomas Rincon was dismissed for a foul on Osimhen, before a late Eljif Elmas spot-kick doubled Napoli’s advantage.

Milan were unable to leapfrog Juventus into second place, instead lying level on points with them in third, after a stoppage-time Tammy Abraham effort saw them held to a 2-2 draw by Roma at the San Siro.

Milan were 2-0 up through goals from Pierre Kalulu (30) and Tommaso Pobega (77) before Roger Ibanez gave Roma hope in the 87th minute, and Abraham then drew things level in the third minute of additional time.

Fifth-placed Lazio were also held 2-2 at home due to a late fightback after being two goals up, Empoli snatching the point at the Stadio Olimpico.

Francesco Caputo scored in the 83rd minute and Razvan Marin equalised in stoppage time after Felipe Anderson and Mattia Zaccagni had put Lazio seemingly on course for victory.

Torino drew 1-1 at Salernitana, Tonny Vilhena levelling for the away side following Antonio Sanabria’s opener, while Spezia and Lecce drew 0-0 at the Stadio Alberto Picco. PA Media

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Third-placed Real Sociedad registered their sixth successive victory in all competitions as they beat Almeria 2-0 away, with David Silva and Alexander Sørloth netting early in the second half.

Real Betis are up to fourth after a 2-1 win at Rayo Vallecano, sealed by Luiz Henrique in the 40th minute. An Ivan Balliu own goal had earlier been cancelled out by Rayo’s Sergio Camello.

Sevilla moved out of the relegation zone with a 2-1 home defeat of Getafe. Marcos Acuña and Rafa Mir put the hosts two goals up before Borja Mayoral pulled one back late on for Getafe.

source: theguardian.com