PSG are guaranteed to pass the World Cup at the top of Ligue 1 while Arsenal continue to keep Manchester City at a distance in the Premier League. In Spain, FC Barcelona put pressure on Real Madrid, which is playing on Monday.
PSG warm for the winter, OM master of the Olympico
Collapsed after their elimination Tuesday in the Champions League, Marseille and its coach Igor Tudor found a little joy and comfort by beating Lyon (1-0), still in full recovery, Sunday at the Stade Vélodrome during “Olympico”. of the French championship.
The three points taken on Sunday bring the Provençaux very close to the podium, 4th one point behind Rennes (3rd) and tied with Monaco (5th), which they will face on Sunday before the championships give way to the World Cup. After two victories, the Lyonnais for their part relapsed and remain stuck in 8th place, from where Laurent Blanc will have to extricate them.
Dominated by clumsy and unlucky Lille, Rennes brought back a happy draw from the North (1-1). Three days after playing on the European scene, the Bretons, with their largely overhauled workforce, indeed seemed to lack ideas and juice but retain their third place with 28 units on the clock.
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Without Lionel Messi preserved for an inflammation of the Achilles tendon, PSG still counted on Neymar to win in Lorient, the surprise team of this Ligue 1 season. Paris is thus five points ahead of its direct competitor. and will pass the World Cup break at the top of the standings.
Barca put pressure on Real
On Saturday, FC Barcelona won 2-0 against Almeria which allows them to temporarily take a two-point lead over Real Madrid, who play Monday against Rayo Vallecano. In what was the last game of Gerard Pique’s career, Ousmane Dembélé and Frenkie De Jong scored the winning goals for the Blaugrana.
Atlético Madrid meanwhile lost further ground to the top pair after a 1-1 draw with Espanyol Barcelona. Sergi Darder opened the scoring for the visitors on the hour mark before Joao Félix equalized a quarter of an hour later. Diego Simeone’s men are still third but 10 points behind Barcelona.
Fourth in the standings, Betis also drew 1-1 in the Seville derby. A match as usual very disputed, marked by three red cards including one for the French Nabil Fekir.
Bayern back on their throne
Widely beaten Sunday on the field of Bayer Leverkusen (5-0), Union Berlin ceded the throne of leader to Bayern Munich.
Thanks to its victory won with difficulty on Saturday in the Olympic stadium in Berlin against Hertha (3-2), Bayern occupies, with 28 points, the first place in the German championship, which had not happened to them for more than two month, on the evening of the 4th day at the end of August.
Union Berlin have two points less than the reigning German champions, and even find themselves third in the Bundesliga since Freiburg won against Cologne (2-0) thanks to the achievements of South Korean Jeong Woo -yeong (53rd) and Michael Gregoritsch (64th). With 27 points, Freiburg occupies the place of dolphin of the players of Julian Nagelsmann.
Tired by the sequence of matches since the beginning of October with two matches per week, Union Berlin could not do anything against Bayer Leverkusen, sinking in the space of thirty minutes in the second half. In the history of the club, it is the heaviest defeat suffered in the Bundesliga, equal to the 5-0 conceded against Borussia Dortmund on 1is February 2020.
Naples flies over the Italian championship, tight battle for the top 4
Naples, undefeated leaders of Serie A, widened the gap again by winning in Bergamo against Atalanta (2-1), forced to give up second place to AC Milan, difficult winner of La Spezia (2- 1) thanks to a splendid late goal from Olivier Giroud.
Four days after conceding their first defeat of the season, in Liverpool (2-0), in the Champions League, Napoli did not leave any doubt instilled by consolidating their first place, with six points ahead of the Rossoneri and eight on the “Dea”, during the 13th day.
Behind Naples and AC Milan, the battle for the Top 4 is raging with five candidates in three points: Lazio (3rd, 27 pts), Atalanta Bergamo (4th, 27 pts), Juve (5th, 25 pts) , AS Roma (6th, 25 pts) and Inter (7th, 24 pts), two days before the suspension of Serie A due to Mondial-2022.
Lazio took advantage of a gross defensive error by AS Roma to win a closed derby (1-0): the giallorosso defender Roger Ibanez, too slow, had the ball stolen by the crafty Pedro and Felipe Anderson, who was just waiting for that at the penalty spot, was quick to beat Rui Patricio closely (29th).
In the “Italian derby”, Juventus Turin took the best against Inter Milan. Although out of the Champions League through the back door (five losses in six matches), the “Old Lady” confirms her revival in the league with this fourth consecutive victory. Something to smile about as important players like Federico Chiesa and Angel Di Maria return, who entered at the end of the game, while waiting for Dusan Vlahovic, still in the stands.
Chase between Arsenal and Manchester City
Solid and focused for 90 minutes, Arsenal took advantage of Chelsea’s attacking difficulties to win on Sunday and regained a two-point lead over Manchester City, winners the day before from Fulham. The mastery of the Gunners, who still have to go to Wolverhampton (19th) next week before the World Cup break, never ceases to impress and legitimize their ambitions for the title.
Behind, we can’t stop Newcastle, author of its fourth consecutive victory at Southampton (4-1) and which can begin to dream of Europe. With 27 points, the Mapgies go third in the standings, one point ahead of Tottenham who were beaten at home by Liverpool (2-1).
Two thundering starts to the period allowed Aston Villa to celebrate the arrival on the bench of Unai Emery with a precious success (3-1). The Red Devils remain 5th with 23 units while the Villans take three points from the red zone, in 13th place.
With AFP
