Category: Girona

European roundup: Union Berlin back on top of Bundesliga after late drama | European club football


Union Berlin scored a stoppage-time winner through Danilho Doekhi to snatch a dramatic 2-1 comeback win over visiting Borussia Mönchengladbach to go back to the top of the Bundesliga, one point ahead of Bayern Munich.

Kevin Behrens’s powerful header levelled the score in the 79th minute for Union, avoiding a second consecutive loss for the club, who have surprisingly led the title race for more than a month, before Doekhi’s last-gasp winner.

Gladbach’s Nico Elvedi headed in for the lead in the 33rd minute from a Lars Stindl corner, with the visitors controlling possession in the first half. The hosts pushed forward after the break and earned the equaliser when Behrens beat keeper Tobias Sippel 11 minutes from the end.

Union then put the ball in the net again but Christopher Trimmel’s 87th-minute header was overruled by the VAR before Doekhi got the winner in the eighth minute of injury time with the last move of the game.

In La Liga, Real Madrid were held to a 1-1 draw by Girona at the Bernabéu but the reigning champions maintained their unbeaten streakand hold a one-point lead over Barcelona.

After a goalless first half, Madrid opened the scoring through Vinícius Jr in the 70th minute but their lead was cancelled out by a Cristhian Stuani penalty 10 minutes later.

Real Madrid’s Toni Kroos is shown a red card by the referee in the 1-1 draw with Girona.
Real Madrid’s Toni Kroos is shown a red card by the referee in the 1-1 draw with Girona. Photograph: Jose Breton/AP

Madrid’s afternoon only got worse when midfielder Toni Kroos was sent off in added time after receiving a second yellow card. Girona, who are 16th in the standings, came away with a precious point as their players sank to the ground in relief. Elsewhere in La Liga, sixth-placed Osasuna continued their fine start to the season with a 2-0 home win over Valladolid.

Atalanta regained second place in Serie A with goals from defender Hans Hateboer and Ademola Lookman giving them a 2-0 away win over Empoli on Sunday. The visitors took the lead after 32 minutes when Hateboer reacted instinctively and knocked a loose ball into the net from inside the box.

Empoli had a chance to equalise shortly after, but Tyronne Ebuehi’s shot after 34 minutes was blocked by Rafael Toloi with a well-timed slide. Atalanta were awarded a penalty shortly before the end of the first half when Mattia Destro handled the ball, but keeper Guglielmo Vicario saved Teun Koopmeiners’s kick with his legs.

Atalanta’s Duvan Zapata celebrates with fans after the 2-0 win at Empoli.
Atalanta’s Duvan Zapata celebrates with fans after the 2-0 win at Empoli. Photograph: Jennifer Lorenzini/Reuters

Lookman nevertheless doubled the lead in the 59th minute with a well-placed shot inside the box that went past both defenders and keeper and into the lower left corner. Elsewhere in Serie A, Fiorentina won 2-1 away at Spezia and Cremonese played out a goalless draw with Udinese.

Breel Embolo and Aleksandr Golovin scored in the second half as Monaco beat bottom side Angers 2-0 at home in Ligue 1 to move up one spot to sixth in the standings. Elsewhere in France, Auxerre beat Ajaccio 1-0, Nantes and Clermont Foot drew 1-1, Rennes moved up to third with a 3-0 home win over Montpellier while fourth-placed Lorient were beaten 2-1 at home by Nice. Brest and Reims played out a goalless draw.

European roundup: Tomori on target to help Milan defeat struggling Juventus | European club football


Milan secured a 2-0 win over rivals Juventus with goals from defender Fikayo Tomori and midfielder Brahim Díaz in a spirited Serie A clash at the San Siro.

The defending champions provisionally moved up two places to third in the standings on 20 points, level with leaders Napoli and second-placed Atalanta who both have a game in hand.

Juventus, who appeared to have turned a corner after beating Bologna 3-0 at home last weekend, following that up with a 3-1 victory against Maccabi Haifa in the Champions League in midweek, remain eighth on 13 points.

Milan made it 1-0 just before the break through Tomori who followed up a shot by Olivier Giroud and rifled the ball into the roof of the net. Díaz doubled Milan’s lead in the 54th minute when he took advantage of Dusan Vlahovic’s mistake and raced towards Juve’s goal, finishing off a solo effort with a brilliant strike.

Edin Dzeko’s 100th and 101st Serie A goals gave injury-ridden Internazionale a 2-1 victory at Sassuolo. The 36-year-old became the third-oldest player to reach the milestone behind Goran Pandev and Sergio Pellissier.

In Spain, Ángel Correa scored twice as Atlético Madrid won 2-1 against Girona to move up to fourth in La Liga. Girona made it difficult for the home side who relied on an inspired performance from Jan Oblak and got lucky when two second-half strikes from the visitors hit the post.

Both Correa’s goals were scored in the early minutes of each half. The Argentina international stroked in a close-range, first-time shot from an Antoine Griezmann cross to open the scoring after five minutes. Three minutes after the break, Correa intercepted a poor pass from goalkeeper Juan Carlos inside the box and buried the ball in the open goal.

Ángel Correa watches his shot go past Juan Carlos for Atlético Madrid’s second goal
Ángel Correa watches his shot go past Juan Carlos for Atlético Madrid’s second goal. Photograph: Juan Medina/Reuters

Girona reduced the deficit in the 65th minute when Rodrigo Riquelme’s long-range shot deflected off defender José Maria Gimenez, which took it beyond Jan Oblak.

Aleix García smashed a thundering strike off the post in the 77th minute and had a similar strike from the same spot that Oblak acrobatically tipped away. From the resulting corner, Santiago Bueno jumped high to deliver a towering header that smashed against Oblak’s left post. That was as close as Girona came to an equaliser.

Atlético’s win lifted them to 16 points, a point behind third-placed Athletic Bilbao who drew 1-1 at Sevilla, Mikel Vesga equalising for the visitors after Óliver Torres’s early goal. Atlético are three points behind the leaders Barcelona and Real Madrid, who have a game in hand.

In the main game in Germany, Borussia Dortmund scraped a 2-2 draw at home to Bayern Munich. Earlier, Bayer Leverkusen’s Moussa Diaby scored once and set up two for Jeremie Frimpong in a 4-0 demolition of visiting Schalke to give Xabi Alonso a winning start as a coach in the Bundesliga.

Diaby thundered in a shot from outside the area in the 38th minute before setting up Frimpong to drill in from a tight angle three minutes later.
The pair combined again eight minutes after the restart with Diaby again the provider and Dutch midfielder Frimpong slotting in from close range. Paulinho completed the rout with a well-timed run in the 90th minute.

This story will be updated