Lautaro scores again as Inter pip Fiorentina to regain lead
French leaders PSG blow two-goal lead in home draw with Brest
MILAN, Jan 29, (AP): It seems as if no one can stop Inter Milan or Lautaro Martínez.
The Argentina World Cup winner scored again to help Inter to a 1-0 win at Fiorentina, which had a penalty saved.
Inter moved back to the top of Serie A and with a game in hand, after its involvement in the Italian Super Cup in Saudi Arabia. Simone Inzaghi’s side leapfrogged a point above secondplace Juventus, which was held to a 1-1 draw at home to Empoli on Saturday.
Inter hosts Juventus next Sunday in a mouthwatering match at San Siro.
It was a league-leading 19th goal for Lautaro in as many matches. He also netted the goal that gave Inter the Italian Super Cup on Monday.
Fiorentina remained two points behind fourth-place Atalanta.
The home side had the ball in the back of the net in the 11th minute. M’Bala Nzola ran onto a long ball over the top and nutmegged Inter goalkeeper Yann Sommer but it was ruled out for offside.
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Instead, Inter took the lead three minutes later as a corner was whipped in from the left for Lautaro’s header at the near post.
Fiorentina almost equalized 10 minutes before the break but Sommer pulled off a magnificent save to fingertip Giacomo Bonaventura’s corner over the bar at full stretch.
The hosts felt they should have had a penalty from the resulting corner as Luca Ranieri was hauled down by Inter defender Alessandro Bastoni but a lengthy VAR check ruled that the official on the field was right to wave play on.
Fiorentina did get a penalty in the 75th minute, following another VAR
check, after Sommer went to push the ball clear but instead punched Nzola in the face.
Sommer went from villain to hero for Inter as he comfortably saved a weak penalty from Nicolás González.
Remarkably it was the fifth failed spot kick in Serie A this weekend, out of seven.
Lazio and Napoli played out a tense 0-0 draw that did neither side any favors
in their fight for fourth spot in Serie A.
The result left Lazio two points below Atalanta, with Napoli two points further back.
Last year, Napoli and Lazio finished first and second in Serie A but had struggled this season. Napoli, which scored the most goals in the league last campaign, has now failed to find the back of the net in eight of Walter Mazzarri’s 14 matches in charge.
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For Kuwait Club, “Al-Abyad,” the official acquisition of Congolese professional Arsene Zola, known for his defensive prowess at 28 years old, has been confirmed. Additionally, an agreement has been reached with an African striker with previous experience in Morocco and Saudi Arabia. Zola and the African striker are expected to replace Tunisians Bilal Al-Aifa and Yassine Al-Khenissi, who is sidelined due to injury. “Al-Abyad” will retain the services of Tunisian Yassine Amri, Moroccan Mahdi Barahma, and Bahraini Mohammed Al-Marhoun.
In Al-Shabab, the club is on the verge of announcing three new deals, according to Jaber Al-Zenki, the director of the football staff. Despite previous trials during the Cairo camp, the technical staff was unconvinced of the level of some professionals. The Tunisian duo Youssef Ben Souda and Bilal Al-Aifa are among the club’s choices.
As for Al-Fahaheel, Syrian coach Firas Al-Khatib is actively scouting for players from his country for the Asian Cup. Player Mahmoud Al-Aswad is close to joining the team for two and a half seasons.
PARIS, Jan 29, (AP): Paris SaintGermain blew a two-goal advantage and saw its French league lead over Nice reduced to six points after a 2-2 draw with surprise front-runner Brest.
PSG led 2-0 at the break but an own-goal and an equalizer 10 minutes from the end exposed ongoing difficulties at the back when under pressure.
Luis Enrique is the latest PSG coach to be confronted with a problem with composure that resurfaces every season, especially when star striker Kylian Mbappé fails to paper over the cracks with his scoring.
He could not add to his leagueleading 19 goals and was shown a yellow card early in the second half over a heated exchange with defender Kenny Lala.
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Winger Jérémy Le Douaron went close with a header in the 19th minute as Brest settled well, and PSG goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma had to make a smart save from Romain Del Castillo in the 28th. At least that woke PSG up. Attacking midfielder Marco Asensio opened the scoring 10 minutes later with an angled drive after being set up by left winger Bradley Barcola and, moments before the break, forward Randal Kolo Muani doubled the lead when he followed up a thwarted effort from Asensio.
But PSG has been blighted by sloppy defending in recent years, and Mahdi Camara’s shot was deflected past Donnarumma by central defender Danilo Pereira in the 55th to give coach Eric Roy’s Brest side hope.
Brest’s first goal came moments after Mbappé’s caution and a frustrating night for the World Cup star got worse as he watched PSG’s defense capitulate again. Brest midfielder Mathias Pereira Lage expertly backheeled Martín Satriano’s leftwing cross past Donnarumma for 2-2 in the 80th.
Mbappé grabbed a last-gasp winner when the sides met in October but this time saw a late effort blocked by defender Brendan Chardonnet.
PSG finished with 10 players at a deflated Parc des Princes when an agitated Barcola got a second yellow
card in the final seconds of stoppage time.
Brest is nine points behind PSG in third place and has a chance to knock PSG out of the French Cup when it returns to Paris in the roundof-16 match on Feb. 7.
Earlier, Lille missed the chance to go ahead of Monaco on goal difference and into fourth place when it drew 0-0 at Montpellier.
However, Lille still did well to earn a point with 10 players after Ayyoub Bouaddi’s sending off in first-half stoppage time for a foul on playmaker Téji Savanier.
Lille remains in fifth place and two points ahead of Reims, which could only draw 0-0 with visiting Nantes.
Veteran midfielder Andre Ayew rolled back the years with a spectacular goal to earn Le Havre a 3-3 draw at rock-bottom Lorient.
The Ghana international scored his first two goals since joining Le Havre this summer. He twice equalized for his team, with a header in the 85th minute for 2-2 and in the fourth minute of stoppage time with an overhead kick to make it 3-3.
In other games, eighth-place Lens won 2-0 at struggling Toulouse with goals from midfielders David Pereira da Costa and Andy Diouf, while coach Patrick Vieira’s midtable Strasbourg side drew 1-1 at Clermont.