ANKARA
Italian league leaders Napoli are getting closer to their long-awaited Scudetto (Italian Serie A title) with each passing week as they last beat Roma 2-1 on Sunday.
Thanks to Giovanni Simeone’s late goal, Napoli beat Roma 2-1 to go 13 points clear at the top of the Italian top-tier Serie A division.
Napoli’s Nigerian forward Victor Osimhen sent a powerful strike to the roof of the Roma net in the 17th minute at Naples’ Diego Armando Maradona Stadium.
Roma forward Stephan El Shaarawy finished in the far post after Nicola Zalewski curled from the right flank to level the match in the 75th minute.
Argentine forward Simeone scored the winning goal in the 86th minute as he did not waste any time sending the ball to the top corner after receiving a low pass from Piotr Zielinski.
So Napoli increased their points to 53 in 20 matches.
Their nearest opponents, second-place Inter Milan, have 40 points after they took a 2-1 win at Cremonese on Saturday as Inter’s Argentine forward Lautaro Martinez scored a brace.
Lazio, Atalanta, and AC Milan have 38 points to pursue Inter.
Sassuolo stunned AC Milan 5-2 in a Sunday Serie A match held at Milan’s home San Siro. The loss took AC Milan to lower ranks in the standings.
Sixth-place Roma have 37 points after losing to Napoli.
Barcelona sink Girona, Pedri scores in his 100th appearance
On Saturday, Spanish La Liga leaders Barcelona beat Girona 1-0 as it was a historic day for Pedri, who scored the winner on his 100th club appearance.
The 20-year-old Barcelona midfielder scored an easy chance after Girona goalkeeper Paulo Gazzaniga parried Jordi Alba’s diagonal low cross into the six-yard box.
In his third season with Barcelona, Pedri became the Spanish club’s second youngest player to reach 100 matches after Bojan Krkic.
Krkic is still the record holder in this category, as he played his 100th Barcelona match in 2009 when he was 19 years, two months and 24 days old.
Pedri beat ex-Barcelona forward Lionel Messi in this field as Messi, a Paris Saint-Germain forward, made his 100th Barca appearance in 2008, when he was 20 years, eight months and three days old.
He was 20 years, two months and four days, when he played for Barcelona on Saturday.
Barcelona have 47 points in 18 matches.
Real Madrid are second with 42 points as the Whites drew with Real Sociedad 0-0 in a Sunday La Liga match.
Third-place Real Sociedad have 39 points after an away draw.
PSG held to home draw with Reims
An injury-time goal scored by Reims’ Folarin Balogun avoided Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) from taking three points in a Sunday French Ligue 1 match in Paris.
PSG’s Brazilian star Neymar broke the deadlock in the 51st minute at Parc des Princes.
Italian midfielder Marco Verratti (Paris Saint-Germain) was shown a red card for a foul in the second half as PSG had ten men on the pitch for nearly 30 minutes.
Reims’ Balogun had a through ball to score the equalizer in the 96th minute, shocking the crowd at Parc des Princes.
Despite the draw, PSG are leading the French league with 48 points in 20 matches.
Lens are after PSG with 45 points as they drew at Troyes 1-1 on Saturday.
Olympique Marseille are third with 43 points in the standings as their home game against Monaco ended 1-1 on Saturday.
Bayern make mistake, Union Berlin approaches German leaders in standings
On Saturday, German Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich could not secure a 1-0 lead against Eintracht Frankfurt in Munich as the points were shared after French forward Randal Kolo Muani scored for the visitors in the second half.
Bayern Munich star Leroy Sane drew the first blood at the Allianz Arena in the 34th minute to score the opener for his team.
However, Eintracht Frankfurt leveled with Randal Kolo Muani in the 69th minute to name the result 1-1.
Bayern Munich have 37 points in 18 matches to top the Bundesliga.
On the same day, Union Berlin beat Hertha Berlin 2-0 in a Bundesliga match at Olympiastadion to move to the second spot with 36 points.
Title contenders RB Leipzig toppled Stuttgart 2-1 on Friday. Hungarian midfielder Dominik Szoboszlai scored a double for the home team.
RB Leipzig are in the third position with 35 points.
Meanwhile, the English Premier League was not held last weekend as the clubs played their FA Cup matches that started Friday and will go through to Monday evening.
In addition to the FA Cup, the English League Cup (Carabao Cup) semifinals kicked off last week, and this week will see the second legs.
