Denzel Dumfries salvages point for Inter Milan who lose ground again in race for Serie A title; Leaders AC Milan and second-place Napoli win; Robert Lewandowski scores twice as Bayern Munich thrash Union Berlin to stay in pole position in Bundesliga title race
Sunday 20 March 2022 20:33, UK
Inter Milan dropped points again in the Serie A title race when they were held to a 1-1 draw by Fiorentina at the San Siro, after Denzel Dumfries cancelled out Lucas Torreira's opener.
Inter were top of the league last month but have won only one of their last seven games and now sit third in the standings, three points behind leaders Napoli and AC Milan who are level on 63 points.
The goalkeepers were kept busy in a goalless first half, with Inter's Samir Handanovic called into action to stop long-range efforts, while Fiorentina's Pietro Terracciano denied Edin Dzeko from close range.
But Fiorentina's sustained pressure paid dividends early in the second half when Gaetano Castrovilli cut open Inter's defence in the box to find Nicolas Gonzalez, whose quick cutback was fired in by Torreira.
Inter struck back less than five minutes later, however, after the two wing-backs combined, with Ivan Perisic floating a cross into the box for Dumfries to leap up unmarked and head home.
Jonathan Ikone nearly scored a winner in injury time when he ran into space on a counter-attack, but Handanovic came to Inter's rescue once again to deny the Frenchman as both sides shared the spoils.
Elsewhere, a second successive double from Victor Osimhen earned Napoli a 2-1 comeback victory over Udinese.
Looking to make it back-to-back league wins for the first time since late January into early February, Napoli fell behind in the 22nd minute after Gerard Deulofeu arrowed a strike into the net.
The hosts looked like a different side in the second half, however, and turned the match on its head as Nigerian striker Osimhen backed up his double in last week's 2-1 win at Hellas Verona with another brace.
His first was a bullet header to level the match seven minutes after the break, before a clever near-post finish 11 minutes later completed the turnaround.
Pablo Mari's late red card ended Udinese's hopes of grabbing an equaliser at the Diego Armando Maradona stadium, as Napoli saw out a crucial win in the race for the Scudetto.
But later on Saturday, a brilliant strike from Ismael Bennacer earned AC Milan a 1-0 victory at Cagliari, as Stefano Pioli's side maintained their three-point lead at the top of Serie A.
Second-placed Napoli's comeback victory put the pressure on Milan to respond, and they endured a frustrating first half in Sardinia, wasting several chances to break the deadlock.
It took the visitors until the 59th minute to find what proved to be the winner, and it was worth the wait as Olivier Giroud laid the ball off for Algeria international Bennacer to volley into the net from the edge of the penalty area.
Milan survived a major scare late on as Leonardo Pavoletti's last-gasp header came out off the crossbar, but the leaders held on to move onto 66 points from 30 matches played, three clear of Napoli and six ahead of Inter Milan in third.
Milan are chasing their first Serie A title since 2011. While Napoli are keeping pace, Milan's city rivals Inter are fading.
Pioli's team, however, have been the mark of consistency of late, posting their third straight 1-0 win in a row, and even when not at their vintage best.
Bayern Munich forward Robert Lewandowski scored either side of half-time as the German champions crushed Union Berlin 4-0 to stay in the driving seat for the Bundesliga title.
The Bavarians, who returned to winning ways after drawing their last two league games, are on 63 points, seven ahead of second-placed Borussia Dortmund, in action against Cologne on Sunday, with seven games remaining after the weekend.
Chasing a record-extending 10th league crown in a row, Bayern took the lead in the 16th minute when Union keeper Andreas Luthe was surprised by a Kingsley Coman shot from outside the box.
Tanguy Nianzou powered in a header in the 25th, and Lewandowski converted a stoppage-time penalty to go in three goals up at the break.
The Pole added his second two minutes after the restart to take his league tally to 31 goals this season before the hosts eased off to take much of the pace out of the game.
Bayern also set a new league record having scored 81 goals by the 27th matchday.
Elsewhere, Hertha Berlin cruised past Hoffenheim 3-0 to end a nine-game winless run in the Bundesliga and revive their hopes of surviving a relegation battle, but new coach Felix Magath was absent with a COVID-19 infection.
Coached by new assistant coach Mark Fotheringham on his Bundesliga debut, Hertha were dominant throughout and went in front with a Niklas Stark header from a Marvin Plattenhardt free kick.
Two more Plattenhardt set pieces led to goals through Ishak Belfodil in the 63rd and Lucas Tousart 11 minutes later to seal their first win in 2022 - and Hoffenheim's first loss in six league matches.
Victory lifted Hertha, who brought in veteran coach Magath in this week until the end of the season, off the bottom spots and into the relegation playoff place in 16th on 26 points.
Hoffenheim stayed in sixth place on 44 points in a blow to their Champions League hopes.
Mainz beat Arminia Bielefeld 4-0, leaving Bielefeld second from bottom. Stuttgart climbed out of the relegation zone after coming from behind to beat Augsburg 3-2. Also, last-place Greuther Furth held Freiburg 0-0, denting the visiting team's Champions League ambitions.
Koke's goal was enough for Atletico Madrid to prevail 1-0 at Rayo Vallecano, with the visitors even riding out Angel Correa's late red card to record a fifth successive La Liga win.
Colombia striker Luis Suarez handed Granada a 3-2 comeback victory at Alaves, with the away side holding on after seeing Aaron Escandell sent off in added time.
Sergio Escudero had Granada ahead, before Gonzalo Escalante and Manu Vallejo struck in quick succession soon after to put Alaves 2-1 up.
Antonio Puertas levelled for Granada with 15 minutes to play however, before Suarez stole the points for the visitors.
Goncalo Guedes' goal proved enough for Valencia to earn a 1-0 win at Elche, who had Johan Mojica sent off in second-half injury time.
Ezequiel Avila, Ante Budimir and Darko Brasanac fired home in Osasuna's 3-1 win over Levante, who had Roger Marti netting in consolation.
Ten-man Lille battled to a 1-0 victory at Nantes to work their way back into contention for European action next season while keeping a clean sheet for the sixth consecutive Ligue 1 game.
Three days after their Champions League round of 16 exit to reigning champions Chelsea, Lille did not enjoy a strong start. But they scored the winner five minutes before the break with an Amadou Onana close-range tap-in after a save by Nantes keeper Alban Lafont.
Jonathan David should have doubled their lead right after the restart but he was beaten in a one-on-one by Lafont.
The visitors went down to 10 men when Timothy Weah was sent off for a rough challenge on Samuel Moutoussamy just past the hour.
Nantes, who did not have a scoring chance until then, saw Pedro Chirivella hit the left post with his low drive before the ball ran along the goal and bounced away off the right post in the 67th as the hosts came agonisingly close to an equaliser.
Elsewhere, Lens were 3-1 winners against Clermont.
