Mario Balotelli faces racism in Italy while Schalke come from behind to win and move level on points with Bayern Munich
Sunday 3 November 2019 22:42, UK
Real Sociedad went level on points with La Liga leaders Barcelona after snatching a 2-1 victory away to fellow high-flyers Granada on Sunday thanks to a late strike from forward Cristian Portu.
Portu had given the Basque side the lead midway through the first half, latching on to a pass from Mikel Oyarzabal and confidently finishing into the bottom corner after Granada lost possession inside their own half.
Promoted Granada had fallen off the summit of the table in midweek after surprisingly leading the standings last weekend and had the chance to reclaim top spot after Barcelona, Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid had all failed to win on Saturday.
They drew level in the 36th minute with an audacious long-range free-kick from Alvaro Vadillo, helped by some poor goalkeeping from Sociedad's Alex Remiro.
But it was the visitors who struck in the 89th minute to steal all the points, as substitute Adnan Januzaj picked out Porto with a ground pass and the striker again showed real composure inside the area to score his second goal of the game.
The victory took Real Sociedad third on the standings on 22 points after 12 games, level with second-placed Real Madrid and leaders Barcelona, who both have a game in hand.
Elsewhere, Eibar also picked up a late 2-1 win against Leganes, while in a topsy-turvy game that saw three converted penalties, Osasuna beat Alaves 4-2.
Getafe beat Celta Vigo 1-0 while Real Valladolid cruised to a 3-0 win against Real Mallorca. Villarreal and Athletic Bilbao played out a goalless draw.
Rather, it was the drop-kick the Brescia striker made moments earlier when he booted a ball high into the stands to express his frustration at racist chants from Hellas Verona fans.
Balotelli then attempted to leave the field in the most high-profile incident yet in a Serie A season that has been marred by constant episodes of discrimination.
Verona went ahead 2-0 before Balotelli scored for Brescia and the game ended 2-1.
Lazio recorded their first away win against AC Milan in Serie A for 30 years to move fourth with a 2-1 victory at the San Siro.
Ciro Immobile headed in his 100th goal for the capital club in the first half but the home side were soon level through a Bastos own goal.
Joaquin Correa sealed the three points for Lazio with six minutes remaining to extend their unbeaten league run to six matches and move into the Champions League places.
Quietly putting together a season that could be one to remember, Cagliari also moved into contention for the Champions League spots with a 2-0 win at 10-man Atalanta.
An own-goal from Mario Pasalic and a goal from Christian Oliva moved Cagliari level on points with fourth-place Atalanta.
Cagliari have not qualified for European competition in a quarter of a century since reaching the semi-finals of the 1994 UEFA Cup the competition which has since been renamed the Europa League.
Elsewhere, Udinese won 3-1 at Genoa under interim coach Luca Gatti, who took over when Igor Tudor was fired Friday after the northeastern club conceded 11 goals in its previous two games.
Lecce and Sassuolo drew 2-2 while Fiorentina were held to a 1-1 draw at home by Parma.
Schalke's Amine Harit scored an 82nd-minute winner as his team twice came from a goal down to beat hosts Augsburg 3-2 in the Bundesliga on Sunday and move level on points with fourth-placed Bayern Munich.
Augsburg managed to score twice in the first half, once with captain Daniel Baier to take the lead in the 38th minute and another with Stephan Lichtsteiner's glancing header for an own goal on the stroke of half-time that brought Schalke level.
Alfred Finnbogason's well-taken penalty, awarded for a handball, put the hosts again in front on the hour but Schalke once more responded with Ozan Kabak's darting header from a Daniel Caligiuri free-kick 11 minutes later before Harit snatched the late winner.
Elsewhere, Fortuna Dusseldorf beat Cologne 2-0 with Rouwen Hennings and Erik Thommy scoring.
The pressure was growing on Nice coach Patrick Vieira after six matches without a win, so a 2-0 home victory in the French league against Reims on Sunday was timely.
They were helped when visiting midfielder Moussa Doumbia was sent off in the 26th minute. Vieira's side quickly took advantage with midfielder Wylan Cyprien netting in the 32nd minute and defender Christophe Herelle getting the second shortly before the break.
Nantes missed the chance to close the gap on leader Paris Saint-Germain to five points after losing 2-0 at Bordeaux.
The loss dropped Nantes down to third place behind Angers, while Bordeaux improved to sixth with goals from Guinea forward Franois Kamano and South Korea striker Ui-Jo Hwang.
St Etienne continued their resurgence under Claude Puel with a 1-0 win against Monaco thanks to Denis Bouanga's 59th-minute goal. The visitors ended the game with 10 men when substitute Ruben Aguilar was shown a straight red card in the final minutes.
