Real Madrid go four points clear in La Liga as Hazard scores first goal for club; Bayern Munich suffer shock loss to Hoffenheim
Saturday 5 October 2019 22:08, UK
Eden Hazard scored his first goal in a Real Madrid shirt as they went four points clear at the top of La Liga with a 4-2 win over second-placed Granada.
Hazard scored on the stroke of half-time to double Real's lead after Karim Benzema's opener inside two minutes. Luka Modric then smashed in a third from outside the box.
But Granada, this season's surprise package in La Liga, pulled two goals back. Real 'keeper Alphonse Areola, in for the ill Thibaut Courtois, blundered over a back-pass eight minutes later and bundled over Alvaro Vadillo, with Darwin Machis making no mistake from the spot.
Domingos Duarte then made it 3-2 when he netted at the far post, but James Rodriguez scored in stoppage-time as Real repelled the comeback and continued their unbeaten start.
Also on Saturday, Leganes stayed bottom of the table after losing 2-1 to Levante, while Valencia are now eighth following a 2-1 win over Alaves. In the late game, Osasuna came from behind to beat Villarreal 2-1, putting both teams on 11 points.
Bayern Munich were defeated 2-1 at the Allianz Arena by Hoffenheim just four days after beating Tottenham 7-2 in London.
Sargis Adamyan's double either side of Robert Lewandowski's equaliser was enough to secure a famous victory for Hoffenheim and subject the German champions to their first defeat of the season.
Serge Gnabry, who scored four against Spurs, had the ball in the net but the goal was ruled out for offside.
The defeat was Bayern's first at home in all competitions since March and their first in the league for a year, but they remain top after both Freiburg and Schalke failed to take advantage.
Freiburg drew 2-2 with Dortmund, while Schalke conceded a late equaliser in a 1-1 draw with Cologne. Elsewhere, Paderborn lost 2-1 to Mainz and Bayer Leverkusen drew 1-1 with RB Leipzig.
Neymar continued on his road to redemption with Paris Saint-Germain fans with another stoppage-time goal, this one sealing an emphatic victory as the French champions romped to a 4-0 win over Angers.
Pablo Sarabia opened the scoring after 13 minutes, before assisting goals for Mauro Icardi and Idrissa Gueye either side of half-time.
Neymar was booked for handball 10 minutes from time, but made amends with his late goal.
Montpellier moved to sixth place with a 3-1 win over Monaco, who played with 10 men from the 81st as Russian midfielder Aleksandr Golovin was sent off for a second yellow card. Also, Bordeaux beat Toulouse 3-1, Dijon edged Strasbourg 1-0 and Brest defeated Metz 2-0.
Goalkeeper Pepe Reina pulled off a superb penalty save in stoppage time to make up for an earlier mistake as misfiring AC Milan hung on for a gritty 2-1 win over Genoa in a thrilling Serie A game that saw four red cards.
With just two wins and four goals in their opening six league games, Milan suffered a further blow before kick-off when goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma was forced to withdraw due to a stomach bug, with Reina deputising between the posts.
Genoa had problems of their own when captain Domenico Criscito was carried off on a stretcher with a hamstring injury after 10 minutes and he was replaced by Davide Biraschi.
Both understudies went on to struggle and a Reina howler gifted Genoa the lead when he completely misjudged Lasse Schone's first-half free-kick, allowing it to fly past him into the net.
Genoa had substitute Riccardo Sapponara sent off by the referee just before half-time and Milan's luck turned after the break as Theo Hernandez scored, exploiting a quick free-kick to equalise from a very tight angle.
Five minutes later, Genoa's Biraschi was sent off for handling the ball in the penalty area and Franck Kessie stepped up to stroke home the spot-kick and put his team into the lead.
Davide Calabria collected his second yellow for Milan in the 79th minute and Reina then upended Christian Kouame to concede a late penalty but he redeemed himself by steering Schone's spot-kick away for a corner.
Milan substitute Samu Castillejo was sent off from the bench before the game finally ended in a win for the visitors.
Earlier, there were home wins for SPAL, who beat Parma 1-0 despite having Gabriel Strefezza sent off, and Verona, who scored a 2-0 victory over bottom side Sampdoria.
