European roundup: Juventus stumble in Serie A title race with loss to Sampdoria
Serie A
Max Allegri’s decision to rest Gianluigi Buffon and Andrea Barzagli backfired as Juventus lost valuable ground on Napoli with a 3-2 defeat at Sampdoria, who stay sixth, five points behind their opponents.
Buffon and Barzagli were left on the bench after Italy’s emotional World Cup failure, and watched as the home side raced into a three-goal lead. Duván Zapata opened the scoring in the 52nd minute before Lucas Torreira and Gianmarco Ferrari added two goals in eight minutes to effectively seal an impressive win.
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Juventus rallied in injury time through a Gonzalo Higuaín penalty and a second from Paulo Dybala, but it was not enough as they slipped four points behind Napoli. Maurizio Sarri’s side beat Milan 2-1 at home on Saturday, goals from Lorenzo Insigne and Piotr Zielinski extending their unbeaten start.
On Sunday evening, Internazionale defeated Atalanta 2-0 at the San Siro to climb into second place. Mauro Icardi scored both goals with his head to take his personal tally this season to 13 goals in 13 league games. Luciano Spalletti’s team are also unbeaten this term, with 10 wins and three draws so far.
Radja Nainggolan was labelled a “superhero” by Roma manager Eusebio di Francesco after scoring the winner in the Rome derby. Nainggolan put Roma 2-0 up over Lazio after Diego Perrotti’s opener, with Ciro Immobile pulling one back. Roma climbed above their local rivals and are two points behind Juve with a game in hand.
At the other end of the table, Benevento were denied their first point of a dismal campaign by an injury-time winner from Sassuolo to steal a 2-1 win. Federico Peluso won it for the visitors four minutes into injury time to leave promoted Benevento with 13 defeats from 13.
Pos Team P GD Pts
1 Napoli 13 25 35
2 Juventus 13 23 31
3 Roma 12 15 30
4 Inter Milan 12 14 30
5 Lazio 12 18 28
La Liga
Valencia won their eighth league game in row at Espanyol to remain unbeaten and move six points ahead of Real and Atlético Madrid, who drew 0-0 on Saturday, in the race behind leaders Barcelona.
Goals from Geoffrey Kondogbia and Santi Mina sealed victory in the second half after Marcelino was sent from the dugout for dissent. The Valencia coach will be absent from the touchline for the visit of Barça.
Gerard Moreno struck the post for Espanyol while Sergio García and former Valencia man Pablo Piatti also narrowly missed the target. Kondogbia broke the deadlock against the run of play with a fierce shot from the edge of the area in the 66th minute, before Mina pounced on a defensive error late on.
Valencia players celebrate Geoffrey Kondogbia’s long-range opening goal. Photograph: Pedro Salado/Action Plus via Getty Images
On Saturday, Luis Suárez ended a goal drought spanning five games by scoring twice in Barcelona’s 3-0 win over Leganés to keep them four points clear of Valencia.
The Uruguayan reaped the benefits of two weeks’ rest after being left out of his country’s internationals and pounced from close range to give Barça the lead in the 28th minute, after the Leganés goalkeeper, Iván Cuéllar, failed to hold a shot from Paco Alcácer.
Suárez doubled Barcelona’s lead on the hour by sliding to send another rebound beyond the hapless Cuéllar and was twice denied a hat-trick. Substitute Paulinho poked in the third in stoppage time for his fourth goal of the season.
There was one negative for Barça, however, as Gerard Piqué picked up a fifth yellow card of the season and is now suspended for the top-of-the-table meeting at Valencia, adding to the absence of fellow centre-back Javier Mascherano.
Pos Team P GD Pts
1 Barcelona 12 29 34
2 Valencia 12 21 30
3 Real Madrid 12 13 24
4 Atletico Madrid 12 10 24
5 Sevilla 12 2 22
Bundesliga
The German league’s top scorer, Robert Lewandowski, struck twice as Bayern Munich eased past Augsburg 3-0 on Saturday to make it eight wins in eight games in all competitions under Jupp Heynckes and open up a six-point lead at the top of the table.
Lewandowski grabbed Bayern’s second goal not long after Arturo Vidal’s 31st-minute opener and added another early in the second half, to take his league tally to 13 goals. The Poland striker has now scored 18 times against Augsburg in 13 Bundesliga matches, more than against any other club.
Augsburg were bold and matched Bayern for half an hour before Vidal turned and fired in from close range for the lead. The Chilean then sent Lewandowski through with a defence‑splitting pass to double it. The Pole then volleyed in a perfect Joshua Kimmich cross four minutes after the restart.
Franco di Santo celebrates after his penalty ended a long goalscoring drought and put Schalke ahead. Photograph: Friedemann Vogel/EPA
Schalke are up to second, six points behind Bayern, after a 2-0 victory over visitors Hamburg on Sunday. A penalty from Franco Di Santo and Guido Burgstaller’s 78th-minute goal saw Schalke move above RB Leipzig on goal difference.

Di Santo converted his spot kick, awarded for a foul on Yevhen Konoplyanka, for his first league goal since March 2016. Hamburg hit the post early in the second half and pushed for an equaliser before Burgstaller sealed victory after more good work from Konoplyanka.
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Leverkusen denied Leipzig an away win on Saturday as they twice came from a goal down to earn a 2-2 draw, with Kevin Volland netting the equaliser in the 74th minute. Leverkusen played most of the second half with 10 men after the dismissal of Benjamin Henrichs.
Borussia Dortmund, the leaders a few weeks ago, are in complete free fall, having dropped to third, on 20 points, after their 2-1 loss at VfB Stuttgart on Friday, their fourth league defeat in their past five matches.
Wolfsburg notched their first win under coach Martin Schmidt, after seven successive draws, beating Freiburg 3-1 to climb to 13th. Hoffenheim missed their chance to go third, needing a stoppage-time equaliser through Mark Uth to rescue a 1-1 draw against Eintracht Frankfurt, and are fourth on 20 points.
Pos Team P GD Pts
1 Bayern Munich 12 22 29
2 Schalke 04 12 6 23
3 RB Leipzig 12 5 23
4 Borussia M'gladbach 12 0 21
5 Borussia Dortmund 12 13 20