European football: Inter miss chance while racist chants halt La Liga game

The Guardian

16-02-2025

Inter missed the chance to go top of Serie A as they fell to a 1-0 loss at Juventus on Sunday with Francisco Conceição scoring the decisive late goal in an action packed match.
The Portuguese winger sparked jubilation in the stadium after 74 minutes following some clever footwork in the box by Randal Kolo Muani before he found Conceição, who fired home.
Inter failed to capitalise on Napoli being held to a 2-2 draw at Lazio on Saturday and are two points off the pace with 54 points from 25 games. Juve are now in fourth spot with 46.
Inter quickly got into their stride with Mehdi Taremi's bicycle kick saved by Michele Di Gregorio before Denzel Dumfries put the ball over the bar. Juve responded with Nicolás Gonzalez forcing Yann Sommer into a fine double save, first to keep out a long-range shot and then to deny Conceiçao from the rebound.
Both sides continued to attack in the second half but it was Conceição who finally broke Inter's resistance to leave the title race finally with 13 rounds of matches to go.
Meanwhile, teenager Assane Diao could very well prove to be Como's savior. The 19-year-old scored again to set his relegation threatened side on their way to a 2-0 win at Fiorentina. It was Diao's fourth goal in his seven matches since joining from Real Betis last month and the win lifted Cesc Fàbregas' team five points above the drop zone.
Como broke the deadlock four minutes before half-time with a rapid counterattack. A Fiorentina free-kick was headed out of the area when Diao gathered the ball deep inside his own half and raced forward to beat the home goalkeeper, David de Gea, one-on-one. Nico Paz got Como's second in the 66th minute with a shot that took a slight deflection to curl in off the top of the left post.
Roma were without injured forward Paulo Dybala but managed to win 1-0 at 10-man Parma. The match changed in the 29th minute when teenage Parma defender Giovanni Leoni fouled Roma's Matías Soulé. The referee initially awarded a penalty to the visitors and showed Leoni a yellow card.
However, the video assistant referee confirmed that contact was outside the area so the penalty was rescinded but Leoni's card was changed to a red as the 18-year-old had prevented a clear scoring opportunity. To make matters worse for Parma, Soulé dinked the resulting free kick over the wall and into the top right corner.
Roma are nine points below the top four, while Parma remain a point from safety.
Empoli stay out of the relegation zone despite losing 3-0 at Udinese for an eighth defeat in their past 10 matches.
Alessandro Nesta returned as coach of bottom club Monza last week – two months after he was fired – and managed to end his team's four-match losing streak with a 0-0 draw at home to Lecce.
Athletic Bilbao's LaLiga game at Espanyol was halted temporarily after visiting striker Inaki Williams reported alleged racist abuse towards teammate Maroan Sannadi in a 1-1 draw.
The incident occurred in the first half when Williams told the referee Guillermo Cuadra Fernández that Espanyol fans had hurled racial abuse at Sannadi, whose parents are Moroccan. The game was stopped in the 16th minute when the referee discussed the issue with the two captains and match delegate.
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Spanish media reported that the match was halted for three minutes as part of the anti-racism protocol, and announcements were made asking the crowd to stop chanting. The referee warned that he would stop the game if the incident was repeated.
After the game resumed, Espanyol's Roberto Fernández scored in the 62nd minute and Oihan Sancet equalised in the 77th.
Espanyol and Athletic condemned the abuse on Sunday.
Eintracht Frankfurt ended their run of three draws and consolidated third place in the Bundesliga with a 3-1 win over relegation threatened Holstein Kiel. Hugo Ekitiké had a penalty saved and a late goal ruled out for offside. But others stepped up to score the goals that showed Eintracht can live without Omar Marmoush.
Kiel could take some solace from Heidenheim's 2-0 loss at home to Mainz in Sunday's late game. Heidenheim stayed on 14 points, ahead of Bochum on goal difference, and just a point above Kiel.
Hoffenheim came from behind to win 3-1 at Werder Bremen in the early game.