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Sunday European Rewind: Milan-Inter battle to draw; Liverpool falter at Crystal Palace; and more

MichaelEssienACMilan1-MateoKovacicInterMilan-SerieA2014 (Getty)

By ADAM TROXTELL

Neither side picked up a win, but the first Milan Derby of the season lived up to its billing.

In front of more than 79,000 fans inside an electrified San Siro, AC Milan and Inter Milan battled to a gritty 1-1 draw that leaves little separating them in Serie A.

Brief moments of quality that included goals from Milan’s Jeremy Menez and Inter’s Joel Obi were diamonds in the rough of a tight Milan Derby. Inter grew into the game after their opponents just edged the first half, though both left plenty of chances to take all three points on the field.

In the Barclays Premier League, Selhurst Park has become a house of horrors for Liverpool who fell, 3-1 to an efficient, counter-attacking Crystal Palace. The Reds’ struggles in front of goal continued, with Rickie Lambert’s first goal at Liverpool in the second minute only an isolated moment of attacking prowess.

Yannick Bolasie’s play provided both the equalizer and the winner for Palace, leaving the Reds with just two wins in the last nine league outings.

In similar fashion, Levante got a surprise 2-1 win against Valencia at home in La Liga. Hamburg won the battle of the bottom dwellers, 2-0 over Werder Bremen, to climb out of the relegation zone in the Bundesliga. Meanwhile, Marseille took back top spot in Ligue 1 thanks to an 85th minute winner from Andre-Pierre Gignac.

Here’s a closer look at all of Sunday’s action in the top European leagues:

ITALIAN SERIE A

There were enough chances in the Milan Derby to break a 1-1 deadlock, but a lack of quality overall maintained that score line. Menez produced an impressive finish to open the scoring for AC Milan, as did Obi to tie things back up for Inter.

But both Milan’s El Shaarawy and Inter’s Mauro Icardi only grazed the cross bar with their wide-open efforts within the last 15 minutes. It told the story of an entire match where a finishing touch proved elusive and leaves both teams outside the European spots. Milan is closest, three points behind fourth-placed Sampdoria.

In contrast, a game expected to be full of goals was exactly that as Napoli and Gagliari played out a 3-3 draw. Goals from Gonzalo Higuain and Gokhan Inler put Napoli up inside 30 minutes, but Victor Ibarbo and Diego Farias kept things level for Cagliari as the first half morphed into the second.

Farias’ second goal in the 67th minute canceled out Jonathan De Guzman’s strike that had given Napoli the lead five minutes earlier. Napoli now sits six points behind second-placed Roma.

Elsewhere, Juan Cuadrado gave Fiorentina a 2-1 win over Hellas Verona. Former Fiorentina man Luca Toni had provided Nicolas Lopez the ball for Verona’s equalizer just before halftime, but Cuadrado struck in the 62nd minute to steal all three points.

Here’s the full list of Sunday Serie A results:

Torino 0, Sassuolo 1

Cesena 1, Sampdoria 1

Verona 1, Fiorentina 2

Parma 0, Empoli 2

Napoli 3, Cagliari 3

Udinese 1, Chievo 1

AC Milan 1, Inter 1

ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE

When Lambert slotted home neatly for his first Liverpool goal against Crystal Palace on Sunday, it looked as though he might be an answer for the still missing Daniel Sturridge.

Palace didn’t blink, however, and countered their way to a 3-1 win that takes them out of the Premier League’s relegation zone. A haunting figure in Liverpool minds, Dwight Gayle scored his third goal against them in two games to equalize on 17 minutes. Steadily, Palace grew in confidence while Liverpool floundered.

Adam Lallana, who provided for Lambert’s goal and was one of the most creative in Liverpool’s starting squad, was substituted out for Fabio Borini in the 72nd minute. It only compounded their problems. Six minutes later, Yannick Bolasie capped a man of the match performance for Palace by flicking the ball over Dejan Lovren and crossing from the right to find Joe Ledley.

His well placed winner was followed by a perfectly curled free kick by Mile Jedinak. It was Palace’s first win in six games, but for Liverpool their fourth consecutive defeat in all competitions.

Tottenham produced another comeback to win 2-1 against Hull, fueled by a controversial red card to Hull’s Gaston Ramirez. The Tigers had gone ahead through an 8th minute strike by former Spurs man Jake Livermore, but Ramirez was caught apparently kicking out at Jan Vertonghen just five minutes into the second half.

With 10 men, it was all defense for Hull. Harry Kane equalized before a 90th minute winner from Christian Eriksen sent Spurs home with all the points.

SPAIN’S LA LIGA

Valencia are stuck at four points off the top of La Liga after a shock 1-2 defeat away to lowly Levante.

A goalless first half gave way to action in the second when Victor Casadesus headed in a corner and put Levante ahead. Daniel Parejo tied things up on 74 minutes, but Jose Luis Morales immediately put the home team back in front with a run down the right before cutting inside to his left foot to unleash a curling effort that glided inside the far post.

A 2-2 result between Elche and Cordoba left both toiling in the relegation zone. Jonathas, who missed an early penalty for Elche, brought things level with 15 minutes to go. Elche had been 2-0 down after an hour.

Here’s all the La Liga results:

Rayo Vallecano 1, Celta Vigo 0

Levante 2, Valencia 1

Elche 2, Cordoba 2

Villareal 2, Getafe 1

FRANCE’S LIGUE 1

Under pressure after PSG took the top league spot on Friday, Marseille took it back when they overcame a nervy first hour of play to win 3-1 at home against Bordeaux. Thomas Toure gave the visitors a surprising lead in the 55th minute after Marseille dominated the first half but failed to capitalize.

This set off a goals explosion as Mario Lemina equalized at the hour mark and Gignac provided the winner in the 85th minute. Michy Batshuayi’s 90th minute goal sealed the win.

Here’s all the results from Ligue 1:

Nantes 0, Saint Etienne 0

Montpellier 2, Toulouse 0

Marseille 3, Bordeaux 1

GERMAN BUNDESLIGA

Hamburg are out of the bottom three in the Bundesliga for now after winning 2-0 against fellow strugglers Werder Bremen. With six minutes to go, Artjoms Rudnevs gave HSV the lead in an evenly matched contest. Clemens Fritz was sent off for a second yellow card on 89 minutes before Raphael Wolf’s own goal piled on the last bit of misery for Bremen.

That loss would have left them bottom of the table had Augsburg not beaten 10-man Stuttgart 1-0. A second yellow card in the 28th minute was shown to Daniel Schwaab, and Paul Verhaegh’s converted penalty in the 72nd minute provided Augsburg with the win.

Here are the results from the Bundesliga:

Hamburg 2, Werder Bremen 0

Stuttgart 0, Augsburg 1

Comments

  1. Jedinak’s free kick against Liverpool was a real thing of beauty. Truly enjoying the chaotic nature of the Premier League table this year.

    Reply

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