Second-placed Inter Milan was held to a third successive 1-1 draw after Radja Nainggolan, a player it loaned to Cagliari for this season, scored a second-half equaliser for the Sardinian side in their Serie A match on Sunday.
The Belgian, who was told by Inter coach Antonio Conte that there was no place for him this season, drove in a low shot from outside the area which took a deflection off a defender to stun the San Siro in the 78th minute.
Lautaro Martinez had headed Inter in front in the 29th minute from a cross by debutant Ashley Young, amid furious protests from Cagliari, which said the Argentine forward had pushed his marker. There was a two-minute delay before VAR officials confirmed the goal.
Furious reaction
Martinez was sent off in stoppage time for his furious reaction after being given a yellow card for a foul and had to be ushered away by team mates as he continued to remonstrate with the referee.
Inter has 48 points from 21 games.
Josip Ilicic hit a hat-trick, including a sensational strike from the halfway line, as Atalanta crushed Torino 7-0 in Serie A on Saturday, inflicting the worst home defeat ever on its northern rivals which finished the match with nine men.
Dismal
Atletico Madrid missed the chance to close the gap on La Liga pacesetters Real Madrid and Barcelona on Sunday with a dismal goalless draw at home against 19th-placed struggler Leganes.
Atleti went into the game on the back of a chastening league defeat to Eibar and a Copa del Rey loss to third division Cultural Leonesa, but the home crowd still showed loud support for coach Diego Simeone at the start of Sunday’s game.
There was little to cheer about as the match progressed, however, as the side struggled to create any real chances and had to rely on two impressive saves from goalkeeper Jan Oblak to prevent Leganes from taking the lead.
Deficit slashed
Robert Lewandowski hit his 21st league goal of the season as Bayern Munich thrashed Schalke 5-0 to cut RB Leipzig’s lead at the top of the Bundesliga to one point on Saturday.
After Leipzig had crashed to a 2-0 defeat at Eintracht Frankfurt, Bayern seized the chance to trim the advantage with an emphatic win over David Wagner’s young Schalke side.
Stability
“The Leipzig match beforehand didn’t interest me, the main thing is we took three points and had a stability in our game which is very important,” said Bayern coach Hansi Flick.
Lewandowski and Thomas Muller scored first-half goals, then both had efforts disallowed for offside by VAR.
However, Leon Goretzka, Thiago Alcantara and Serge Gnabry netted second-half strikes as Bayern dominated at the Allianz Arena.
The results: La Liga: Atletico Madrid 0 drew with Leganes 0.
Serie A: Inter Milan 1 (Martinez 29) drew with Cagliari 1 (Nainggolan 78).
Saturday: Serie A: Fiorentina 0 drew with Genoa 0; Torino 0 lost to Atalanta 7 (Ilicic 17, 53, 54, Gosens 29, Zapata 45+1-pen, Muriel 86-pen, 88); SPAL 1 (Petagna 23-pen) lost to Bologna 3 (Vicari 24-og, Barrow 59, Poli 63).
La Liga: Alaves 1 (Joselu 80) lost to Villarreal 2 (Bacca 10, Niũo 89); Sevilla 2 (L. de Jong 11, Nolito 34) bt Granada 0; Espanyol 1 (Tomas 63) drew with Athletic Bilbao 1 (Villalibre 12).
Bundesliga: Bayern Munich 5 (Lewandowski 6, Mueller 45+2, Goretzka 50, Alcantara 58, Gnabry 89) bt Schalke 04 0.
