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Milan had to settle for a 2-2 draw against Sassuolo at San Siro after Armand Laurienté’s late strike for the visitors ensured the Serie A title race remains finely poised. Milan are top by one point with 32 points from 15 matches but can be overtaken by Napoli, the defending champions, who visit 12th-placed Udinese later on Sunday. Sassuolo sit ninth on 21 points.
The visitors stunned Milan in the 13th minute when Andrea Pinamonti’s clever layoff set up the midfielder Ismaël Koné, who expertly chipped Mike Maignan to open the scoring.
The hosts equalised just before half-time through a well-crafted move. Luka Modric slipped a perfectly weighted pass to Ruben Loftus-Cheek on the right and the Englishman’s cross reached the left-back Davide Bartesaghi, who rifled the ball into the bottom corner to open his account for Milan.
Bartesaghi scored again in the 47th minute to put Milan ahead but their hopes of securing all three points were dashed in the 77th when Laurienté broke free and slipped past Fikayo Tomori before firing into the far corner.
The Milan manager, Massimiliano Allegri, appeared to play down his team’s title ambitions. “Our goal is to finish in the top four,” he told DAZN. “We need to work hard, and obviously we need to try to concede fewer goals. We could have been more alert for the first goal and the second. In the end, we even risked losing it, so let’s take this point.”
If Napoli fail to beat Udinese then Inter, who visit Genoa, would go a point clear with a victory, while fifth-placed Bologna host Juventus in the night match.
Real Sociedad sacked their head coach, Sergio Francisco, on Sunday, two days after the club’s third straight loss in La Liga.
La Real lost 2-1 to struggling Girona on Friday in a home match they led after 75 minutes. The Basque side had also lost at Alavés and against Villarreal in recent league games.
Francisco leaves Real Sociedad in 15th place with 16 points from 16 matches, one point clear of the relegation zone. The 46-year-old had taken over the helm from the longtime Real Sociedad coach Imanol Alguacil in April. Jon Ansotegi, the manager of the club’s B team, who play in the second tier, will take caretaker charge of the first team’s two remaining fixtures before Christmas.
Sunday’s match between Levante and Villarreal has been postponed because of heavy rain in the Valencia region. La Liga said it made the decision after safety recommendations made by local authorities amid a weather alert issued in the region. The league said a new date for the match will be set soon.
In Germany, Bayern Munich are at home to Mainz, while Dortmund visit Freiburg. In the big match in Spain, Real Madrid will try to cut Barcelona’s lead back to four points when they visit Alavés, while Lens can go back to the top of Ligue 1 in place of Paris Saint-Germain with a home win over Nice.
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This story will be updated
