Napoli stunned, PSG warms up for Barca with victory

AP:

Napoli slipped to another defeat yesterday as Akor Adams’ strike handed Venezia a 1-0 victory and the club’s first Serie A points of the season.

Kevin De Bruyne saw his penalty saved by Venezia goalkeeper Filip Stankovic as Massimiliano Allegri’s team suffered a second consecutive defeat, following their Champions League loss to Villarreal, and a third loss in seven Italian league matches.

Adams chased down Simon Sohm’s hopeful ball forward and capitalised on a mistake by Napoli defender Amir Rrahmani to win possession before firing past goalkeeper Alex Meret. The effort took a deflection off Rrahmani’s desperate challenge shortly after the break.

De Bruyne had a golden opportunity to equalise after Matias Moreno brought down Rasmus Højlund, but Stankovic saved the Belgian’s spot kick in the 68th minute.

It gave new Venezia coach Davide Nicola a winning start after replacing Giovanni Stroppa on Wednesday.

PSG recover to beat Strasbourg

Ousmane Dembélé came off the bench, missed a penalty, and later scored as Paris Saint-Germain rallied to beat Strasbourg 3-1 in the French league.

United States midfielder Gio Reyna opened the scoring in the 17th minute with a low shot that took a slight deflection past Matvey Safonov.

PSG coach Luis Enrique started with Dembélé, Désiré Doué, Vitinha, Nuno Mendes and Achraf Hakimi on the bench, with Barcelona awaiting in the Champions League on Tuesday.

All five entered the match, and Dembélé fired a penalty wide in the 72nd minute after Pape Demba Diop was penalised for handball.

However, Ukraine defender Illya Zabarnyi equalised five minutes later before Dembélé appeared to put PSG ahead for good in the 85th minute. Doué then sealed the victory in stoppage time.

Atlético’s winning run continues

Álex Baena scored late as Atlético Madrid defeated Espanyol 1-0 away in La Liga.

Julián Alvarez beat a defender on the left flank and delivered the ball to the centrally positioned Baena, who took one touch outside the penalty area before unleashing a shot into the top-left corner in the 89th minute.

The result extended Atlético’s winning streak to six matches across all competitions and increased the pressure on Espanyol coach Manolo González after a fifth defeat in nine games for the club owned by American Alan Pace.

Villarreal and Elche played to a goalless draw.

Dortmund rues untimely break

Borussia Dortmund won all their matches before the international break but have failed to win since, after being held to a 0-0 draw by Union Berlin for their second successive Bundesliga stalemate.

The result followed Wednesday’s Champions League defeat to Bodø/Glimt.

Dortmund also suffered an injury scare involving Konstantinos Karetsas. The 18-year-old Greece winger entered as a substitute but had to be helped off eight minutes later with what appeared to be a right ankle injury. There was no immediate update from the club.

Promoted Elversberg defeated Augsburg 4-3 at home, Hamburger SV held on for a 1-0 win over Stuttgart, Mainz beat promoted Schalke 1-0, and Werder Bremen rallied for a 2-2 draw against promoted Paderborn.