Roma hold Napoli to dramatic draw, Dortmund beat Frankfurt

AP:

Roma fought back from two goals down to earn a dramatic 3-3 draw away to Napoli yesterday and maintain pressure on the top two teams in Serie A.

Borussia Dortmund, meanwhile, beat Eintracht Frankfurt 1-0 to move to the top of the Bundesliga ahead of next weekend’s showdown with Bayern Munich.

Napoli looked to be cruising towards victory against Roma after a spectacular overhead kick from Frank Anguissa and a header from Scott McTominay put the hosts firmly in control.

However, Matías Soulé and Leonardo Balerdi struck to bring Roma level. Napoli regained the lead in the 83rd minute through a second goal from McTominay, who also scored twice in Tuesday’s 4-3 Champions League victory over Bodø/Glimt.

Roma refused to surrender, and Balerdi headed home the equaliser six minutes later.

Moments afterwards, Napoli coach Massimiliano Allegri was sent off for dissent and hurled his jacket to the ground as he stormed away from the technical area.

The result left Roma one point behind Serie A leaders Inter Milan and Lazio. Inter were scheduled to host Fiorentina on Sunday.

Earlier, Como followed up their 4-1 thrashing of Manchester United in the Champions League with a comfortable 2-0 victory over Sassuolo, courtesy of a Tasos Douvikas double.

Bologna also secured a 2-0 win away to Cagliari.

Füllkrug extends Bundesliga lead

Dortmund will be level on points with Bayern Munich at worst, and could remain ahead of the German champions when the sides meet in next week’s top-of-the-table clash.

The visitors secured victory in the 80th minute when Jobe Bellingham set up fellow substitute Maximilian Beier, who curled a superb effort into the far corner against Frankfurt.

The win moved Dortmund three points ahead of Bayern, who visit Freiburg on Sunday.

Elsewhere, RB Leipzig rebounded from heavy defeats to Bayern Munich and Real Madrid by crushing Elversberg 4-0.

Bundesliga top scorer Niclas Füllkrug converted two first-half penalties as Werder Bremen defeated Mainz 3-2. The striker’s tally now stands at eight goals in seven matches.

Union Berlin earned a 1-1 draw at Augsburg despite both teams having a player sent off in separate incidents.

On-loan forward Rayan Philippe scored against parent club Hamburger SV to hand promoted Paderborn a 1-0 victory.

Atletico keen to narrow gap

There was no disruption at Rayo Vallecano, unlike their previous home game, which was suspended following fan protests, but the hosts were beaten 3-0 by fellow strugglers Elche.

Pressure continued to mount on Espanyol coach Manolo González after his side suffered a 2-1 defeat at Racing Santander.

Atletico Madrid were due to play Deportivo La Coruna later yesterday and were hoping to reduce the gap to leaders Barcelona, who face Real Madrid in El Clasico at Camp Nou today.