The ‘Gala’ then failed to take the advantage and gave up their first two points in nine games this season.
France
Lille, who remained on three draws in Ligue 1, won 2-1 at the top of the table against Nice in a match counting for the 18th day of the French championship. In the ranking, LOSC (32 points) takes 3rd place and OGC (30 points) is 5th. Thomas Meunier played the entire match with the Northerners.
The Mastiffs were the first to stand out but their goalkeeper, Lucas Chevalier, had to make the first decisive save on a strike from Gaëtan Laborde (3rd). Lille got rid of the pressure from the Aiglons, notably on a cross from Meunier for Jonathan David whose header narrowly went wide (7th). Nice found the right pace and opened the scoring with a cross from Jonathan Clauss pushed back by Chevalier towards Sofiane Diop (29th, 0-1). From that moment, Lille was overwhelmed and a shot from Tanguy Ndombele hit the crossbar (45th + 2).
Less amorphous at the start of the second period, Lille equalized through Hakon Arnar Haraldsson (48th, 1-1). This time, it was Nice who were having difficulty investing in the opposing camp and following a corner, Bafode Diakité ensured a 21st match without defeat for the Dogues with a point-blank strike (63rd, 2-1) . The last one dates back to September 17 at Sporting Lisbon.
ITALY
AS Roma won 3-1 the opening match of the 21st day of the Italian championship against Genoa. In the standings, the Giallorossi (27 points) occupy 9th position while the Genoese (23 points) are 11th. Alexis Saelemaekers started for the Romans and Koni De Winter in the other camp.
In Rome, Claudio Ranieri opted for a four-man midline with Saelemaekers on the right flank. The Red Devil confirmed that he was one of the liveliest Giallorossi before leaving the pitch (76th). The Romans pushed hard and after a free kick on the crossbar from Paulo Dybala (9th), they opened the scoring through Artem Dovbyk (25th, 1-0). After opening the score, Roma fell back and Genoa punished them with the first goal in Seria A from Patrizio Masini (33rd, 1-1).
Entering the game at half-time, Stephan El Shaarawy, who had not scored since November 10, restored the lead to the Romans (60th, 2-1). The players from the capital had all the assets in hand when they widened the gap again thanks to an autogoal from Nicola Leali (73rd, 3-1).
GERMANY
Eintracht Frankfurt, who had already signed their best first round since the three-point victory, continued their momentum by beating Dortmund 2-0 in the opening match of the 18th day. In the standings, Frankfurt (36 points) is 3rd and Borussia (25 points) is 10th. Arthur Theate played the entire match with the winners and Julien Duranville remained on the bench for the visitors.
Deprived of its striker Omar Marmoush announced at Manchester City, Frankfurt did not hesitate to move forward and almost opened the scoring by Ellyes Skhiri whose shot was repelled with his foot by Gregor Kobel (2nd). But Eintracht, which has always scored at least one goal, with the exception of the opening match lost against Dortmund, opened the scoring with Hugo Ekitike (18th, 1-0). Although he had 63% of ball possession in the first period, Dortmund only had one opportunity through Serhou Guirassy whose shot ended on target (9th). More dangerous, Frankfurt saw Ansgar Knauff (22nd) and Ekitike (34th) lack efficiency.
-After the break, Frankfurt left the ball to Dortmund again. Borussia did not produce much offensively and Oscar Höjlund took advantage of a defensive error to double the gap (90th + 2, 2-0).
In France, Eliot Matazo remained on the bench during AS Monaco’s 2-1 defeat in Montpellier. The Rocher club, which led thanks to Thilo Kehrer (33rd, 0-1), was surprised by a double from Mousa Al-Tamari found (55th, 82nd). After this 4th match without a win, ASM (31 points) remains 3rd while awaiting the result of Nice against Lille and Montpellier remains bottom (12 points) tied with Le Havre.
SAUDI ARABIA
9e ‘clean sheet’ pour Casteels
Koen Casteels and Al Qadisiya won 0-3 away to Al Wehda as part of the 15th day of the Saudi Arabian football championship. In the ranking, Al Qadisiya (31 points) occupies 3rd position and Al Wehda (12 points) is 17th and penultimate.
Superior in the game, the visitors had to wait before opening the scoring through ex-Unionist Cameron Puertas (44th, 0-1). In the second half, Al Qadisiya had several opportunities to make the difference before Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scored his 7th goal (67th, 0-2). The Argentinian Ezequiel Fernandez completed the job (90th + 7, 0-3) while Casteels recorded his 9th clean sheet of the season. .
At the same time, Al Orubah and Gaetan Coucke lost 3-0 at Al Khaleej. The visitors were trailing 2-0 when their defender Abdulmalik Al Shammari was sent off (89th). Al Orubah is poorly ranked (13 points, 14th) and Al Khaleej (23 points) is 7th.
Meetings in December, the flight of potential replacements: how Domenico Tedesco understood that he would not stay at the head of the Red Devils
