Real Madrid held to third straight draw
Real Madrid's struggles continued on Sunday as they battled to a 1-1 draw at Girona in LaLiga, as Kylian Mbappe's second-half penalty cancelled out Azzedine Ounahi's opener, extending Real's winless run in Spain's top flight to three matches.
The draw sees Real drop to second in the standings on 33 points, one behind leaders Barcelona, and follows previous stalemates at Rayo Vallecano and Elche.
Villarreal sit third with 32 points, while Atletico Madrid are fourth on 31, with only three points separating the top four teams.
Real dominated large portions of the match but lacked the final touch around Girona's box, failing to create significant danger in the first half despite Paulo Gazzaniga making good saves to deny Eder Militao and Vinicius Jr.
Girona, sitting deep in a compact defensive setup, frustrated the visitors while showing promise on the counter-attack.
The breakthrough came just before halftime, two minutes after Real were left fuming over an Mbappe effort that was controversially disallowed for handball in the build-up following a VAR review.
Girona capitalised on the momentum shift when Viktor Tsygankov led a rapid counter-attack down the right channel. The Ukrainian delivered a pinpoint low cross to Ounahi, who fired a thunderous strike into the top corner from just inside the box, leaving Thibaut Courtois with no chance.
After the interval, Real displayed greater urgency in their pursuit of an equaliser. However, it was Girona who nearly doubled their lead in the 56th minute.
Ivan Martin played through Vladyslav Vanat, who found himself one-on-one with Courtois. The Belgian goalkeeper produced a stunning one-handed reflex save to deny Vanat's low shot.
Real's persistence eventually paid off in the 67th minute. Vinicius Jr's mazy run from the left led to a foul inside the box, earning the visitors a penalty. Mbappe stepped up to calmly slot his effort into the bottom-left corner, narrowly beyond the reach of Gazzaniga.
Real pressed for a winner, with Gazzaniga making a string of saves to deny efforts from Vinicius Jr and Mbappe, while Courtois also had to work his magic to deny Joel Roca in a Girona counter-attack.
Real complained heavily following another penalty claim in the 80th minute when Rodrygo appeared to be tripped inside the box by Roca, but the referee waved play on.
Mbappe squandered a golden opportunity in added time, curling a strike from inside the box just wide of the target.
Napoli thwart Roma's bid to reclaim top spot
Napoli thwarted AS Roma's attempt to reclaim first place in the Serie A standings with a 1-0 win at the Stadio Olimpico on Sunday, where David Neres' goal moved the defending champions level on points with AC Milan at the summit.
Having already lost to both AC and Inter Milan this season, Roma were again found wanting against one of their main title rivals, and were undone by a Napoli counter nine minutes before the break.
"We were badly unbalanced in that situation," Roma manager Gian Piero Gasperini told DAZN.
"It was our error, the only time we really allowed that counter-attack, even in the second half when we were chasing the game."
Two successive wins had taken Roma clear at the summit, but in a congested top six, Milan moved to 28 points and claimed top spot by defeating Lazio 1-0 on Saturday, and Napoli are behind the leaders on goal difference.
Roma are one point behind in fourth, level with third-placed Inter Milan. Bologna, who host Cremonese on Monday, are three points further adrift in fifth, alongside Como.
There was a frantic end-to-end start with Napoli causing more danger early on in front of goal.
A quick attack from the visitors brought Roma keeper Mile Svilar out of his area to deny Noa Lang before he scrambled back to stop Rasmus Hojlund's follow-up effort and Giovanni Di Lorenzo volleyed an effort into the side netting.
Lang then twisted and turned his way into the area, and his cross-shot almost caught out Svilar but the Roma keeper got one hand across to bat the ball away.
Roma finally began to threaten. Lorenzo Pellegrini's pullback from the byline almost set Evan Ferguson up for a tap-in but Amir Rrahmani got there first to clear for a corner.
Ferguson headed over another chance, and just when it appeared Roma were getting the upper hand, Napoli broke quickly to take the lead.
Hojlund sent Neres running through one-on-one with Svilar and he coolly chipped the ball over the onrushing keeper to net his third goal in two Serie A games.
"I asked the guys to look the opponent straight in the eye from the start and they did," Napoli boss Antonio Conte told DAZN.
Napoli controlled the tempo after the break, never committing too many men forward and Roma struggled to make any inroads towards an equaliser, while the visitors were always a threat on the counter.
Roma sent on Paulo Dybala and Neil El Aynaoui just after the hour mark, having already replaced Ferguson with Tommaso Baldanzi at the break but the hosts never troubled the Napoli keeper until the 90th minute.
Baldanzi forced Vanja Milinkovic-Savic into a late save, but it was too little and too late from Roma and Napoli earned back-to-back wins in a title race with little margin for error.
"The boys are showing that they have enthusiasm, desire and determination," Conte added.
"We must not lose this because last year it led us to the Scudetto."
© 2026