European wrap: Juve hit back to keep Pirlo unbeaten while Real Sociedad top LaLiga

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Andrea Pirlo’s unbeaten start to life as Juventus head coach continued but only after Dejan Kulusevski came off the bench to rescue a 1-1 draw with Hellas Verona at the Allianz Stadium.

Pirlo was once again unable to call upon Cristiano Ronaldo, still in self-isolation after testing positive for coronavirus earlier this month, and Juventus struggled without their star forward.

They fell behind on the hour when Andrea Favilli ghosted into the area and fired into the top corner but Swedish midfielder Kulusevski cut in from the right and buried low beyond Verona goalkeeper Marco Silvestre.

Paulo Dybala and Adrien Rabiot rattled the frame of the goal as Juve went in search of a winner but they were ultimately left to settle for their third stalemate in five games this season.

Napoli moved up to second in the embryonic standings, behind leaders AC Milan, after coming from a goal down to win 2-1 at newly promoted Benevento.

A shock result was in the offing when the hosts took the lead on the half hour through Roberto Insigne, whose older brother Lorenzo levelled for Napoli after 61 minutes. Seven minutes later substitute Andrea Petagna scored the winner for Napoli.

Charalambos Lykogiannis, Giovanni Simeone, Riccardo Sottil and Joao Pedro were all on target as Cagliari made it back-to-back wins by seeing off 10-man Crotone 4-2.

Winless Crotone had taken the lead through Junior Messias before strikes from Lykogiannis and Simeone turned matters around. While Salvatore Molina levelled, they fell behind once more and their hopes of a comeback were dashed by Luca Cigarini’s dismissal.

Two goals from Gaetano Castrovilli, either side of Nikola Milenkovic’s strike, helped Fiorentina edge to a 3-2 win over Udinese, for whom Stefano Okaka bagged a brace.

Juraj Kucka’s last-gasp penalty rescued a 2-2 draw for Parma with Spezia, who went 2-0 up thanks to Julian Chabot and Kevin Agudelo but Riccardo Gagliolo halved the deficit before the late spot-kick drama.

Real Sociedad leapfrogged Real Madrid to the top of the LaLiga standings as Mikel Oyarzabal’s brace contributed towards a 4-1 victory over Huesca.

Oyarzabal struck either side of the interval – his first goal coming from the penalty spot – with Rafa Mir levelling in between. Cristian Portu gave Sociedad a two-goal cushion before Alexander Isak made certain of the points.

Angel Montoro’s penalty on the stroke of half time moved Granada into third place in the standings after a 1-0 triumph at Getafe, while Villarreal are in fourth after drawing a blank at Cadiz.

Second-half goals from Tomas Pina and Borja Sainz helped Alaves overcome Real Valladolid, whose 2-0 defeat was compounded by the early dismissal of full back Nacho.

Monaco were blown away in 45 minutes in Ligue 1 as Lyon coasted to a 4-1 victory.

Karl Toko Ekambi’s brace plus Memphis Depay’s goal and Houssem Aouar’s penalty helped Lyon into a 4-0 half-time lead, rendering Wissam Ben Yedder’s second-half spot kick a mere consolation.

Lyon had Melvin Bard sent off in the final throes but the result was never in doubt by that stage.

Lille were unable to move back above Paris St Germain and to the top of the table after being held to a 1-1 draw at Nice, who went ahead through Kasper Dolberg only to be pulled back by Burak Yilmaz.

Boulaye Dia scored a hat-trick as Reims collected their first win of the season by surprisingly brushing aside nine-man Montpellier 4-0. Hilton and Damien Le Tallec both saw red in the first half for Montpellier while Nathanael Mbuku scored the third goal.

Goals from Habib Diallo and Ludovic Ajorque either side of Kenny Lala’s penalty helped Strasbourg to a 3-0 win at Brest.

Farid Boulaya’s effort and Alpha Sissoko’s own goal gave Metz a 2-0 win over St Etienne while Bordeaux beat Nimes by the same scoreline courtesy of Jimmy Briand’s penalty and Remi Oudin’s strike.

Wolfsburg claimed their first three-point Bundesliga haul of the season as quick-fire goals from Wout Weghorst and Maximilian Arnold sealed a 2-1 success over Arminia Bielefeld, who pulled one back through substitute Sven Schipplock.

Maximilian Eggestein’s early goal for Werder Bremen was cancelled out by Hoffenheim midfielder Dennis Geiger as the sides settled for a 1-1 draw.