Napoli’s poor form continues in Italy, tributes in Spain for player who died

Napoli’s lackluster form continued Sunday in a 1-1 draw at home with Lazio that consolidated the visiting team’s Serie A lead.

Tributes for Tenerife forward Jesús de Miguel – the player who died after a second division game on Monday – continued before and during Spanish league matches ahead of Atlético Madrid’s clash with Barcelona later.

Lazio forward Davide Frattesi fired in his team’s opener in the 28th minute after Tijjani Noslin on the left played him in against the lethargic-looking Napoli defense.

The home supporters made their ire known but watched as the team clawed itself level through Alfonso Pedraza’s own goal after the break. The Spanish defender was trying to prevent Scott McTominay and Rasmus Højlund from converting Noa Lang’s cross. Lang in particular had already been subjected to boos from the home fans.

The goal staved off a third straight defeat for Napoli after Wednesday’s 4-1 loss at Porto in the Champions League and last weekend’s 2-0 loss at old rival Juventus. But coach Massimiliano Allegri will remain under pressure with just four wins and three draws from 11 Serie A games so far.

Lazio – which remained unbeaten alongside crosstown rival Roma two points behind – was assured of staying top with Inter Milan four points adrift before facing a visit from in-form Como later.

Also later, Juventus was visiting Fiorentina in the Derby d’Italia, Milan was traveling to Genoa, and Monza was hosting Atalanta.

Tributes in Spain

Referee César Soto Grado stopped Real Betis’ La Liga match at Elche in the ninth minute for fans, players, team staff and officials to pay tribute to De Miguel, who died after an on-field collision during Tenerife’s match on Monday.

There were similar tributes in the ninth minute of all Spanish league games this weekend – De Miguel wore the No. 9 – while his death was also mourned in pre-game tributes.

Atlético Madrid was hosting Barcelona to contest top spot later, when attention was likely to focus on Atlético forward Julián Álvarez, who is in the process of reconciling with the home fans after pushing for a move to Barcelona in the summer.

Atlético has the league’s meanest defense, while Barcelona has the best attack led by Brazil forward Raphinha (15 goals) and Spain star Lamine Yamal (10).

Also, Villarreal coach Iñigo Pérez, who led Rayo Vallecano to the Conference League final last season, was under pressure against visiting Getafe.

Rayo faced Real Sociedad away, and Celta Vigo was hosting Levante.

Derby time in Germany

Cologne was to host local rival Bayer Leverkusen in a Rhine derby later.

High-flying Freiburg was hosting struggling Union Berlin, and Schalke was to visit Hoffenheim, which put up its ticket prices because of high demand from visiting fans.

Manchester United, Liverpool and Chelsea were among the teams playing in England.

Real Madrid, Paris Saint-Germain and Bayern Munich all won their matches on Saturday.

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