Luis Helguera
Barcelona’s domestic woes continue with Alaves 1-1 draw
Antoine Griezmann helped to salvage a point for Barcelona as their struggles in La Liga continued with another disappointing result; a 1-1 away draw against 10-man Deportivo Alaves on Saturday. The visitors, who had lost their prior two league matches, were behind in the first half after a goalkeeping blunder by Neto allowed Luis Rioja to open the scoring. Barca actually started the match brightly. Their gifted youngster Ansu Fati raced clear of the Alaves defence early on but could only strike his effort wide. However, the visiting defence appeared to lack confidence and looked vulnerable on the counter. Alaves left midfielder Luis Rioja tried to exploit this but brought a smart save out of Barca keeper Neto after fine play by Brazilian centre forward Deyverson. It was from another such A...
Inter Milan hits two late goals to beat Fiorentina 4-3
Inter Milan fought back with two goals in the last five minutes as they began their Serie A campaign with a 4-3 win over Fiorentina on Saturday. Runners-up last season and seen as the main challengers to the dominance of Juventus this term, Inter suffered one of their familiar slumps as they fell 3-2 behind to a Fiorentina side inspired by 37-year-old Franck Ribery. But an 87th-minute equaliser from Romelu Lukaku followed by Danilo D’Ambrosio’s header two minutes later gave them the points – and possibly spared them one of coach Antonio Conte’s infamous dressing-downs after the game. Inter could not have made a worse start as they gifted Fiorentina the lead in the third minute with a goal worthy of a playground kickabout. Cristiano Biraghi floated the ball into the area, the Inter defence ...
