Juventus manager Massimiliano Allegri has confirmed several injury doubts for his team’s midweek UEFA Champions League clash against Manchester United, following their victory over Cagliari on Saturday which continued their dominance of Serie A.
The Bianconeri eased past their opponents thanks to goals from Paulo Dybala and Juan Cuadrado for a 10th win from 11 league matches this term, but it came at a cost: “We hope to have him [Mario Mandzukic] available on Wednesday, let’s see how he and [Federico] Bernardeschi are. [Giorgio] Chiellini has recovered, [Blaise] Matuidi has taken a shot,” said the Juve boss.
“Douglas Costa has soreness so let’s see. If Mandzukic had been available, he would not have played, because he just came back from an ankle injury. I wanted to play him for sometime or half an hour and then have him completely available on Wednesday.”
United may well be without striker Romelu Lukaku after he missed their 2-1 away win over Bournemouth in the Premier League, but a last-gasp goal from Marcus Rashford suggests the big Belgian may not be missed quite so sorely.
Still, the Red Devils’ defence remains porous and disorganised, with manager Jose Mourinho admitting he was the “luckiest manager in the Premier League” that the Cherries hadn’t established a bigger lead by half time.
If Mourinho rode his luck, Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp will feel his side deserved more following their 1-1 draw away to Arsenal in which they had a goal from Sadio Mane in the first half incorrectly chalked off for offside.
“I think it was a goal, it should have been a goal,” Klopp said after the match, which saw James Milner’s second-half opener cancelled out by the Gunners’ Alexandre Lacazette.
In Spain, Real Madrid caretaker manager Santiago Solari took his team to a first La Liga win in five weeks as they overcame Real Valladolid 2-0 – thanks in the main to an 83rd minute own goal which came from a shot by Los Blancos’ Vinicius.
“Vinicius has his whole career ahead and judgements will be made in time. With his virtues and defects, he is one more player in the squad. I told him to be bold and to take people on, which is what he knows how to do,” said Solari.
Other major results across the three leagues saw Barcelona continue to lead the way in Spain after a come-from-behind 3-2 win at Rayo Vallecano (with a last-gasp winner from Luis Suarez), Napoli and Internazionale looked to keep up the pressure on Juve in Italy with emphatic wins over Empoli (5-1) and Genoa (5-0) respectively, and both Manchester City and Chelsea cruised to easy Premier League wins on Sunday against Southampton (6-1) and Crystal Palace (3-1) respectively.
La Liga results and fixtures, 3-5 November
Saturday 3 November
Leganes 1-1 Atletico Madrid
Real Madrid 2-0 Real Valladolid
Valencia 0-1 Girona
Rayo Vallecano 2-3 Barcelona
Sunday 4 November
Eibar 2-1 Deportivo Alaves
Villarreal 1-1 Levante
Real Sociedad 0-0 Sevilla
Huesca 1-1 Getafe
Real Betis 3-3 Celta de Vigo
Premier League results and fixtures, 3-5 November
Saturday 3 November
Bournemouth 1-2 Manchester United
Cardiff City 0-1 Leicester City
Everton 3-1 Brighton & Hove Albion
Newcastle United 1-0 Watford
West Ham United 4-2 Burnley
Arsenal 1-1 Liverpool
Wolverhampton Wanderers 2-3 Tottenham Hotspur
Sunday 4 November
Manchester City 6-1 Southampton
Chelsea 3-1 Crystal Palace
Serie A results, 2-4 November
Friday 2 November
Napoli 5-1 Empoli
Saturday 3 November
Internazionale 5-0 Genoa
Fiorentina 1-1 Roma
Juventus 3-1 Cagliari
Sunday 4 November
Lazio 4-1 SPAL
Chievo 0-2 Sassuolo
Parma 0-0 Frosinone
Sampdoria 1-4 Torino
Bologna 1-2 Atalanta
Udinese 0-1 Milan
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