European Roundup: Milan Defeats An Eight-man Team, While Bayern Lose Further Ground Lazio

Gapteks.com - Lucas Höler of Freiburg scored an equalizer in the 87th minute to steal a 2-2 draw against visiting Bayern Munich, greatly hurting their chances of winning the Bundesliga. 

As a consequence, leaders Bayer Leverkusen are now seven points ahead of champions Bayern, who can take the advantage even further if they defeat Cologne on Sunday. 

Bayern had a terrible start and required goalkeeper Manuel Neuer to make a number of incredible early stops. Bayern is getting ready to meet Lazio in their Champions League last 16 second leg next week.

In the first half, Thomas Tuchel, the coach of Bayern, observed, "We played completely without structure." "We received no punishment. We lost control of the situation and let them launch a counterattack since we were not in our proper places.

It was Freiburg who seized the lead in minute twelve. Roland Sallai's header was superbly saved by Neuer, but Christian Guenter scored with a bicycle kick after the Hungarian's attempt struck the post.

After a solid thirty minutes in which the hosts had six more opportunities to score, Bayern surprised everyone in the 35th minute with an unstoppable long-range effort from Mathys Tel. 

After halftime, the visitors were more focused and had opportunities via Harry Kane and Jamal Musiala. The former went on a solo run down the left, cut into the area, and curled a low shot past the Freiburg goalkeeper to complete their comeback.

With three minutes remaining, Höler produced a beautiful move and shot inside the box to tie the score for Freiburg. Bayern has only been successful in one of their past four league games. 

Milan defeated Lazio 1-0 in Serie A thanks to a late goal by Noah Okafor. The game had ended in mayhem, with the home team being reduced to eight men in stoppage time. 

Milan control the majority of the play, and in the 88th minute, substitute Okafor overcame Lazio's resistance by scoring close to the penalty spot after Ivan Provedel, the Lazio goalkeeper, had saved his first attempt.

Just before the hour, defender Luca Pellegrini was given a second yellow for a tackle on Christian Pulisic, bringing Lazio down to 10 men. After midfielder Matteo Guendouzi was sent off for retaliating after Pulisic dragged him back, and defender Adam Marusic was also dismissed for a challenge on Rafael Leão during stoppage time, the hosts were left with just eight men remaining in the game. 

On a tense evening that saw players from both teams square off at the final whistle, five Milan players received yellow cards and four more Lazio players were booked.

In a 0-0 draw with Monaco in Ligue 1, Paris Saint-Germain missed the mark for just the second time since September, forcing Kylian Mbappé to be removed for the second straight match. 

Gianluigi Donnarumma of PSG kept the hosts at bay as Monaco came closest to taking the lead in the first half, despite the visitors having the most of the possession. After Mbappé was removed at halftime, PSG appeared more threatening, but Radoslaw Majecki stopped Bradley Barcola and Vitinha from scoring. 

"Sooner or later we'll have to get used to playing without Kylian," PSG coach Luis Enrique said. I have to choose what's best for the team. 

PSG, who leads 2-0 in their Champions League last-16 match, will next play against Real Sociedad in the second leg on Tuesday. PSG currently leads second-place Brest by 12 points, while Monaco, who has yet to win at home this season, sits in third position.

Source: theguardian.com