A look at the major talking points from around European football
Totti saves the day in Rome derby
A second-half brace by captain Francesco Totti saved Roma’s blushes in a 2-2 draw with city rivals Lazio that pulled them level with Juventus at the top of Italy’s Serie A on Sunday.
Roma started the 141st derby only one point behind Juventus, who can pull three points clear with a win away to high-flying Napoli in Sunday’s late game.
But it took a second-half double from veteran playmaker Totti to secure a share of the spoils after Stefano Mauri and Felipe Anderson had given Lazio a 2-0 first-half lead.
“I said it before the game, Totti is a genius. This was his kind of game,” Roma coach Rudi Garcia told Sky Sport. “We came back from two goals down, and this is never easy to do. It’s like being at the circus, you’re playing without the safety net.”
Totti celebrated scoring his first brace of goals this season by taking a ‘selfie’ with a mobile phone after he levelled for the Serie A title challengers
Vidic scores his first Inter goal
Former Manchester United defender Nemanja Vidic’s first goal for Inter Milan secured a 3-1 win over Genoa in their Serie A clash on Sunday as on-loan Arsenal forward Lukas Podolski made his first start for the hosts.
Genoa, looking for their first win in four games, gave the hosts a late scare when Armando Izzo bundled home in the 85th minute to reduce the arrears after Rodrigo Palacio and Mauro Icardi had given Inter a 2-0 lead.
But Vidic, the subject of criticism earlier this season for a string of defensive blunders, secured Inter’s first win of the year to move Roberto Mancini’s side up to ninth place ahead of the rest of the weekend fixtures.
Inter are now 15 points behind champions and leaders Juventus, but just five points behind third-placed Lazio
Lyon move to top of Ligue 1
Alexandre Lacazette continued his remarkable run of goalscoring on Sunday with a double which inspired Olympique Lyonnais to despatch Toulouse 3-0 and move to the top of Ligue 1.
The French international striker scored after 14 and 27 minutes -- his 18th and 19th league goals of the season -- to further enhance a big reputation and to set Lyon on their way to a comfortable win.
With fellow title contenders, leaders Olympique Marseille and champions Paris Saint-Germain, both having lost in the previous two days, Lyon greedily took their chance with Nabil Fekir sealing victory with the third after 48 minutes.
The victory left Lyon on 42 points, one point clear of Marseille, three ahead of Saint-Etienne and four in front of PSG.
Wolfsburg will travel to South Africa following death of Junior Malanda
The death of Belgian Under-21 international midfielder Junior Malanda has left his German club Wolfsburg devastated but they will still go to South Africa for their training camp said sporting director Klaus Allofs on Sunday.
The 20-year-old was in the back seat of a car travelling to join up with his team-mates on Saturday afternoon when it smashed into a tree -- the two other people in the car survived.
“It was not an easy decision but we think that it is the good one,” said Allofs.
“The team were totally devastated when they learnt the news.”
Allofs said the team would fly out later on Sunday having cancelled their original flight scheduled for Saturday on learning the news.
“We were told of the news when we were already at the airport (Hanover) and we decided immediately to cancel the flight,” said Allofs.
Dieter Hecking, coach of Wolfsburg, was in tears at the press conference.
“He has a left a huge gap. But I think it was the correct decision to distance ourselves from Wolfsburg,” said Hecking.
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