Napoli suffered its first defeat in the Italian Premier League against its host Venice since 1942, falling 0-1, on Saturday, in the seventh stage, after being unable to overcome Serbian goalkeeper Filip Stankovic, who played the main role in giving his team the first victory.
Napoli entered its seventeenth confrontation with Venice at the top flight level, against the backdrop of a defeat in Spain at the hands of Spain's Villarreal 1-3 in the Champions League, and coach Massimiliano Allegri's team seemed determined to compensate, but it clashed with the brilliance of goalkeeper Stankovic.
The Serbian was the most prominent star in the match, along with Nigerian Akor Adams, who scored the only goal in the 49th minute after his shot was diverted from Kosovar Amir Rahmani and deceived goalkeeper Alex Merritt. Not only did he block numerous attempts from open play, but he also denied veteran Belgian star Kevin De Bruyne an equalizer by blocking a penalty kick taken by the former English Manchester City star in the 68th minute.
Thus, Napoli suffered only its second defeat in 17 matches with Venice in the top flight, compared to 7 wins and the same number of draws, and the third in “Serie A” this season, so that its score froze at 10 points in ninth place, while its host got its first points.
Atletico Madrid achieved a difficult victory away from home with a clean goal at the expense of its host Espanyol, on Saturday, in the match that was held at Espanyol Stadium in Barcelona, in the ninth round of the Spanish Football League.
Substitute Alex Baena, the Spanish international striker, scored the only goal of the match in the 89th minute, from a pass from Argentine Julián Alvarez, to snatch the visiting team 3 difficult points, maintaining its winning streak.
This victory raised Atletico Madrid's tally to 22 points in second place, two points behind leaders Barcelona, who play later, Saturday, with Real Betis.
As for Espanyol, it remains in twelfth place with 8 points.
This victory is the sixth in a row for Atletico in all tournaments. Since losing to Liverpool in the Champions League, it has defeated Real Sociedad, Osasuna, Real Madrid and Deportivo Alaves in the league, and also defeated Manchester United in the Champions League.
A brace by Portuguese Pedro Neto led Chelsea to continue returning to the right track, when it inflicted its host Everton's first loss of the season with two clean goals, in the seventh round of the English Premier League, on Saturday, but lost its Argentine goalkeeper, Emiliano Martinez, who was out injured.
The Blues corrected their slow start with a second successive victory after a victory over Bournemouth (5-1), after a bad start that witnessed two losses away from home against their neighbor Arsenal (1-2) and Brentford (0-3).
Cole Palmer's colleagues killed two birds with one stone; They succeeded in breaking up the partnership with Everton, which had a superior goal difference before the match, raising their score to 13 points in fourth place temporarily, and emerging with a clean sheet for the first time in 23 league matches.
As for the Liverpool City Club team, it suffered its first loss, after a series of draws. He came away with one point in four matches out of five before Saturday's match.
Unusually, the Spanish team, Xabi Alonso, entered the match without playing matches in the middle of the week, due to its absence from European competitions due to its disappointing tenth place in the league last season.
At Hill Dickinson Stadium, the rough encounter had a technical surprise start; The first 25 minutes witnessed only decent chances, before Everton's attacking awakening, through a header from German Merlin Rolle (26), and a dangerous shot by its star Jack Grealish (30), executed brilliantly by goalkeeper Martinez.
The London club almost scored against the course of play, through a missile shot by Ecuadorian Moises Caicedo (40), which was blocked by the crossbar.
As for Neto, he alerted the “Toffees” with a strong shot at the end of the half, which was blocked by Jordan Pickford (45 + 1), before he opened the scoring in the first minutes of the second half with a low shot that went under Pickford following a cross from the Dutchman Jurel Hato.
The guests' joy was spoiled when their goalkeeper, Martinez (75), left the field on a stretcher after a long intervention by the medical team, following a strong collision with Garrad Branthwaite.
Neto secured Chelsea's victory in the last minute of regular time, taking advantage of a shot that the opponent's defense missed.
