Sport

European Round-Up: AC Milan hit new low; Real Madrid match abandoned

SPAIN: In-form Atletico Madrid made it five wins in a row in all competitions when Diego Godin and Radamel Falcao struck in …

Mon Sept 24 2012 - 01:00

SPAIN:In-form Atletico Madrid made it five wins in a row in all competitions when Diego Godin and Radamel Falcao struck in a 2-1 win at home to Real Valladolid yesterday.

The Europa League champions were two ahead by half-time at the Calderon but were made to sweat for their victory after a howler by goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois gifted the visitors a goal 10 minutes into the second half.

Mallorca inflicted further pain on struggling Valencia when they beat them 2-0 before Malaga were held to a 0-0 stalemate at Athletic Bilbao.

Leaders Barcelona are the only side to have won all five matches following Saturday’s 2-0 success at home to Granada and lead by four on 15 points.

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Champions Real Madrid, who have taken only four points from their opening four outings, were due to play at city rivals Rayo Vallecano in last night’s late kick-off but their game was abandoned in bizarre circumstances.

With the game due to begin at 9.30pm local time and the stadium in semi-darkness, Rayo president Raul Martin Presa told Spanish television that unidentified persons had cut the cables on some of the lights.

ITALY:AC Milan's season slumped to a new low yesterday as they had two players sent off and lost 2-1 at Udinese, while the bizarre postponement of the Cagliari-AS Roma match further damaged Serie A's fading credibility.

Roberto Di Natale scored the winner for Udinese with a 68th minute penalty, while the visitors had Cristian Zapata and second-half substitute Kevin-Prince Boateng dismissed in their third defeat in four Serie A games.

Inter Milan also went down to a shock defeat, beaten 2-0 at home by lowly Siena.

Neither Milan nor Inter have won a game at San Siro this season in eight attempts between them.

Napoli lost their 100 per cent record in a goalless draw at Catania and Sampdoria were held 1-1 at home by Torino.

Palermo’s latest coach Gian Piero Gasperini got off to a losing start, 1-0 at Atalanta, while promoted Pescara picked up their first point with a 1-1 draw at Bologna.

In Sardinia, the Cagliari city government called off the Roma match after the home club defied its previous decision to stage the game behind closed doors. The local authorities ruled earlier in the week the stadium was not ready to host Serie A games despite recent improvements.