European football: Inter edge Lecce to stretch lead, Bayern earn comeback win

Francesco Pio Esposito was the hero for Inter, the substitute’s 78th-minute goal earning a 1-0 home win over lowly Lecce to boost their title hopes.

The Serie A leaders laboured against stubborn opposition before Esposito scored from a rebound with 12 minutes remaining. Inter move six points clear of Milan and Napoli with victory in what could be a major turning point in this season’s title race.

Ange-Yoan Bonny, in for the rested Lautaro Martínez, created an early chance with a run and shot that was parried away by Wladimiro Falcone. Bonny then thought he had won a penalty, but a VAR check ruled that Danilo Veiga had played the ball.

Falcone punched away a Nicolò Barella header from close range shortly after the break, then gathered a shot from Andy Diouf as the hosts continued to struggle to open up a dogged Lecce defence. Esposito replaced Bonny and Martínez was also launched from the bench as Cristian Chivu’s side chased an elusive winner.

Martínez had a volleyed effort parried away by Falcone and Esposito was quickest to react. The 20-year-old striker slammed home the rebound to the relief of the San Siro home crowd. “A great team victory – even the players who don’t play as much are always ready to help the team,” the Inter midfielder Carlos Augusto told Dazn.

Milan face a tricky trip to sixth-placed Como on Thursday, while Napoli were held to a costly 0-0 draw at home by Parma earlier on Wednesday.

The first chance of the game fell to Scott McTominay, who scored both goals in Sunday’s 2-2 draw against Inter. His half-volley deflected into the side netting, and although McTominay had the ball in the net minutes later, the goal was ruled out after a VAR check for an offside in the buildup.

Parma keeper Filippo Rinaldi, making his senior club debut, pulled off a point-blank save from Alessandro Buongiorno’s header, then parried away Rasmus Højlund’s shot on the turn. Højlund then failed to get his shot away after Rinaldi spilled the ball early in the second half as Napoli drew for the third league game in a row.

“These are the type of games where you need to score as quickly as possible, open the match up, and then it becomes completely different,” the Napoli defender Amir Rrahmani told reporters. “We definitely need to be quicker, more decisive, bring more quality to our play going forward – not always two touches, sometimes just one.”

The Bundesliga leaders, Bayern Munich, fought back to beat hosts Cologne 3-1 and record the best first half of a season in the league’s history.

Bayern demolished Wolfsburg 8-1 on Sunday but Cologne did not appear intimidated in the first half, and took a deserved 41st-minute lead with Linton Maina’s spectacular solo run and superb finish to beat Manuel Neuer. Serge Gnabry managed to level just before the break, flicking the ball into the net off the crossbar from a tight angle.

Neuer parried away Jakub Kaminski’s low drive just before the hour, and Bayern went on to take the lead in the 71st minute, as Hiroki Ito headed on a deep cross and Kim Min-jae nodded in. The teenager Lennart Karl made sure of the three points in the 84th minute when he slotted home from Luis Díaz’s pass.

Vincent Kompany’s side are 11 points clear of Dortmund at the top of the table, with 47 points and a goal difference of +53. The previous best mark after 17 matches belonged to Pep Guardiola’s Bayern in 2013-14, also with 47 points but a goal difference of +35.

“I did congratulate the lads but that will be gone by tomorrow, and of absolutely no priority for me, that we now have this record,” said Kompany afterwards. “We are in the middle of the season and have not won any title yet. From tomorrow, we start the second half and everything starts from zero.”

Wolfsburg bounced back from their heavy defeat by Bayern with a 2-1 home win over struggling St Pauli, sealed by Dzenan Pejcinovic’s 88th-minute header. RB Leipzig are up to third after a 2-0 home win over Freiburg, while Andrej Kramaric’s hat-trick headlined fifth-placed Hoffenheim’s 5-1 rout of Mönchengladbach.

In the Dutch Cup, Ajax suffered an embarrassing 6-0 defeat away to AZ Alkmaar in their last-16 tie. Troy Parrott opened the scoring for the hosts in the second minute, then doubled their advantage 30 minutes later, with Peer Koopmeiners adding a third just before half-time.

Teenage midfielder Kees Smit made it 4-0 soon after the restart, before Ajax defender Owen Wijndal was shown a straight red card. Parrott completed his hat-trick 10 minutes from time, and then set up Ibrahim Sadiq to complete the visitors’ humiliation.

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