Serie A leader Inter beats Lecce; Juventus wins at Frosinone

Victor Osimhen followed his contract renewal with Napoli in the worst possible way as he got sent off in a 2-0 defeat at Roma in Serie A on Saturday.

Defending champion Napoli ended the match with nine men as Matteo Politano was also red-carded shortly before Lorenzo Pellegrini scored the opener.

Romelu Lukaku sealed the match for Roma, which moved up to sixth, a point above Napoli and three points below fourth-placed Bologna.

Napoli was looking to bounce back from a 4-0 humiliation at home to Frosinone in the Italian Cup on Tuesday.

The tension was high at the Stadio Olimpico with both coaches booked for dissent in the first half amid a large number of fouls and protests. It was of little surprise when Politano was shown a straight red card in the 66th minute for kicking out at Nicola Zalewski after having his jersey tugged by the Roma midfielder.

Roma broke the deadlock 10 minutes later when attempts by Sardar Azmoun and then Stephan El Shaarawy were charged down but the latter turned into an assist for Pellegrini, who fired the home side ahead.

Osimhen renewed his contract earlier Saturday to 2026 and was eager to celebrate with a goal but, instead, he received a second yellow card in the 86th, 13 minutes after his first booking, and was sent off.

Roma doubled its tally in stoppage time when Lukaku combined with Evan Ndicka to finish off a counterattack.

BRAVO BISSECK

There was an unlikely scoring replacement for Lautaro Martínez when defender Yann Bisseck bagged his first goal for Inter Milan and launched the Serie A leader to a 2-0 victory over Lecce.

Bisseck — who hit the woodwork moments earlier — flicked in a free kick with the back of his head two minutes from the break to help Inter bounce back from a midweek Italian Cup defeat and consolidate top spot in the league. Bisseck also had a header fingertipped over the bar in the second half.

Inter moved four points ahead of Juventus, which won at Frosinone 2-1.

Inter doubled its tally in the 78th following a moment of magic from Marko Arnautović, who controlled a pass from Barella and waited for him to sprint into the box before sensationally backheeling it to him to slot into the bottom left corner.

Lecce winger Lameck Banda was shown a straight red card and sent off five minutes later for dissent.

Lautaro was unavailable for the first time in 89 matches after the Argentine World Cup winner was injured on Wednesday during the Italian Cup exit to Bologna.

Lautaro, the Serie A leading scorer with 15, is expected back early in the new year. Another key player, Federico Dimarco, was also out hurt.

YOUNGEST PLAYER

Kenan Yildiz became the youngest foreigner to score for Juventus in Serie A when he netted on his full debut.

The 18-year-old Yildiz had six substitute appearances this season and was made a starter for the first time by Massimiliano Allegri.

The teenage Turkey forward netted just 12 minutes in, gathering from Filip Kostić before forcing his way past three defenders and firing into the bottom left corner.

Substitute Jaime Baez levelled for Frosinone early in the second half but Juventus restored its lead nine minutes from time with a goal by a substitute of its own, when Dušan Vlahović headed in Weston McKennie’s cross.

IMPRESSIVE BOLOGNA

Bologna consolidated fourth place and closed the gap on third-placed AC Milan to two points with a 1-0 win over Atalanta.

Lewis Ferguson headed in a corner with four minutes remaining.

Bologna also knocked two-time defending champion Inter out of the Italian Cup midweek.

Torino rescued a 1-1 draw at home against relegation-threatened Udinese. Hellas Verona beat 10-man Cagliari 2-0 to leapfrog Claudio Ranieri's side and go a point clear of the drop zone.

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