THERE was drama of the wrong kind in Florence as Fiorentina’s Edoardo Bove collapsed on the pitch in the game with Inter Milan. The match was suspended in the 16th minute with the score 0-0. Bove’s condition was stable when he arrived at hospital, but he is currently under “pharamacological sedation”. The 22 year-old midfielder has been capped by Italy at under-21 level. Meanwhile, Antonio Conte’s Napoli extended their lead at the top of Serie A, albeit temporarily, with a 1-0 win at Torino, Scott Tominay scoring the winning goal. Lazio, who are also among the front-runners, were beaten 3-1 at Parma. AC Milan beat Empoli 3-0, Thijjani Reijnders netting twice. Roma host in-form Atalanta tonight (December 2).
**Premier League: Liverpool’s to lose**
LIVERPOOL increased Manchester City’s angst by beating the reigning champions 2-0 at a raucous Anfield. In truth, it could have been more, for City were clearly out-of-sorts and the claim that their downturn is due to the absence of Rodri now looks like a flimsy excuse for their recent form. City’s defence looked all-at-sea as Liverpool attack them relentlessly. The first goal came from Jody Gakpo who bundled the ball into the net at the far post after Mo Salah had sent over a perfect low cross. The points were sealed 13 minutes from time with a Salah penalty, taking Liverpool nine points clear at the top. The Anfield crowd taunted Pep Guardiola with “you’re getting sacked in the morning” which was met by the City boss raising six fingers representing the number of Premier titles he has won at the club. Arsenal won 5-2 at West Ham with all the goals coming in the first half, while Chelsea were in good form against Aston Villa, winning 3-0 at Stamford Bridge. Manchester United gave Rúben Amorim his first win in the Premier with a 4-0 humbling of Everton. Marcus Rashford and Joshua Zirkzee scored two apiece. Bournemouth won 4-2 at Wolves with Justin Kluivert scoring a hat-trick of penalties., the first player in 67 years to achieve that feat in an English top flight fixture. Another hat-trick was scored by Kevin Schade of Brentford, who beat Ruud van Nistelrooy’s Leicester City 4-1.
**Hat-trick heroes**
**League**
**Player**
**Club**
**Opponents**
**Timing**
Premier
Justin Kluivert
Bournemouth
Wolves
72 mins (3, 18, 74)
Premier
Kevin Schade
Brentford
Leicester City
31 mins (29, 45, 59)
Ligue 1
Amaud Kalimuendo
Rennes
St. Étienne
29 mins (39, 61, 67)
Ligue 1
Alexandre Lacazette
Lyon
Nice
66 mins (4, 41, 69)
**Attendances**
**League**
**Home**
**Away**
**Crowd**
Bundesliga
Borussia Dortmund
Bayern Munich
81,365
La Liga
Real Madrid
Getafe
74,341
Premier
Manchester United
Everton
73,817
Serie A
AC Milan
Empoli
68,725
Ligue 1
Olympique Marseille
Monaco
64,277
Premier
West Ham United
Arsenal
62,475
Premier
Tottenham Hotspur
Fulham
61,141
Premier
Liverpool
Manchester City
60,248
**Portugal: Shock as Sporting lose**
SPORTING are still coming to terms with losing their charismatic coach Rúben Amorim. They crashed to their first league defeat in just under a year when they were beaten 1-0 at home by Santa Clara. The visitors, who scored through Vinícius Lopes after 33 minutes, ended Sporting’s 100% record in the Primeira Liga. João Pereira, who took over when Amorim departed for Manchester United, has now lost two in three games and is under pressure from the fans of the Portuguese champions. Sporting are five points clear of Benfica at the top. This latest setback for Sporting comes just after Arsenal thrashed them 5-1 at home in the Champions League.
**Bundesliga: Crisis brewing at Leipzig**
RB LEIPZIG have said their coach, Marco Rose, will still be in charge for at least one more game (the DFB Pokal tie with Frankfurt) after the team slumped to a 5-1 home defeat at the hands of Wolfsburg. Rose’s team have not won for six games and they have lost all five of their Champions League ties this season. Admittedly, they have had a tough batch of fixtures, including games with Liverpool, Juventus, Inter Milan and Atlético Madrid, but Leipzig are unused to such a poor run of results. They are still fourth in the league. Bayern are still top despite drawing Der Klassiker with Borussia Dortmund. BVB took the lead through Jamie Gittens, but Jamal Musiala scored an equaliser for Bayern. Harry Kane limped off injured, but is expected to play again before the end of 2024. Frankfurt continued their good form with a 4-0 win at Heidenheim with Omar Marmoush scoring two of the goals.
**Top Scorers**
**League**
**Player**
**Club**
**Goals**
Portugal
Viktor Gyökeres
Sporting
16
Spain
Robert Lewandowski
Barcelona
15
Germany
Robert Kane
Bayern Munich
14
Russia
Manfred Ugalde
Spartak Moscow
14
Bulgaria
Ahmed Ahmedou
Spartak Varna
14
Germany
Omar Marmoush
Eintracht Frankfurt
13
**La Liga: Barca slip**
IT was Barcelona’s 125th anniversary, but Las Palmas ruined their big day by beating the La Liga leaders 2-1 at Montjuic. Barca left the pitch to a crescendo of boos as the home crowd showed their frustration at a below par performance. It was the first time they had lost at home to Las Palmas since 1971. They went behind just after half-time, but Raphinha levelled in the 61st minute. But six minutes later, Wolves loanee Fábio Silva scored what proved to be the winner. Real Madrid won 2-0 against Getafe with goals from Jude Bellingham and Kylian Mbappé to move to within one point behind Barca. They also have a game in hand to their old rivals. Atlético Madrid were in fine form, winning 5-0 at Valladolid.
**And elsewhere…**
* The top two in the Eredivisie, with PSV Winning 5-2 at Utrecht taking them seven points clear at the top. Ajax are in second place after their 2-1 win against Nijmegen
* FK Austria Wien won 3-1 at LASK to move within three points of Austrian Bundesliga leaders Sturm Graz and also have a game in hand. Graz were held 1-1 at Altach, while Rapid were beaten at home by Blau-Weiß Linz
* Paris Saint-Germain were held 1-1 at home by struggling Nantes, while Marseille beat Monaco and Lyon were 4-1 winners against Nice.
Game of the People was founded in 2012 and is ranked among the 100 best football websites by various sources. The site consistently wins awards for its work, across a broad range of subjects. [View all posts by Neil Fredrik Jensen](https://gameofthepeople.com/author/georgefjord/)