PYROTECHNICS have become a touchy subject recently and this weekend, Ajax’s game with Groningen was abandoned following a huge explosion in the Johan Cruyff Arena behind one of the goals. Ajax tried to restart the match 45 minutes later, but this was met with another volley of fireworks. The referee took the decision to abandon the game, the third Ajax fixture to be cancelled because of fireworks in the past couple of years. There was also an incident at the Seville derby between Sevilla and Real Betis, with the referee taking the teams off for 15 minutes after missiles were thrown onto the pitch. This type of behaviour would appear to be on the increase, not to mention outbreaks of racism from the crowd. Have we gone backwards?
**Ligue 1: PSG losing their mojo a little**
LENS went to the top of Ligue 1 after winning 2-1 at Angers, their fourth consecutive victory. They took a two-goal lead with both coming from Florian Thauvin before the home side pulled one back. The much-travelled Thauvin, who joined Lens in the summer from Udinese, doubled his Ligue 1 tally for the season. Paris Saint-Germain fell to their second league defeat of the season when they were beaten 1-0 at Monaco, the winning goal scored by Takumi Minamino in the 68th minute. Monaco finished the game with 10 men after Thilo Kehrer was red-carded 10 minutes from the end. PSG, though, were out-of-sorts after their midweek Champions League win against Tottenham, prompting coach Luis Enrique to call if their worst display of the season. Marseille failed to take advantage of PSG’s slip-up and were held to a 2-2 draw at home by Toulouse in front of a crowd of 65,000 people. Marseille were denied top spot by an added time goal from Santiago Hidalgo. Lille were 1-0 winners at Le Havre, but Strasbourg were beaten for the third time in four games, losing 2-1 at home to Brest.
**Serie A: Napoli unseat the leaders**
ALMOST 64,000 turned up to see Serie A leaders Roma take on Napoli, but the fans of the _Giallorossi_ went home disappointed after their team lost 1-0 to Antonio Conte’s men. Roma, despite their good results, are a goal-shy side with just 13 in 13. Against Napoli, they had just two shots on target in 90 minutes. The visitors’ winner came from David Neres in the 36th minute. Reports suggest that Roma are looking to strengthen their attack in the January window, with Manchester United’s Joshua Zirkzee named as a possible target. AC Milan went top of the Serie A table with a 1-0 win against Lazio thanks to Rafael Leão’s 51st minute goal. The jury is still out on Max Allegri’s Milan side despite just one league defeat in 13 games. Inter were 2-0 winners at Parma with two goals from Lautaro Martinez. Juventus won 2-1 against Cagliari but they lost Dusan Vlahovic for three months with an adductor injury. Former England striker Jamie Vardy scored twice for Cremonese as they won 3-1 at Bologna.
**Bundesliga: St.Pauli’s woes continue**
WITH nine consecutive league defeats and three goals during that run, St. Pauli are in bad shape and have slumped down the Bundesliga table after being unbeaten in their first three games. Their display at Bayern Munich was encouraging and they went into an early lead through Andreas Hountondji before added time goals from Luís Diaz and Niclas Jackson gave the home side a 3-1 win. Leipzig are in second place but had to be satisfied with a 0-0 draw away at Borussia Mönchengladbach. Dortmund pulled off a useful 2-1 win at Leverkusen with Karim Adeyemi scoring his fourth of the season. BVB have still only lost one Bundesliga game this season. A goal in the 94th minute from Fabio Vieira gave 10-man Hamburg a 2-1 win against Stuttgart. Hoffenheim continued their good run with a 3-0 win against Augsburg, all the goals coming before the interval.
**La Liga: Stuttering Real Madrid**
A PENALTY from Kylian Mbappé midway through the second half gave Real Madrid a 1-1 draw at Girona. It was Real’s third consecutive league draw and it cost them the leadership in La Liga. Barcelona bounced back from their 3-0 defeat at Chelsea in the Champions League to go top with a 3-1 win against Alavés. The visitors took a first minute lead but Lamine Yamal soon equalised and Dani Olmo scored a goal in each half to secure the points. Villareal and Atlético Madrid are breathing down Real’s neck after wins against Real Sociedad and Oviedo respectively. Alberto Moreiro’s double, the second in the fifth minute of added time, helped Villareal to a 3-2 win at Sociedad. Atléti made it seven league and cup wins in a row with Alexander Sørloth scoring twice in a 2-1 success. The Seville derby was held up, but it didn’t stop Real Betis from winning 2-0 at the Estadio Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán.
**Premier League: City looking ominous**
THE big game of the weekend was the clash of the top two in the Premier – Chelsea hosting Arsenal at Stamford Bridge. Chelsea suffered yet another red card – their sixth of the season – but went ahead through Trevor Chalobah only for Mikel Merino to level for the Gunners. Manchester City moved into the second spot with a 3-2 win against Leeds United but they threw away a two-goal lead and had to rely on a 91st minute winner from Phil Foden. Aston Villa are now level on points with third-placed Chelsea following a 1-0 win against struggling Wolves. Sunderland, who keep confounding the pundits, beat Bournemouth 3-2 after being behind at half-time. Tottenham remain inconsistent, losing 2-1 at home to Fulham, while Manchester United came from behind to beat Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park 2-1. Newcastle gained some relief with a 4-1 win at Everton, but it was better news on the red side of Merseyside as Liverpool beat West Ham 2-0 at the London Stadium. Arne Slot took the brave decision to drop Mohammed Salah in a bid to end Liverpool’s recent dreadful run.
**And elsewhere …**
* Hearts were held 0-0 at Motherwell but remain on top in Scotland, but Celtic are two point. Behind and have a game in hand on the leaders
* PSV Eindhoven are six points clear in the Eredivisie after winning 3-0 at home to Volendam. Feyenoord won 2-1 at Telstar
* Thun, the Swiss Super League leaders, were beaten 2-1 at Lausanne, while second-placed St. Gallen drew 0-0 at Basel
* Aarhus (AGF) beat FC Copenhagen to go two points clear of Midtjylland at the top of the Danish Super League.
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/)