European football roundup: Chelsea shake off blues, Milan-Juve share spoils

Once Hakim Ziyech's curling, dipping strike landed in the Tottenham goal, Chelsea never looked back.

Sure, it took until two minutes into the second half to break the deadlock and the Moroccan was justified in ranking it 10 out of 10." 

But the space gifted for Thiago Silva's header from Mason Mount's free kick in the 55th minute to seal a 2-0 win on Sunday was a snapshot of this most lopsided of London rivalries.

Chelsea should never have doubted its four-match winless run in the Premier League would end on Sunday. Not even with former Chelsea manager Antonio Conte going nine league matches unbeaten at the start of his Tottenham reign before the visit to Stamford Bridge.

It's now 33 wins for Chelsea against Tottenham in the Premier League era—more than against any other opponent. Not since 2018 has a Tottenham player even scored against Chelsea in the league when the north London side last won this derby.

Over the last couple of weeks we haven't had the results we wanted," Mount said. "So you start looking around you and teams are creeping up, teams have more games than us. 

So then we start getting in a difficult position. So today was a massive game, with Tottenham coming up on us and having games on us to get three points was massive for us.

Tottenham will have complaints that Harry Kane was denied a first-half goal when it was ruled out for what appeared his slight touch on Silva before racing through on goal to meet Ryan Sessegnon's cross.

But for all Kane harangued referee Paul Tierney at halftime, Tottenham crumbling so soon after the break made the win for Chelsea look inevitable. Tottenham was also denied a spot in the League Cup final by Chelsea winning both semifinal legs this month.

Victory for Thomas Tuchel's side shores up a top-four place that was starting to look shaky before winning for the first time since Dec. 26.

Chelsea stayed a point behind second-place Liverpool, which won 3-1 across London at Crystal Palace through first-half goals from Virgil Van Dijk and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, and Fabinho's penalty.

"The first 35 minutes was brilliant and some of the best stuff we have played all season," Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp said. 

"Exactly the way we want to play and if somebody had an explanation for what happened after 35 minutes, I would like it." The results will give a flicker of hope that Manchester City can still be caught after the champions were held at Southampton to Saturday to now sit only nine points in front of Liverpool having played a game more.

While Tottenham is in seventh place, the coronavirus postponements distort the standings. Tottenham fell to 11 points behind Chelsea but with four games in hand. And Man United is only two points ahead in the fourth Champions League place having played two more games than Tottenham.

What helped Conte slightly was Arsenal being held 0-0 by Burnley on Sunday. Arsenal did move above Tottenham into sixth place on goal difference but having played an extra game.

Tottenham couldn't recreate the drama from Wednesday night when two stoppage-time goals turned around a game at Leicester to win. And Leicester disappointed again on Sunday after Danny Welbeck's downward header in 82nd gave Brighton a 1-1 draw by cancelling out Patson Daka's strike.

SERIE A

AC Milan lost more ground on league leader Inter Milan and also lost another important player ahead of the derby as it drew 0-0 against Juventus at San Siro.

Key forward Zlatan Ibrahimovic limped off in the 28th minute with an apparent Achilles tendon problem. The 40-year-old Ibrahimovic will likely join several other regulars on the injury list.

Milan slipped to third in Serie A, below Napoli on goal difference. Head-to-head is the first tiebreaker at the end of the season. Milan is four points behind Inter, having played a match more, and meets the Nerazzurri in its next match after the international break.

Juventus moved to within one point of the top four and the Champions League spots.

The match at San Siro is a classic fixture in Italian soccer between two age-old rivals. There were only 5,000 spectators allowed into the stadium this time because of coronavirus restrictions but there were hundreds of fans outside to welcome the Milan team, chanting songs and setting off flares.

The Rossoneri had the best chances and more of the play, but both teams struggled to carve out clear scoring opportunities.

Juventus drew 1-1 with Milan in Turin in September. It was the first time in 30 years that both league matches between the two have ended in a draw.

New signing Sergio Oliveira scored his second goal in as many league games for Roma to help it win 4-2 at Empoli.

Tammy Abraham scored twice and Nicol Zaniolo also netted for Roma, which recorded its last three goals in the space of four first-half minutes.

Jos Mourinho's Roma moved above Lazio and Fiorentina into sixth. 

Former Cagliari forward Riccardo Sottil scored against his old club to salvage a 1-1 draw for 10-man Fiorentina.

Sottil netted in the 75th, 10 minutes after Alvaro Odriozola had been sent off for handball. Joo Pedro had headed in the opener for Cagliari at the start of the second half.

Both teams also had penalties saved.

Cagliari remained 18th, but moved to within a point of safety. Spezia moved to eight points above the drop zone after beating 10-man Sampdoria 1-0 in a relegation battle. Torino drew 1-1 with Sassuolo.

LA LIGA

Barcelona finally got things going its way, finding a late goal to end its winless run and go into the international break on a positive note.

Barcelona struggled again but Frenkie de Jong scored in the 87th minute to salvage a 1-0 victory at relegation-threatened Alavs in the Spanish league on Sunday, snapping its three-match winless streak that included elimination from the Copa del Rey and the Spanish Super Cup.

The win moved the Catalan club one point behind fourth-place Atletico Madrid in the final Champions League spot, and 15 points behind league leader Real Madrid with a game in hand.

Madrid needed a stoppage-time goal by der Milito to secure a 2-2 home draw against Elche. Madrid has a four-point advantage over Sevilla at the top after a tough day for Karim Benzema, who missed a penalty kick and later had to be replaced because of an injury.

De Jong scored from close range to give Barcelona the much-needed win against Alaves.

It's a crucial win to keep us fighting at the top, Barcelona coach Xavi Hernandez said.

The international break will be good for us. We will be able to recover some players and work on our game.

Barcelona had won only twice in its last 10 away matches in the league, and it was coming off a draw at Granada when it conceded in the 89th. It then lost to Madrid in the semifinals of the Spanish Super Cup and to Athletic Bilbao in the round of 16 of the Copa del Rey.

This victory gives us confidence to keep trying hard and move closer to reaching our goals, Barcelona defender Jordi Alba said.

Barcelona was without the injured Ansu Fati and also without Ousmane Dembele, who the club said was a no-show reporting to the squad because of an upset stomach. Barcelona and Dembele have been at odds over contract negotiations.

American defender Sergio Dest made his first start since early December after recovering from an injury and the coronavirus.

Alaves is winless in its last 10 league matches, sitting in second-to-last place.

Benzema's struggles began when he missed an opportunity from close range with only the goalkeeper to beat inside the area in the first half. Moments later he had another chance to give his team the lead from the penalty spot, but the France striker sent his shot way over the crossbar.

To cap an unusually frustrating day, Madrid's top scorer had to leave the match in the 58th because of an apparent muscle injury. He grabbed the back of his left leg as he headed for the locker rooms. There was no immediate news on the seriousness of the injury.

Lucas Boy and Pere Milla scored a goal in each half to give Elche a 2-0 lead, but Madrid pulled closer with Luka Modric's penalty kick in the 82nd and evened the match with Milito's firm header off a cross by Vincius Junior.

It's tough to take, Milla said.

We had Madrid against the ropes but couldn't take advantage of it.

Vinicius, who also missed a few good chances, picked up a yellow card that will see him suspended from the next match.

Madrid had beaten Elche 2-1 in extra time on Thursday to advance to the quarterfinals of the Copa del Rey. Eden Hazard, who scored the winner in extra time, returned to the starting lineup Sunday after failing to earn many minutes because of a series of injuries. Gareth Bale stayed on the bench.

We can't be happy with the result, but there is merit in the way we came back to earn the draw, Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti said.

Elche moved five points from the relegation zone with the draw at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium. It was without several players because of injuries and coronavirus infections, including coach Francisco Rodrguez.

Madrid great Paco Gento, who died last week at age 88, was honoured at the Bernabeu before the match.

- With inputs from PTI