ROME: Juventus dropped points for only the second time this season in Serie A when they were held to a 1-1 draw at Lecce.

Paulo Dybala’s penalty put the champions in front early in the second half but Lecce’s captain, Marco Mancosu, quickly replied with a spot kick of his own. It was Lecce’s first home point of the campaign.

Juventus, who remain unbeaten in the league under Maurizio Sarri, came into the game on the back of a seven-match winning run in all competitions. They struggled to find a breakthrough against the hosts in the absence of the rested Cristiano Ronaldo, but Sarri said he had been right to leave the forward at home.

Sarri explained: “Ronaldo was tired both physically and mentally, so it would not have helped him to make this journey and sit there. When a player expresses his fatigue, it was only right to give him a rest.”

Juventus remain top on 23 points after second-placed Inter blew the chance to go top when they were held to a 2-2 draw by Parma to remain one point behind the leaders. Yann Karamoh scored one goal and set up another to prevent his parent club Inter from going to the top.

Karamoh, who joined Parma on loan from Inter in July, helped them turn the match around within seven minutes of going behind to a deflected Antonio Candreva shot. Karamoh scored the equaliser in the 26th minute with a stunning curled effort, and raised his hands in apology to the crowd, which applauded in response.

He set up Parma’s second four minutes later, racing from almost the halfway line before rolling the ball across to an unmarked Gervinho.

Inter levelled in the 53rd when Romelu Lukaku controlled a Candreva pass and swiveled to fire it into the net from close range. The goal was initially ruled out for offside but given after a lengthy wait for review by the video assistant referee.

Thiago Motta’s tactical changes paid off in his first senior match in charge of Genoa. All three of his substitutes scored as the hosts recovered to beat Brescia 3-1. Sandro Tonali gave Brescia the lead in the 34th with a stunning free kick for his first goal in Serie A.

Kevin Agudelo leveled in the 66th but Christian Kouame fired Genoa back in front with a spectacular scissor-kick volley nine minutes later. Goran Pandev, who used to be teammates with Motta at Inter, sealed the result in the 79th.

Motta, who had previously coached only Paris Saint-Germain’s Under-19 squad, replaced the fired Aurelio Andreazzoli on Tuesday.

Bayern back top

Robert Lewandowski scored for a league-record ninth consecutive Bundesliga match as Bayern Munich scraped past promoted Union Berlin 2-1 to reclaim top spot in the league.

Lewandowski, who has scored in every competitive game in the league, Champions League and German Cup this season for a total of 19 goals, struck his 13th league goal eight minutes after the restart for his new Bundesliga record.

He had previously shared the record with former Borussia Dortmund striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who scored in the first eight league games.

Benjamin Pavard volleyed to put the hosts ahead in the 13th minute but the rest of the half was far less entertaining with Bayern again struggling for ideas and the visitors putting up a fight.

Bayern keeper Manuel Neuer did well to save a penalty three minutes later as the hosts battled for their first clean sheet after conceding two goals in each of their past five matches in all competitions. But Neuer was beaten by Sebastian Polter in a second spot kick in the 85th minute after the striker was brought down by Pavard.

The Bavarians were again far from convincing but thanks to Lewandowski’s scoring prowess they moved up to top spot on 18 points, one ahead of Freiburg, who stunned RB Leipzig 2-1 with both teams scoring a goal in stoppage time.

Borussia Dortmund are on 16 after drawing their Ruhr valley derby with Schalke 0-0. Bayer Leverkusen missed their chance to move into the top three, drawing 2-2 with visitors Werder Bremen. Leverkusen, with only one win from the last four games, are also on 15.

Atletico move up

In Spain Atletico Madrid ended a three-game winless streak in La Liga by beating Athletic Bilbao 2-0 at home to move level on points with table-topping Barcelona.

Saul Niguez put injury-stricken Atletico ahead in the 28th minute while Alvaro Morata bundled the ball in from close range in the 64th to seal their first home league win for four games.

Atletico have 19 points after 10 games along with champions Barca, who have a game in hand after the Clasico against Real Madrid was postponed until December because of security concerns.

Valladolid beat Eibar 2-0, while Leganes moved off the bottom after the 1-0 defeat of Real Mallorca, Martin Braithwaite scoring the winner from close range.

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