Soccer PICS: Juventus drop points; Musiala tricks for Bayern

IMAGE: Juventus’ Federico Gatti in action during the Serie A match against Parma at Allianz Stadium, Turin, Italy, on Wednesday. Photograph: Massimo Pinca/Reuters

Juventus twice came from behind to salvage a 2-2 draw at home to Parma on Wednesday, maintaining their unbeaten record this season but dropping to fourth in the Serie A standings.

Juventus are on 18 points, seven adrift of leaders Napoli, and slipped to fourth as Atalanta moved a point ahead after their 2-0 win over Monza. Parma are 14th on nine points.

Parma, who have won just once this season, took the lead in the third minute through Enrico Delprato’s header which Juventus cancelled out in the 31st minute with a Weston McKennie goal.

Simon Sohm put the visitors back in front seven minutes later but Juventus again replied through a Timothy Weah volley four minutes after the break.

Parma started fast and after working the ball across the pitch from a corner kick, Adrian Bernabe’s cross into the box was nodded back across goal by Botond Balogh and Delprato headed into the roof of the net.

Juventus should have drawn level 10 minutes later after Zion Suzuki saved a header from McKennie, but when the rebound fell to Dusan Vlahovic he somehow sent his shot over the bar.

McKennie, however, made no mistake when Weah whipped a ball into the area, steering his header past the dive of Suzuki but Parma were soon back in front as Juventus struggled to deal with the pace of the visitors.

Dennis Man collected a long ball in the area and pulled back the perfect pass for Sohm to drill past Di Gregorio and they held their lead until the break.

Juventus’s unbeaten record was on the line but they pulled level again shortly after the interval. Khephren Thuram powered through from midfield before passing to Francisco Conceicao out wide and his cross was volleyed home by Weah from close range.

Parma created an opportunity late on, but Gabriel Charpentier was denied by Di Gregorio and in added time Juventus looked like fining the winner but Delprato made a last-gasp block to deny a goalbound effort from Kenan Yildiz.

Frattesi brace helps Inter to 3-0 win over 10-man Empoli

IMAGE: Inter Milan’s Lautaro Martinez scores their third goal against Empoli at Stadio Carlo Castellani, Empoli, Italy, on Wednesday. Photograph: Jennifer Lorenzini/Reuters

Davide Frattesi scored twice and Lautaro Martinez added a third as Inter Milan eased to a 3-0 win at Empoli on Wednesday, closing the gap with Serie A leaders Napoli to four points after the home side had a man sent off.

Inter, now unbeaten in five league games, remain second in the standings with 21 points, behind Napoli on 25 after their 2-0 win at AC Milan on Tuesday. Empoli remain 11th on 11 points.

Empoli faced an uphill battle when Saba Goglichidze was shown the red card for a studs-up high challenge on Marcus Thuram after half an hour, and Inter made the extra man count in the second half.

Frattesi found the net five minutes after the break and doubled Inter’s lead in the 67th minute, before Martinez rounded off the win 11 minutes from time, stretching Empoli’s winless run to five games.

The game may have lacked the drama of Inter’s rollercoaster 4-4 draw with Juventus on Sunday, but this time Simone Inzaghi’s side came away with all three points, against an Empoli side who struggle to score but had conceded even less, until now.

The home fans have yet to celebrate an Empoli goal at the Stadio Carlo Castellani in the league this season after four games, but they had also conceded just once, and looked like shackling Inter, until they went a man down.

Before the sending off, Inter did find the net, but Matteo Darmian was guilty of a handball on his way to scoring, and the away side’s only other real chance before the break came from a deflected Federico Dimarco free kick which brought a superb save from the keeper.

Inter were unable to make the most of their numerical advantage in the first half, but it all changed once Frattesi got them off the mark.

A cross to the back post was kept in play on the byline by a header from Darmian which fell to Frattesi and his deflected looping shot went in off the far post.

His second came after a backheeled pass from Martinez in the area which Frattesi slotted home, and the killer third goal was down to an awful keeper’s error.

Vasquez played a sloppy pass out from the goal which Nicolo Barella gathered and he passed to the unmarked Martinez in the area who made no mistake and fired home to finish off an Empoli who had no response after a brave first half showing.

Bayern’s Musiala scores hat-trick in 4-0 win over Mainz in German Cup

IMAGE: Bayern Munich’s Jamal Musiala wins the ball against 1. FSV Mainz 05’s Kaishu Sano during their German Cup second round match. Photograph: Kai Pfaffenbach/Reuters

In-form Jamal Musiala bagged a first half hat-trick to steer Bayern Munich to a 4-0 victory over hosts Mainz 05 on Wednesday and into the German Cup third round.

Germany midfielder Musiala, who also scored in their 5-0 league win over VfL Bochum on Sunday, slotted in from a Harry Kane pass for a second-minute lead after a powerful run down the left by Alphonso Davies.

Musiala headed in the second goal in the 37th from close range.

Bundesliga leaders Bayern, who had lost in the second round in three of the last four German Cup competitions, struck twice more in first-half stoppage time through Leroy Sane and Musiala to kill off the tie.

The visitors took their foot off the gas after the break but Mainz still found no way past the Bayern defence.

Substitute Leon Goretzka thought he had scored another for Bayern with a glancing header but Mainz keeper Robin Zentner pulled off a sensational save to deny the midfielder.

Eintracht Frankfurt also advanced with a 2-1 victory over Borussia Moenchengladbach as did Werder Bremen following their 1-0 win over second division’s Paderborn.

Fellow Bundesliga club Union Berlin, however, crashed out of the competition after losing 2-0 at third-tier club Arminia Bielefeld.

Girona ease through in Spanish Cup as games postponed due to floods

Girona swept past fifth-division Club Deportivo Extremadura 4-0 to reach the Spanish Copa del Rey second round on Wednesday as several matches were postponed after flash floods swept the eastern region of Valencia, killing at least 95 people.

The games featuring Valencia, Levante, Manises, Jove Espanol and Hercules de Alicante have been rescheduled after authorities advised against all non-essential travel in the region.

A depleted Girona missing up to 13 players due to injuries had no problems beating lowly Extremadura thanks to a brace by Bojan Miovski and goals from Bryan Gil and Arnau Martinez.

Girona manager Michel had to call up seven academy players to the trip to Badajoz and even before Gil opened the scoring with a strike from the edge of the box in the 12th minute, he had more bad news as striker Arnaut Danjuma was forced out of the match with a leg injury.

Despite dominating proceedings, it was not until Miovski’s header in the 58th minute that Girona extended their lead and the Macedonian forward scored the third four minutes later before Martinez completed the rout from long range.

Earlier on Wednesday, former Leicester and Manchester City forward Kelechi Iheanacho scored twice to help LaLiga side Sevilla beat fifth division Las Rozas and Celta Vigo overcame UD San Pedro 5-1 also to advance.

Atletico Madrid travel to Barcelona to face UE Vic on Thursday.