Tottenham Hotspur held Monaco to a 1-1 draw in the Europa League on Thursday night, while Serie A leaders Fiorentina claimed a big win:
– Tottenham Hotspur came within nine minutes of beating last season’s Champions League quarter-finalists Monaco on a rainy night in the principality before Stephan El Shaarawy scored to secure a 1-1 draw for the home side. Spurs, showing three changes to the team that beat Manchester City 4-1 in the Premier League last weekend, came close through Nacer Chadli before opening the scoring 10 minutes prior to the interval. Chadli set up Dele Alli, who was denied by Danijel Subasic. However, the ball ricocheted kindly into the path of Erik Lamela, who was left with a simple tap-in. Fabio Coentrao and Lacina Traore both passed up fine chances to equalise for the home side before the break at the Stade Louis II, and Monaco eventually hit back in the 81st minute. Nabil Dirar crossed from the right for fellow substitute El Shaarawy, the on-loan AC Milan forward getting up above Kieran Trippier to head in. Hugo Lloris then saved an awkward strike by Dirar to make sure Tottenham left with a point that leaves them top of Group J ahead of Qarabag, who beat Anderlecht 1-0 in Azerbaijan in the night’s other game.
– Serie A leaders Fiorentina picked up where they left off in beating Inter Milan 4-1 at the weekend as they defeated Belenenses 4-0 in Portugal in Group I. La Viola coach Paulo Sousa made eight changes to his side, with weekend hat-trick hero Nikola Kalinic among those dropping out. But Federico Bernardeschi and Khouma Boubacar scored to put Fiorentina 2-0 up before the break in Lisbon. A Tonel own goal made it three before Giuseppe Rossi scored his first goal since May last year after injury to clinch the win. Fiorentina are second in their group, three points behind Basel, who beat Lech Poznan 2-0 in Switzerland. And Fiorentina were not the only Italian winners, with Lazio coming from behind to beat nine-man Saint-Etienne 3-2 in Rome in Group G.
– Argentine striker Franco Di Santo has not yet scored in the Bundesliga for Schalke 04 since signing from Werder Bremen in the summer, but he bagged a hat-trick to lead the Royal Blues to a 4-0 win over Asteras Tripolis of Greece in Gelsenkirchen in Group K. Di Santo, who had never previously scored a professional hat-trick, got all his goals before the interval with the third coming from the penalty spot. Klaas-Jan Huntelaar added the fourth goal in the second half. Schalke now have six points from a possible six, having beaten APOEL 3-0 in Cyprus in their first group game. APOEL lost 2-0 to Sparta Prague in the night’s other match.