Lazio had three players sent off as Noah Okafor’s late goal secured a 1-0 win for AC Milan in a chaotic match at the Stadio Olimpico.
Milan grabbed their first win in four matches, a run which has seen their already faint hopes of a title challenge completely fade away, when substitute Okafor finally broke the deadlock three minutes from time.
The match turned in their favour when Lazio’s Luca Pellegrini needlessly got himself sent off with over half an hour still to play.
Lazio lost their heads in stoppage time and finished with eight men after Adam Marusic and Matteo Guendouzi were also dismissed.
Lazio, who travel to Bayern Munich on Tuesday looking to protect their 1-0 lead from the first leg of their Champions League clash, were inches away from taking the lead after 10 minutes.
Felipe Anderson flicked on a Luis Alberto corner and Matias Vecino prodded the ball narrowly wide of the far post.
They were denied a penalty moments later when Milan goalkeeper Mike Maignan took a poor touch from a backpass and then wiped out Valentin Castellanos with his follow through, but nothing was given either on the field or in the VAR room.
Milan’s first chance arrived when former Roma right-back Alessandro Florenzi crossed for Olivier Giroud, but the Frenchman’s header was off target.
Giroud should have put the visitors ahead in first-half stoppage time after Christian Pulisic’s drive was pushed over the crossbar by Ivan Provedel.
Theo Hernandez swung in the corner, but Giroud’s header at the far post flew harmlessly over.
Lazio were reduced 10 men just before the hour when Pellegrini, who had been booked seven minutes earlier for a foul on Pulisic, was sent off for blatantly pulling back the former Chelsea man.
Moments later, Giroud played a one-two with Ruben Loftus-Cheek, but he could only hit his shot straight at Provedel.
Provedel showed great reactions to get a hand to a Loftus-Cheek volley, before the 10 men had a golden chance to go ahead when substitute Ciro Immobile somehow missed the target from four yards out.
Milan thought they had taken the lead with 13 minutes remaining when Rafael Leao fired home from a tight angle, but a lengthy VAR check ruled the effort out for offside.
The goal came after Provedel made another fine one-handed save to keep out Okafor’s initial drive.
But Lazio could not clear the loose ball and when it fell to Okafor again, the Switzerland international forward lashed it into the net.
The match ended in a farce with both Marusic and Guendouzi sent off at the death as Milan held on for a hard-earned victory.
Postecoglou: Spurs have a confidence problem to overcome
Ange Postecoglou says that Tottenham need to "overcome" their low confidence after suffering a 4-2 defeat to Liverpool on Sunday.
Spurs slipped to their fourth consecutive Premier League defeat, being left to bemoan their slow start as they found themselves 4-0 down by the hour mark thanks to goals from Mohamed Salah, Andrew Robertson, Cody Gakpo and Harvey Elliott.
Richarlison came off the bench to salvage some pride for Spurs, scoring one before setting up Son Heung-min for a goal on his 300th Premier League appearance.
Spurs had the opportunity to cut the gap to the top four after Aston Villa’s defeat to Brighton, but they remain seven points off a Champions League spot.
Postecoglou’s side still have a game in hand over the Villans, though he was sure that Spurs would be able to put their recent poor run behind them.
Asked if Spurs had a confidence problem, Postecoglou told Sky Sports: "Maybe in the front third there is.
"It probably is a bit of a lack of confidence, but again, that's something the guys have to work through.
"You have to find a way to overcome that because, ultimately, if you don't put pressure on the opposition in the front third after you've worked your way up there, they're going to get comfortable with their position."
Spurs have won just one of their last nine Premier League away games, failing to win any of the last five.
Despite that run extending at Anfield, Postecoglou highlighted what he thought was an improvement on their recent performances.
He continued: "Obviously a hugely disappointing outcome for us but at least we were more like ourselves today in terms of our football.
"Our last two away games at Newcastle and Chelsea, apart from the results which weren't great either, we just didn't try and play our football.
"I thought today, even in the first half, some of our football, our pressing was back to where it should be."
Roma 1-1 Juventus: Juve miss chance to close gap to second after draw with Roma
Juventus were held to a 1-1 draw at Roma on Sunday, missing the chance to close in on Milan in second place in Serie A.
Roma took the lead after 15 minutes when Romelu Lukaku found himself in the perfect position to tap in the rebound from a Bryan Cristante shot.
Bremer levelled with a header for Juventus just after the half-hour mark when Federico Chiesa picked him out inside the box from a corner.
Both sides had chances to find a winner in the final minutes, with Roma keeper Mile Svilar making a fingertip save to push Manuel Locatelli's volley over the bar.
Third-placed Juventus have 66 points, five fewer than Milan, who drew 3-3 with Genoa earlier on Sunday. Roma are fifth with 60 points.
Data Debrief: Leading from the back
Since scoring his first Serie A goal in the 2019-20 season, Bremer is the defender with the most headed goals in the Big-5 European leagues, netting 13 in total. Each of his last seven goals have been headers.
His goal was enough to earn Juventus a point today, but it means that they have drawn each of their last four in the competition - a first since February-March 2012 under Antonio Conte.
Chelsea 8-0 Bristol City: Blues rout hands Hayes perfect home send off
Guro Reiten starred as Chelsea thrashed already-relegated Bristol City 8-0 to keep their title hopes alive in the Women's Super League on Sunday.
The Norwegian scored four goals, netting the opener from the penalty spot to get Emma Hayes' last home game in charge off to the best start.
She scored the other three in the second half in just over 20 minutes, while teeing up Agnes Beever-Jones for the seventh goal with just two minutes left.
Beever-Jones got two, with Sjoeke Nusken and Niamh Charles also adding to the scoreline to eradicate the goal-difference advantage that Manchester City, who lost to Arsenal earlier on Sunday, had over them.
Chelsea move to within three points of the Citizens, with a game in hand over them, remaining in the fight to lift their fifth-consecutive league title.
Data Debrief:
Chelsea have scored eight goals in a game for the first time since December 2022 against Leicester City, a match they also won 8-0.
The Blues have scored in their last six games in the WSL, though it does not come close to their longest run of games with a goal in the competition - a run of 20 from April 2023 to February 2024.
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