La Liga, German derby and Serie A results; Suarez best October

Suarez receives first award in La Liga this season

An excellent performance last October helped striker Luis Suarez win La Liga's Player of the Month award.

In October, Suarez played 3 matches and scored 4 goals, including a hat-trick to help Barcelona crush Real Madrid at the Nou Camp. The remaining goal was scored against Sevilla, helping the Catalan giants crush their opponents 4-2.

This is the third time in Suarez's career that he has received this award in La Liga. The previous two times were in May 2016 and December 2017. Currently, Suarez is leading the list of top scorers in La Liga 2018/19 with 9 goals.

MU goes all out with De Gea

De Gea, MU's best player in 4 of the last 5 seasons, is out of contract with the Red Devils at the end of this season. However, the Old Trafford team has not yet activated the automatic 12-month extension clause.

MU tried to negotiate to keep De Gea, instead of rushing to activate the automatic 12-month extension clause.

MU still decided not to activate the automatic 12-month extension clause, even though in theory they could "lose" De Gea for free at the end of the season, when he is free to leave.

The underlying reason is that if MU activates the above clause, it would be like revealing a weakness to their opponents, especially Juventus - the team that is eyeing De Gea. Seeing that the Red Devils have failed to negotiate with De Gea, they will of course jump in to lure him.

MU set a limit until the end of the year, successfully extended De Gea's contract, with the salary becoming the second highest in the club. In case of failure, they will be forced to activate the 12-month extension clause.

Atletico move up to second in La Liga, just one point behind Barca

Atletico beat Bilbao 3-2 and with 23 points Atletico moved up from fourth to second place.

Bilbao surprisingly played better than Atletico in the first half. After opening the scoring in the 36th minute, striker Inaki Williams almost doubled the gap with a diagonal shot from an empty position in the penalty area.

The resilient fighting spirit helped Atletico successfully reverse the situation. Photo:Reuters

Atletico only showed signs of improvement midway through the second half, after Thomas Partey's long-range strike levelled the score at 1-1. Bilbao took the lead for a second time through Inaki Williams' one-on-one finish, but the home side quickly levelled the score at 2-2 thanks to a header from Rodri.

Atletico kept attacking until the referee blew the final whistle, winning three points in the first minute of extra time. Captain Diego Godin scored the decisive goal with a close-range header after an assist from Antoine Griezmann.

Bayern regrets, Dortmund admits lucky win

Coach Niko Kovac is still very satisfied with the performance of Bayern Munich players, despite their 2-3 loss to Dortmund in the German derby last night.

In the first leg of Der Klassiker 2018/19 between Dortmund and Bayern, striker Robert Lewandowski shined with a double against his former team Dortmund. However, captain Marco Reus of the home team at Signa Iduna Park also knew how to make his mark, scoring two consecutive equalizers for his team.

Speaking after the match, Bayern coach Kovac refused to criticize his players for the defeat. He stressed that this was a great German derby.

Unfortunately, we lost the game, although it deserved a draw. You can be happy with the team's performance. It was the best game since Schalke: enthusiasm, fighting spirit and very good tactics, especially in the first half. We have to maintain this more in the future," said the Croatian strategist.

As for Dortmund coach Lucien Favre, he was very happy with this victory, but also admitted that his team won by luck: "It was a crazy match. Bayern were very strong in the first half. They clearly overwhelmed us, had many chances and we couldn't keep the ball. If we had the ball, it would have been lost immediately."

Napoli up to second place

In Saturday's match of round 12 of Serie A, Napoli beat Genoa 2-1 to temporarily surpass Inter Milan to take second place and close in on the top team Juventus.

Napoli attacked fiercely from the start of the match, but the home team Genoa was not easy to bully, always giving and receiving. In the 20th minute, after a corner kick, Romulo sent the ball in and striker Christian Kouame jumped high to head the ball into the net of Napoli goalkeeper Ospina.

Entering the second half, coach Carlo Ancelotti made two changes. Dries Mertens came on for Arkadius Milik and Fabian Ruiz replaced Piotr Zielinski. These changes immediately had an effect when Fabian Ruiz scored after Mertens' assist.

Napoli continued to attack strongly but had to wait until the 86th minute for their second goal, an own goal from Genoa defender Davide Biraschi. With 3 points from this match, Napoli temporarily surpassed Inter to take second place and are only 3 points behind leaders Juventus.

In the same match, SPAL held Cagliari to a 2-2 draw at home. Before that, Frosinone also held Fiorentina to a 1-1 draw, while Parma won 2-1 against Torino on their home field.