European Football: Milan's mastery hit by injury

Panamanian, Julio Dely Valdez, struck a spectacular equaliser as Cagliari held the Serie A champions Milan to a 1-1 draw in Sardinia yesterday. Ruud Gullit gave a Milan side depleted by injury a 12th- minute lead, but in the 35th minute Dely Valdez acrobatically volleyed the ball into the roof of the net from just inside the penalty area.

Milan, already without their influential midfielder Dejan Savicevic and defender Paolo Maldini, lost Alessandro Costacurta to injury. Milan's dropped points mark only the second time since October 1991 that they have not had at least a share of the lead in the First Division.

The Lazio striker, Giuseppe Signori, and Parma's Faustino Asprilla both scored twice in their teams'

3-0 wins over Torino and Padova respectively to lift them to the top of the league. Sampdoria also maintained a 100 per cent start by virtue of two late goals from Roberto Mancini and Attilo Lombardo which earned them a 2- 0 win at Reggiana, while Juventus beat Bari by the same margin thanks to goals from Gianluca Vialli and Jurgen Kohler.

Parma, Lazio and Sampdoria head the league with maximum points from two games.

In Spain, Barcelona recorded their first victory of the season on Saturday when a Ronald Koeman penalty gave them a 2-1 home win against Racing Santander. The game also saw Jordi Cruyff, son of the Barca coach Johann, scoring on his First Division debut. The Chilean striker Ivan Zamorano scored twice to give Real Madrid a 2-0 victory at home against lowly Logrones.

In the second round of the German Cup, the upsets continue. Second Division Wolfsburg dumped Eintracht Frankfurt, of the Bundesliga, out of the competition.

Frankfurt's early exit mean they joined champions Bayern Munich, put out in the first round by the amateurs of Vestenbergsgreuth, and Cup holders Werder Bremen, beaten in the first round by Bayern's amateur side. And, to round off a day of giant- killing, Fortuna Cologne of the Second Division beat Bochum of the First 2-1.