Manchester United striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic had a penalty saved and was fortunate to avoid a red card in an incident-filled 1-1 draw against 10-man Bournemouth on Saturday, the latest Premier league setback at Old Trafford for Jose Mourinho's team.
A week after winning the league Cup for United with a double against Southampton at Wembley Stadium, Ibrahimovic endured a frustrating return to league action by seeing his 72nd-minute penalty clawed away by Artur Boruc.
The Swedish striker was involved in many of the flashpoints in a thrilling game, notably when he elbowed Tyrone Mings in the head moments after the defender appeared to tread on the face of Ibrahimovic late in the first half. The referee missed both incidents and the two players could face retrospective action by the English Football Association.
As part of the same incident, Andrew Surman was sent off for collecting a second yellow card for pushing Ibrahimovic in an angry reaction to the striker's challenge on Mings.
Earlier, Marcos Rojo's first Premier league goal, in the 23rd minute, was canceled out by former United player Josh King's penalty in the 40th after Phil Jones fouled Marc Pugh. That was Bournemouth's only shot on target.
It was a 10th league draw of the season for United, which was seeking a victory to climb from sixth place - the position where Mourinho's team has been for the past few months as it recovers from a poor start to the campaign.
United has now drawn at home to Stoke, Burnley, Hull and Bournemouth. "What happened was that we played phenomenal in the first half and should have been winning 3-0 or 4-0 - then it ended up 1-1," Mourinho said.
"In the second half, we played different team with a man less. I understand their need for one point in the survival battle and they just defended to make it difficult for us ... We felt pressure of the clock running down and lost the quality of our attacking football."
United is on 49 points, the same as fifth-placed liverpool.
Napoli beat Roma 2-1
milan: Napoli got back on track by beating nearest rival Roma 2-1, leaving Serie A leader Juventus with the biggest smile on Saturday.
Napoli remained third but closed the gap to second-placed Roma to two points.
Juventus can stretch its advantage to 10 points with a win at struggling Udinese on Sunday.
Napoli was all but out of the Champions league and Italian Cup after 3-1 defeats to Real Madrid and Juventus in the first legs. Alongside a home loss to Atalanta last weekend, Napoli's season threatened to implode.
The match with Roma was billed not only as a fight for an automatic Champions league spot, but also a fight between two contendors for league top-scorer: Dries Mertens and Edin Dzeko.
Mertens came out on top with two goals.
He broke the deadlock in the first half, springing the offside trap to run onto a delightful through ball from Marek Hamsik and dink it over Roma goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny.
Mertens celebrated in unusual fashion, by getting down on all fours, cocking his leg, and pretending to urinate on the corner flag.
A second score before halftime was ruled out for his push on Federico Fazio. His second came five minutes after the break, when he rushed in at the back post to tap in lorenzo Inisgne's cross.
His 18th league goal moved him within one of Dzeko, Torino's Andrea Belotti, and Juventus forward — and former Napoli star — Gonzalo Higuain.