LONDON, Oct 19: Ahead of their Champions League match with Olympique Marseille, Napoli lost their unbeaten Serie A record in a 2-0 defeat to AS Roma on Friday while their Tuesday’s opponents lost 1-0 to Nice in Ligue 1.

Fellow Champions League combatants Bayer Leverkusen, meanwhile, went top of the Bundesliga in extraordinary circumstances after a “ghost goal” allowed them to beat Hoffenheim 2-1.

Napoli and Marseille, who face off in Group ‘F’ of Europe’s premier club competition, were both undone by two players in inspirational form after leading their respective countries to qualify for next year’s World Cup earlier in the week.

Three days after helping Bosnia qualify for their first World Cup with a 1-0 win over Lithuania, Miralem Pjanic scored twice to help Roma make it eight wins in as many games and extend their lead in Italy’s Serie A to five points.

The midfielder scored a majestic free kick that went over Napoli’s wall before dipping down into the top corner four minutes into first-half added time before adding a penalty in the 71st after Napoli defender Paolo Cannavaro saw red for a clumsy challenge on Marco Borriello.

“We had a couple of good chances in the first-half and I think if we had converted them, we would have seen a different game,” said Napoli coach Rafael Benitez. “We reacted well in the second half but the penalty and sending off changed the course of the game.”

Roma now sit top with a maximum 24 points from eight games with Napoli, conceding their first defeat of the season, losing second place to Juventus, who visit Fiorentina on Sunday. Roma matched Juventus, who also won eight consecutive matches to start the 1985-86 and 1930-31 seasons.

In France, Colombian goalkeeper David Ospina shrugged off his World Cup jet lag to star in Nice’s victory over Cote d’Azur rivals Marseille which sent them level on points with third-place Lille in Ligue 1.

Ospina, who played in Tuesday’s 2-1 World Cup qualifying win over Paraguay in Asuncion, pulled off a string of fine saves after Dario Cvitanich scored the winning goal from a tight angle in the 40th minute.

Marseille remain fourth, ahead of Nice on goal difference.

“We could have been more accurate at times but Ospina had a great game,” Marseille coach Elie Baup said. “I don’t blame my players. They tried everything in the second half to come back.”

Leverkusen snatched top spot in the Bundesliga after being awarded a goal when Stefan Kiessling’s header clearly went into the side-netting.Television replays showed that Kiessling’s 70th minute effort missed the target and entered the net through a hole for a so-called “phantom goal” to put his side 2-0 ahead.

The Leverkusen forward initially put his hands on his head and looked confused when referee Felix Brych awarded the goal despite the angry protests of Hoffenheim, who were already trailing 1-0 at the time to Sidney Sam’s 26th minute opener.

After Kiessling’s controversial goal, Hoffenheim’s sense of injustice deepened further when Leverkusen goalkeeper Bernd Leno saved a Roberto Firmino penalty in the 83rd minute. Sven Schipplock headed home a consolation for Hoffenheim with two minutes remaining.

“It’s a scandal. That was no goal, there are no two ways about it. We are definitely going to protest,” Hoffenheim’s managing director Alexander Rosen said.

Nevertheless, Leverkusen’s seventh Bundesliga win of the season which moved them to 22 points, provisionally two clear of Bayern Munich, gave the team a timely boost ahead of their Champions League clash with Shakhtar Donetsk on Wednesday.

Elsewhere, first-half goals from midfielder Roman Shirokov and Brazil forward Hulk gave Russian league leaders Zenit St Petersburg a 2-0 home win over champions CSKA Moscow and put them eight points clear at the top.

Zenit have 32 points from 13 games followed by Moscow’s cross-town rivals Lokomotiv and Spartak on 24 points each from 12 matches. CSKA are fifth with 21 points from 13 matches.

The outcome left Russia’s traditional rivals in contrasting moods ahead of their Champions League fixtures next week, with Zenit away to twice former winners Porto on Tuesday and CSKA at home to Manchester City on Wednesday.—Agencies