Former St Patrick's Athletic defender James Abankwah made his Serie A debut on Sunday as both he and fellow Republic of Ireland underage international Festy Ebosele were involved for Udinese in their 3-0 defeat at Bologna.
Waterford-born Abankwah joined the Italian top flight side from St Pat's last year after a season-and-a-half at first-team level in the SSE Airtricity League Premier Division which also saw him win an FAI Cup winner's medal in November 2021.
While included in Udinese's matchday squads for all but two of their Serie A matches this season, his only minutes to date had been for the club's U19 primavera side.
But with four minutes to go and trailing by three goals at Bologna, Abankwah was brought on by his manager Andrea Sottil at the Stadio Renato Dall'Ara.
Ireland U21 wing-back Ebosele started the match for Udinese but was replaced at the interval.
The Wexford native, who moved to Serie A last summer from Derby County, has made 10 appearances for the club from Italy's north east.
Bologna's goals were scored by Stefan Posch, Nikola Moro and Musa Barrow.
In the upper reaches of the table, AC Milan striker Rafael Leao netted twice to give his side a superb 4-0 away victory over leaders Napoli, moving Stefano Pioli's side up to third place in the standings.
The visitors went ahead after 17 minutes when Brahim Diaz sent a through ball to Leao who took a touch and chipped it elegantly over Napoli goalkeeper Alex Meret.
Diaz doubled the lead eight minutes later when he received a cross inside the box, threw a dummy that left Napoli defender Mario Rui stranded and sent the ball into the net with a deflection.
Milan effectively ended the match 14 minutes into the second half when Leao ran into the box, twisted and turned past three Napoli defenders and lashed his shot in.
Alexis Saelemaekers scored a fourth after 67 minutes with a solo effort in which he went past four defenders before putting the ball through Meret's legs.
Napoli remain 16 points clear at the top despite the heavy defeat. Milan have 51 points, one ahead of fourth-placed Inter Milan, and are four behind second-placed Lazio, who won 2-0 at Monza through goals from Pedro and Sergej Milinkovic-Savic.
Maurizio Sarri's side seized the opportunity to strengthen their grip on second place ahead of the Milan clubs.
AS Roma beat Sampdoria 3-0 at a rainy Stadio Olimpico on Sunday to move into fourth place thanks second-half goals from Georginio Wijnaldum, Paulo Dybala and Stephan El Shaarawy.
Roma have 50 points, the same as Inter but behind on head-to-head and goal difference.
Seven minutes after the break, Sampdoria were reduced to 10 men after defender Jeison Murillo received a second yellow for a late tackle on Tammy Abraham.
After a poor start with few opportunities, Roma's Wijnaldum thought he had broken the deadlock, only to see his angled strike bounce off the post nine minutes before the interval.
But the former Liverpool midfielder scored his second league goal of the season in the 57th minute with an easy header.
Dybala converted penalty a minute before time after Ravaglia fouled Wijnaldum and El Shaarawy scored the third for the hosts four minutes into stoppage time.
The defeat leaves the Genoa club second-bottom with 15 points from 28 matches, 10 points adrift of safety.
In La Liga, Karim Benzema scored three goals in seven first-half minutes as Real Madrid thrashed Real Valladolid 6-0 to cut Barcelona's lead down to 12 points.
The hat-trick moved Benzema up to 14 league goals this season and second on the list of top scorers - three behind Barca's Robert Lewandowski.
Rodrygo's opener from a smooth counter-attack after 22 minutes opened the flood gates as Benzema took charge at the Santiago Bernabeu, netting a first half hat-trick for Real Madrid for the first time in his career.
Benzema scored his first with a diving header from a Vinicius Jr cross while narrowly avoiding a collision with the far post and the Brazilian also created the second with a simple pass for the French striker to score from the edge of the box.
The 35-year-old completed his hat-trick when he adjusted his run into the six-yard box to turn on the spot and scoop a Rodrygo cross that was behind him to score while his back was towards goal.
Rodrygo claimed another assist in the second half when Marco Asensio played a one-two pass with the Brazilian forward before firing home and Eden Hazard created the final goal as he pinched the ball from a loose pass and found Lucas Vazquez.
Valladolid, who fell to a second straight La Liga defeat, are 16th, a point above the relegation zone.
A late goal from Angel Correa earned Atletico Madrid a fourth straight win as they beat Real Betis 1-0, extending their unbeaten streak in La Liga to 11 games.
Diego Simeone's side are third on 54 points, six ahead of Real Sociedad and five behind Real Madrid, close to securing Champions League football next season. Betis are fifth on 45 points.
Correa came off the bench and scored the winner five minutes from the end with a brilliant run, leaving several defenders in his wake, to shoot from the middle of the box into the bottom left corner for his sixth league goal of the season.
Ireland wing-back Matt Doherty was an unused sub for Atletico.
In France, Paris Saint-Germain's title march towards the Ligue 1 title suffered another setback when they suffered a 1-0 home defeat by Olympique Lyonnais on Sunday.
The capital side, who only have the league to salvage a disappointing season after being knocked out of the French Cup and the Champions League, fell victim of Bradley Barcola's second half goal and were left on 66 points from 29 games.
They lead second-placed RC Lens, who beat Stade Rennais 1-0 away on Saturday, by six points with third-placed Olympique de Marseille also on 60 points after a 1-1 draw with Montpellier on Friday.
Earlier on Sunday, fourth-placed Monaco moved within three points of Marseille after a spectacular 4-3 home victory against Racing Strasbourg.
Additional reporting: Reuters
