Ferran Torres scored twice as Barcelona cruised to a comfortable 3-0 victory against Getafe on Sunday, with Dani Olmo adding the third goal and an assist in another impressive display by Hansi Flick’s side.
The win keeps the unbeaten Catalan side second in La Liga on 13 points, trailing the leaders Real Madrid by two points after Los Blancos maintained their flawless record with five wins from five matches after defeating Espanyol on Saturday.
Torres opened the scoring after 15 minutes with a brilliant team move, firing past David Soria after Olmo’s clever back-heel set him up perfectly.
The Spanish forward doubled the advantage in the 34th minute, beating the offside trap from Raphinha’s through ball before delivering a tidy finish just inside the left post.
Olmo wrapped up the scoring in the 63rd minute with a first-time finish from just inside the box after Marcus Rashford’s perfectly timed cross. Barcelona’s next test will be an away trip to face Real Oviedo on Thursday, while eighth-placed Getafe will host Alaves on Wednesday.
Atlético Madrid’s struggles in La Liga persisted as they were held to a dramatic 1-1 draw by Mallorca on Sunday, with the goalkeeper Leo Román delivering an outstanding performance before Vedat Muriqi’s late header cancelled out Conor Gallagher’s opener.
The result left Diego Simeone’s side languishing in 12th place with six points from five matches, while Mallorca are 19th with two points.
Román was pivotal for Mallorca, frustrating Atlético throughout the match with a series of remarkable saves. His performance included denying Julián Alvarez from the penalty spot early in the first half.
Atlético’s frustrations mounted when Alexander Sørloth received a straight red card in the 72nd minute for a studs-up challenge on Antonio Raillo, leaving the visitors to play the final 18 minutes a man down.
Atlético finally found a way through in the 79th minute. Gallagher was quickest to react after Román parried Marcos Llorente’s low effort across goal, slotting home to give the visitors the lead. But their celebrations proved short-lived. In the 85th minute the 19-year-old Jan Virgili, on as a substitute, whipped in a cross that caught Atlético’s defence napping, allowing Muriqi to head past Jan Oblak at the far post.
Inter kick-started their Serie A campaign with a 2-1 home win against Sassuolo on Sunday, in a game where the hosts wasted plenty of opportunities and conceded a late goal but held on to earn the much-needed three points.
Federico Dimarco gave Inter a 14th-minute lead but, despite creating a host of chances, they had to wait for Carlos Augusto’s deflected goal nine minutes from time to go 2-0 up, with Walid Cheddira’s strike in the 84th minute making for a nervy ending.
Inter are 10th in the Serie A standings on six points after four games, four off the leaders Juventus, while second-placed Napoli have nine points and host Pisa on Monday. The promoted side Sassuolo remain on three points.
Stripped of the captaincy, his contract nearing expiration without a renewal proposal, and after zero minutes played in the opening three matches, nothing seemed to be going Lorenzo Pellegrini’s way. Until the Rome derby. The Roman-born midfielder cast aside all the issues surrounding him and scored the decisive goal for Roma in a 1-0 win against Lazio in Serie A on Sunday.
The midfielder was perfectly positioned to strike when the chance came his way in the 38th minute. Devyne Rensch did well to strip the ball from Lazio’s left-back Nuno Tavares and rolled it across to the former captain, stationed in the centre of the area, to fire home, prompting Roma’s end of the Stadio Olimpico to erupt with smoke bombs.
after newsletter promotion
A tempestuous match finished with Lazio having only 10 men after Reda Belahyane was shown a straight red card for a foul on Manu Koné in the 88th minute. Still, Lazio kept on threatening and Danilo Cataldi hit the post in stoppage time. The fireworks continued after the full-time whistle with Lazio’s Mattéo Guendouzi also shown a red card for dissent as the teams headed back to the dressing rooms.
In France, Le Classique between Marseille and Paris Saint-Germain has been postponed. Ligue 1 confirmed the news ahead of the scheduled evening kick-off in the anticipation of a major storm in the south of France.
The match has been rearranged for Monday evening, which clashes directly with the Ballon d’Or ceremony in Paris, where many PSG players and the club’s manager – Luis Enrique – are nominated for awards.
Borussia Dortmund carved out a 1-0 victory against the visiting Wolfsburg thanks to Karim Adeyemi’s first-half missile to climb into second place in the Bundesliga. Dortmund, fresh from their midweek. Champions League 4-4 draw at Juventus, stretched their unbeaten league run to 12 matches, including last season. They have 10 points, two behind Bayern Munich.
Dortmund secured the three points after Adeyemi, who also scored against Juve, unleashed a ferocious shot that hit a speed of 125km/h. Maximilian Beier came close to a second goal in the 34th but his header was narrowly off the mark.
Haris Tabakovic snatched Borussia Mönchengladbach’s first goal of the season with a stoppage-time equaliser that secured a 1-1 draw at Bayer Leverkusen. Tabakovic headed in deep in stoppage time to cancel out Malik Tillman’s 70th-minute goal for the hosts.
Gladbach, who sacked Gerardo Seoane as coach on Monday after their worst start in 34 years following three league games without scoring a goal, had Eugen Polanski in the dugout as interim coach.
Leverkusen scored in the 70th minute when Tillman tapped in from 10 yards. With time running out Tabakovic rose high to connect with Charles Herrmann’s corner for the equaliser that left Leverkusen in 12th place on five points. Gladbach, who are without a league win in their past 11 matches, including last season, are 17th on two points.