Lamine Yamal struck twice for Barcelona as they demolished Valencia 5-0 on Sunday to maintain their 100% start in La Liga.
The reigning champions moved three points clear at the top of La Liga after Jose Mourinho’s Real Madrid lost 1-0 at Real Betis on Friday. Fermín López, Raphinha and Pedri were also on target for Hansi Flick’s swaggering visitors on a hot afternoon on Spain’s east coast.
Barcelona, the only team in the top flight to win their first four games, took control from the start to the upset of Valencia’s fans at a persistently bad-tempered Mestalla stadium.
“We played a fantastic game, it was nearly perfect, we controlled, we were dominant and this is what I want from the team,” said Flick. “We stay calm and then if it’s possible to score we try to do it – it was a fantastic game for us. Nothing is perfect, you always can improve. If it’s perfect then you can stop working.”
Lamine Yamal opened the scoring with a clever lofted finish in the sixth minute after Fermín dinked a superb ball over the top for the teenage star. Fermín netted the second with a crisp finish in the 22nd minute after the former Newcastle winger Anthony Gordon teed him up. Barcelona suffered a blow when Eric García had to go off hurt midway through the first half after a collision with teammate Rodri’s shoulder, on the midfielder’s first start since arriving this summer from Manchester City.
Raphinha, starting again as the team’s centre-forward, tapped home his sixth goal of the season from close range after Fermín fed him. The Valencia goalkeeper, Stole Dimitrievski, saved from Rodri before Pedri netted Barcelona’s fourth after an exchange of passes with Dani Olmo. Gabriel Jesus came on for his Barça debut as a substitute in the final 10 minutes and sent a low effort just wide. Lamine Yamal stayed onside to collect another Olmo pass and put away Barça’s fifth.
In Serie A, Ruben Amorim’s Milan were pegged back by a 92nd-minute equaliser from Juventus in a 1-1 draw in Turin on Sunday. Teenage sensation Alphadjo Cisse had given Milan the lead but the Juve centre-back Federico Gatti came off the bench to head home and earn a share of the spoils in stoppage time.
Milan took the lead on 69 minutes with a superb finish from Cisse, who controlled Samuel Chukwueze’s crossfield pass with a deft touch in the box. The 19-year-old showed quick feet to create space to shoot and fired the ball low into the far corner, adding to his debut goal away at Torino on the opening day. But the visitors could not hold on and when Teun Koopmeiners delivered a cross from the left, Gatti rose highest to score with a powerful header.
The draw leaves both sides on seven points from their opening three games, with Milan fourth on the table, ahead of fifth-placed Juve on goals scored.
Giorgi Kvernadze scored a winner seven minutes from the end to secure all three points for Frosinone at home to Venezia after the latter had rallied from two goals down but went home with nothing. Bologna twice came from behind to secure a 2-2 draw at home to Sassuolo, a game that ended with the hosts’ head coach Domenico Tedesco receiving a red card. Artem Dovbyk netted his first goal for the home side to equalise in stoppage time.
The English 19-year-old Jay Robinson gave Monza a 1-0 lead in the first half at Parma, but 18-year-old Simone Lontani equalised on the hour-mark, with the game finishing 1-1. For both players it was their first Serie A goals, and for both clubs their first point of the campaign. Forward Robinson is on loan at Monza from Southampton.
Meanwhile, Ronald Koeman Jr, the goalkeeper son of the former Netherlands player and manager Ronald Koeman, scored two penalties for Dutch side Telstar to rescue a point in their Eredivisie match with Cambuur. His second spot-kick was converted in the 11th minute of added time.
Koeman Jr, 31, converted his first penalty on 63 minutes before his ice-cool equaliser. He previously scored from the spot at the end of last season to ensure his side avoided relegation from the Dutch top flight.
after newsletter promotion
In Germany, Mainz ignited their Bundesliga season with a thumping 5-0 win over hapless Hamburg, while Augsburg climbed to the top of the table following a 4-1 win at Eintracht Frankfurt on Sunday.
Mainz took the lead on 19 minutes as Sheraldo Becker was played in on goal by Kaishu Sano and picked out the bottom corner. Becker then turned provider as his low cross was converted at the back post by Phillipp Mwene for a 2-0 half-time lead.
Becker was again involved with the next goal as he set up Phillip Tietz to bundle the ball home. Tietz then added a fourth as he beat Heuer Fernandes, before Ransford-Yeboah Königsdörffer punished his former employers with a fifth.
Augsburg have a haul of six points following their excellent win at Frankfurt, where they had to come from behind, having trailed 1-0 at half-time. Jonathan Burkardt headed the home side in front inside six minutes.
Arijon Ibrahimovic headed in at the back post on debut inside the first minute of the re-start for the equaliser. Within a minute, Augsburg were 2-1 ahead as the ball fell to Robin Fellhauer in the box and he converted to turn the game on its head. Alexis Claude-Maurice and Fabian Rieder added further goals
Augsburg lead the Bundesliga on goal difference ahead of Freiburg, Borussia Dortmund and Elversberg, who all have two wins from two.
Leave a Reply