League leaders were marking 125 years since forming but defiant and in-form visitors got in the way of celebrations Barcelona left the party early, their birthday also belonging to those who travelled the furthest to be there. There was music, candles and a cake, a piano, five presidents and Pep Guardiola singing on the screen, or lip-syncing at least, but by the time the club’s 125th-anniversary celebrations closed at the Liceu theatre on Friday night there were no first-team players. A little after half past nine, two hours into their grand gala on the Ramblas, a figure appeared in the shado ..read more

Leaders slip to surprise 2-1 defeat at home in La Liga Hosts had introduced new mascot to mark anniversary Barcelona suffered their first home defeat of the season as Las Palmas stunned the Spanish league leaders 2-1 at the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys. Barcelona have played superbly in the first three months under Hansi Flick. Coming into the visit of Las Palmas, Barça were flying high after convincing victories over Real Madrid in La Liga and Bayern Munich in the Champions League, winning all eight home games to start the campaign. But Flick’s side have now gone three La Liga rounds witho ..read more

Two big names had a shaky week, while Milan have found their Mr Reliable. We hand out honours (and dishonours) from the latest round of action VFB Stuttgart: In last season’s Bundesliga it was Stuttgart rather than Bayern Munich who came second to the unbeaten champions Bayer Leverkusen. Following that up this season has proved tough for Sebastian Hoeness’s team, who lie 10th in the German league. On Tuesday night in Turin they dominated Juventus, who put in their worst performance yet under Thiago Motta, and were reduced to 10 men after Danilo’s red card. Deniz Undav’s first-half screamer for ..read more

PSG outside playoff places after 1-0 defeat by Bayern Munich Inter top after beating Leipzig; Barcelona best Brest 3-0 Bayern Munich battled past 10-man Paris Saint-Germain 1-0, thanks to Kim Min-jae’s winner, to improve their chances of automatic qualification and leave the visitors in trouble after a third defeat in the competition. With PSG’s only win so far coming against Girona in their opener they were desperate for points, but Bayern struck first with South Korea’s Kim heading home from close range after the goalkeeper Matvei Safonov fluffed a corner in the 38th minute ..read more

Barça blow two-goal lead after Marc Casadó is sent off Simeone wins 700th game at Atléti; Inter 5-0 Verona Celta Vigo fought back with two late goals in quick succession to hold Barcelona to an-action-packed 2-2 draw. It looked as though Barça were cruising towards victory after the La Liga leaders opened a two-goal lead thanks to strikes by Raphinha in the first half and by Robert Lewandowski after an hour’s play, but the script changed when Marc Casadó was sent off due to a second yellow card for a foul in the 82nd minute. With Barcelona down to 10 men, the home side piled on the pressure ..read more

No major European league has staged match in US Javier Tebas keen on revisiting plan in 2025-26 season La Liga has dropped plans to host next month’s fixture between Barcelona and Atlético Madrid in the United States, although the Spanish top flight still intends to host domestic games abroad in future. Miami had been earmarked as the venue for the match, a home fixture for Barcelona, on 22 December in a move that would have sparked significant controversy. No major European league has staged a competitive game in the US although the idea has become normalised in some circles as clubs chase ..read more

Barça, PSG and Bayern feature prominently in team picked using WhoScored’s ratings across Europe’s top five leagues By Ben McAleer for WhoScored Goalkeeper: After a year out, De Gea returned to action with Fiorentina and he hasn’t disappointed. The former Manchester United player has kept four clean sheets in his league nine appearances, is averaging a respectable 3.2 saves a game and is the only goalkeeper in Serie A to have registered an assist. Fiorentina are a point off top spot and have the division’s joint third-best defensive record having shipped 10 goals, with De Gea key to their flyi ..read more

Roma sack coach Ivan Juric after just 12 games in charge Scott McTominay scores as Napoli hold Inter 1-1 Barcelona suffered a shock 1-0 La Liga defeat at Real Sociedad on Sunday that ended their seven-match winning streak in all competitions as Sheraldo Becker scored for the Basque side in the first half. It was also notable as it was the first time since September 2014 that Barça had failed to get a shot on target in a league game. The league leaders got their first taste of defeat in over a month and only their second in their domestic season after they were dominated throughout the match ..read more

Barcelona hit five at Red Star Belgrade Brest and Atalanta continue superb starts Paris Saint-Germain’s disappointing Champions League campaign continued on Wednesday as they slumped to a last-gasp 2-1 home defeat by Atlético Madrid that left the Ligue 1 leaders in the elimination zone. Warren Zaïre-Emery’s opener was quickly cancelled out by Nahuel Molina in the first half of a largely disappointing match which ended with Ángel Correa stabbing in the winner three minutes into added time ..read more

Barça extend La Liga lead with derby win over Espanyol Ademola Lookman shines as Atalanta beat Napoli 3-0 The Atlético Madrid coach, Diego Simeone, praised his son Giuliano after the 21-year-old scored his first goal for the club in a 2-0 win over Las Palmas. Simeone said he was happy to be back to winning ways in La Liga after a loss at Real Betis last weekend, as third-placed Atlético look to regain momentum in their campaign ..read more