Barcelona thrash Valencia 7-1
Barcelona snapped their four-match winless streak in LaLiga with an emphatic 7-1 victory over Valencia on Sunday, with Fermin Lopez scoring an impressive double and adding two assists.
Barcelona sit third in the standings with 42 points, three behind second-placed Atletico Madrid and seven adrift of leaders Real Madrid.
Relegation-threatened Valencia are 19th with 16 points after their first defeat in five matches in all competitions.
Frenkie de Jong opened the scoring after three minutes with a right-footed shot from the centre of the box that found the bottom left corner after Lamine Yamal's precise cross.
The Dutch midfielder continued to impress and played a key role in Barca doubling the lead. His pass allowed Alejandro Balde to set up Ferran Torres, who steered the ball into the net.
Raphinha added a third before the 15-minute mark, taking advantage of a mistake by Giorgi Mamardashvili. The Valencia goalkeeper was caught in no-man's land as he raced out to close down the Brazilian, who calmly slid the ball into the empty net.
Lopez put the icing on the cake in a frenetic first half, adding a fourth on 24 minutes and a fifth before the break with a powerful long-range shot from the right.
"We were coming from a bad dynamic in LaLiga and we needed this win. I needed a game like this. I've had a lot of injuries and it was important to gain confidence," Lopez told DAZN.
Hugo Duro grabbed a consolation for Valencia after the break with a shot from close range.
But Barcelona continued to dominate and substitute Robert Lewandowski added a sixth before an unfortunate own goal from Cesar Tarrega wrapped up the scoring for Hansi Flick's side.
Barcelona, who came into the game on the back of an impressive 5-4 win at Benfica that earned them a spot in the Champions League's last 16, face Atalanta in their final league-phase match of Europe's top-tier club competition on Wednesday.
Inter sweep Lecce aside to keep pace at the top
Inter Milan delivered a commanding performance as they cruised to a 4-0 victory at Lecce on Sunday to stay on the heels of Serie A leaders Napoli.
The result kept Inter second in the standings with 50 points, three behind Napoli and with a game in hand. Lecce sit fourth from bottom with 20 points.
With Napoli having opened up a six point lead following their 2-1 home win against Juventus on Saturday, Inter were determined to close the gap again and started aggressively.
Six minutes in, Marcus Thuram evaded a defender with a slick step-over before passing to Davide Frattesi, who volleyed into the net for Inter's first goal.
After Inter had two goals disallowed for offside in quick succession, manager Simone Inzaghi was left visibly frustrated and was shown a yellow card for stepping outside his technical area while voicing his displeasure.
Lautaro Martinez made it 2-0 for Inter six minutes before the break, firing a left-footed strike from the edge of the box that soared into the top corner.
Inter continued to dominate following the interval, with Denzel Dumfries battling his way into a tight position near the goal and slotting the ball into the far bottom corner to make it 3-0.
The nightmare deepened for Lecce just three minutes later, as goalkeeper Wladimiro Falcone, rushing out to intercept a through ball, tripped Frattesi’s legs in the process. Mehdi Taremi converted the resulting penalty with ease to make it 4-0 in the 61st minute.
With the win all but secured, Inzaghi made several substitutions as he opted to take off a number of key players.
Inter goalkeeper Yann Sommer denied the hosts a consolation goal when he palmed away Ylber Ramadani's long-range effort to preserve his team's clean sheet.
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