The Girona striker Artem Dovbyk scored a six-minute hat-trick to help them to a 5-1 home win over Sevilla as the hosts quickly reclaimed top spot from Real Madrid in La Liga.
The visitors took an early lead through Isaac Romero’s goal after 10 minutes, but it was short-lived as Dovbyk’s towering header from Sávio’s cross made it 1-1 in the 13th minute. Dovbyk put Girona ahead two minutes later from Portu’s pass, then bagged his hat-trick in the 19th minute with a fine low finish for his 14th league goal this season.
Girona extended their lead as Viktor Tsygankov scored with a simple finish from Savio’s second assist of the night in the 55th minute. Substitute Cristhian Stuani sealed the rout in the last minute as the surprise title contenders restored their one-point lead over Madrid.
Real Madrid needed a Dani Carvajal strike in the ninth minute of stoppage time to rescue a 3-2 comeback win at home against Almería. The league’s bottom side looked on course for a first win all season, taking a two-goal lead with an early strike from Largie Ramazani and a brilliant volley from distance by Edgar González.
A visibly frustrated Real manager Carlo Ancelotti made three changes to start the second half that added impetus to his side. With Vinícius Júnior and Jude Bellingham applying the pressure, Real reduced the deficit in the 56th minute with a Bellingham penalty awarded for handball after a lengthy VAR check.
Almería then had a Sergio Arribas effort from a counterattack ruled out a little later after another long VAR check. The referee, Francisco Maeso, ruled there was an infringement in the buildup, midfielder Dion Lopy harshly adjudged to have fouled Bellingham.
Five minutes later, Maeso ruled out Real Madrid’s equaliser for a Vinícius Júnior handball before awarding the goal after another VAR review, while Bellingham also had a goal ruled out for a controversial offside in the buildup before sending an acrobatic scissor kick just wide.
Nine minutes into added time, Bellingham worked his magic inside a crowded box to lift a cross to Carvajal who tapped in the winner at the far post. “Today we were robbed,” Almería’s Gonzalo Melero told Dazn after the game, while the visiting manager, Gaizka Garitano, was sent off for his protests late on.
Third-placed Barcelona also left it late to earn victory at Real Betis, with João Félix striking in stoppage time before Ferran Torres completed his hat-trick to secure at 4-2 win. Torres opened the scoring in the 21st minute from Pedri’s cross and he extended Barca’s lead soon after half-time.
The former Manchester City forward was quickest to the rebound as Lamine Yamal’s strike came back off the crossbar. Betis struck back as Isco scored twice in four minutes to level the score, and the hosts looked the more likely team to find a winner until Félix finished well from a quick counter in the 91st minute.
“We were very good with a two-goal lead, but then it got complicated with a mistake by our defence,” manager Xavi told Movistar Plus. “We didn’t play a great game, but it was a great game. Let’s move forward.”
Bayern Munich slumped to a 1-0 home loss to Werder Bremen on Sunday after a Mitchell Weiser goal to stay seven points adrift of the leaders, Bayer Leverkusen, in the Bundesliga title race.
Weiser’s superb finish earned Werder’s first victory in Munich since 2008 as Bayern failed to score in a home league game for the first time since February 2020, ending a run of 65 scoring matches.
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The hosts looked far from fresh after a short training camp in Portugal. They struggled to break down the visiting defence and Werder thought they had taken the lead in the 25th minute, only for Justin Njinmah’s effort to be disallowed for a foul.
Weiser did put the visitors in front in the 59th minute. The former Bayern player charged into the box, shook off Alphonso Davies and fired an unstoppable shot past keeper Manuel Neuer.
The hosts poured forward but had no clear plan with their top scorer, Harry Kane, missing the target with a close-range header in the 72nd minute. Michael Zetterer palmed a Leroy Sané shot wide in the 79th minute, but that was as close as Bayern came to equalising.
Juventus moved to the top of Serie A after Dusan Vlahovic’s double set up a 3-0 away win over Lecce. With former leaders Internazionale playing in the Italian Super Cup, Juve took the chance to overtake their title rivals with three second-half goals.
Vlahovic sent a bouncing shot into the far corner just before the hour mark, and doubled the visitors’ lead by deflecting Weston McKennie’s header into the net. Bremer headed home the third goal with five minutes to play as Juve moved a point above Inter at the top.
Elsewhere in Serie A, Frosinone fought back from a goal down to beat Cagliari 3-1, and Genoa also came from behind to win 2-1 at bottom club Salernitana. Empoli boosted their survival hopes as Szymon Zurkowski’s hat trick saw off Monza in Davide Nicola’s first game in charge of the Azzurri.
In the Netherlands, Jordan Henderson was in attendance as his new team, Ajax, hosted RKC Waalwijk. Brian Brobbey scored twice but missed a penalty as the home side won 4-1 to stay fifth in the Eredivisie, three points behind fourth-placed AZ and six behind FC Twente in third.
PSV Eindhoven are 10 points clear at the top after they dropped points for the first time this season in a 1-1 draw at Utrecht. Peter Bosz’s side had won their first 17 games of the season but Othman Boussaid earned the hosts a point after Johan Bakayoko’s early opener. Second-placed Feyenoord earned a late 2-1 win at Vitesse.