European football: Barcelona slip up at Real Sociedad while Milan stay in hunt | European club football

Actual Sociedad broken Barcelona’s title defence with a shock 2-1 residence victory as Hansi Flick’s aspect fell to a primary defeat in 12 matches. The Catalan aspect, who hit the woodwork 4 occasions and had two objectives disallowed, now lead their rivals Actual Madrid by solely some extent on the high of La Liga after Álvaro Arbeloa’s aspect beat Levante on Saturday.

Sociedad, now unbeaten in 4 video games beneath their new American coach Pellegrino Matarazzo, had Carlos Soler despatched off late on however managed to carry on.

In a frantic begin to a compelling recreation on the wet Reale Enviornment each groups had objectives dominated out. The hosts had the ball within the internet inside 30 seconds when Mikel Oyarzabal headed residence a Gonçalo Guedes cross, however had strayed offside. On the different finish Barcelona’s Fermín López drilled residence from vary however Dani Olmo had dedicated a foul within the buildup and it was dominated out.

Lamine Yamal additionally discovered the online however the purpose was dominated out for a particularly tight offside, earlier than Actual Sociedad took the lead in opposition to the run of play when Oyarzabal lashed in a Guedes cross with a blistering volley inside Joan García’s close to put up.

Lamine Yamal was felled simply inside the realm earlier than half-time however though the referee pointed to the spot, a VAR overview confirmed {the teenager} was offside once more and it was cancelled.

Barcelona turned up the strain within the second half and Actual Sociedad have been left relying on their goalkeeper Álex Remiro and the body of the purpose to maintain the Catalan aspect at bay. Olmo crashed a shot in opposition to the put up from López’s cross after which Remiro denied the Barça midfielder with a high quality near-post save. Remiro then tipped substitute Robert Lewandowski’s header in opposition to the crossbar with the save of the night time.

One other Barça substitute, Marcus Rashford, ultimately pulled the champions stage, heading residence Lamine Yamal’s cross after 70 minutes. Nonetheless the hosts instantly regained their benefit, with the Barça goalkeeper García erring as he saved Soler’s shot. The midfielder was in a position to collect the rebound and cross for Guedes, who fired in Sociedad’s winner.

Alexander Sørloth’s towering header secured a slender 1-0 victory for Atlético Madrid in opposition to Alavés to keep up their distant pursuit of the leaders, Barcelona. Diego Simeone’s aspect keep fourth with 41 factors, stage with Villarreal, who sit third with a recreation in hand, after their 2-0 loss to Actual Betis on Saturday.

In what was a largely uninspiring affair on the Metropolitano, Atlético dominated possession however struggled to seek out penetration in opposition to a disciplined and compact Alavés defence. The primary half, marked by its ill-tempered nature, featured fouls aplenty and few moments of high quality. The house aspect’s greatest probability got here in stoppage time earlier than the break when Thiago Almada’s shot from shut vary was blocked on the goalline by Víctor Parada.

The winner arrived three minutes into the second half as Pablo Barrios whipped in a exact cross from the suitable wing, permitting Sørloth to rise above the defence and head the ball into the online off the put up. The Norwegian’s purpose proved decisive in a match that supplied little else in pleasure apart from an Álex Baena curling strike from simply contained in the field within the seventieth minute that ricocheted off the suitable put up.

In Italy, Niclas Füllkrug stored Milan in contact with the Serie A leaders, Inter, with the one purpose in a 1-0 win in opposition to Lecce, his first for the membership since becoming a member of on mortgage from West Ham.

The 32-year-old glanced in Alexis Saelemaekers’s hooked cross within the 76th minute, lastly breaking the impasse after being pissed off by Lecce who drop into the relegation zone on purpose distinction.

Wladimiro Falcone was glorious within the Lecce purpose, denying Samuel Ricci and Christian Pulisic with two phenomenal saves, however he may do nothing to cease Füllkrug.

Paulo Dybala starred for Roma with a purpose and an help in a 2-0 win at Torino, which boosted his workforce’s Champions League hopes.

Dybala laid on Donyell Malen, who signed on mortgage from Aston Villa on Friday, for a complicated close-range end halfway by means of the primary half earlier than guaranteeing a 3rd straight win for fourth-placed Roma within the 72nd minute. The Argentina worldwide’s brilliantly guided end from Devyne Rensch’s cross was his first purpose in almost three months and helped put Roma on 42 factors.

The 32-year-old was glorious coming in from the left in a win that was revenge for elimination from the Coppa Italia by Torino on Tuesday, and moved Roma three factors forward of fifth-placed Juventus within the battle for Champions League soccer.

With out a win till simply earlier than Christmas, Fiorentina beat Bologna 2-0 to document a deserved third victory in six matches because of objectives within the first half from Rolando Mandragora and Roberto Piccoli.

The three factors may show essential within the Serie A relegation battle and have been a high quality option to pay tribute to the American media mogul Rocco Commisso, who died on Saturday on the age of 76 and was remembered with a minute’s silence earlier than kick-off.

Throughout pre-match preparations, Fiorentina gamers wore T-shirts with an image of Commisso and the message “Thanks Rocco”, in tribute to a person who simply missed out on giving the Tuscan membership a primary main trophy since 2001.

He additionally invested in a brand new €120m coaching centre and redevelopment of the Stadio Artemio Franchi in Florence, works that are nonetheless ongoing forward of Fiorentina’s centenary subsequent season.

In Germany, Eintracht Frankfurt have fired their head coach, Dino Toppmöller, after a string of dangerous video games and poor defending, the membership mentioned on Sunday.

The choice was primarily based on evaluation of the workforce’s efficiency over the previous few weeks, together with the primary three video games of 2026, the membership mentioned in an announcement. Germany’s Bild newspaper mentioned a disaster assembly had been held on Saturday to debate Toppmöller’s future, the day after Eintracht’s 3-3 Bundesliga draw in opposition to struggling Werder Bremen.

“It’s all the time the identical. We didn’t carry out properly from begin to end,” the sporting director, Markus Krösche, was quoted as saying. “We will’t go on like this.”

Toppmöller’s contract was prolonged final 12 months till mid-2028. The 45-year-old took over as head coach in 2023. “I’d have beloved to proceed working with this workforce and proceed to face the challenges that lie forward. However I settle for the choice,” Toppmöller mentioned within the assertion from the membership.

VfB Stuttgart conceded an 83rd-minute equaliser to accept a 1-1 draw at residence to Union Berlin and miss their probability to maneuver into the highest three. Sebastian Hoeness’s workforce thought they have been cruising to their fourth win within the final 5 league video games when Chris Fuehrich put them within the lead within the 59th minute however Union struck seven minutes from time by means of the substitute Jeong Woo-yeong to grab some extent.