European round-up: Wins for Barca & Real, Man City & Bayern draw

Sport360 staff 20:31 15/10/2016
It's been an action-packed Saturday of football.

LA LIGA

Lionel Messi marked his return from injury with a goal as Barcelona beat Deportivo La Coruna 4-0 to atone for the horror defeat at Celta Vigo before the international break.

The Argentinian had only been on the field for three minutes when he scored Barca’s fourth, having missed their last three matches with a groin injury.

Rafinha’s brace set Luis Enrique’s men on a winning path and Luis Suarez’s well-taken effort just before half-time ended the match as a contest, with Manchester City – and Pep Guardiola – the next visitors to the Nou Camp on Wednesday.

Granada travelled to the Vicente Calderon without a win this season, but threatened a huge shock when Isaac Cuenca’s sensational volley from outside the area saw Atletico concede for just the third time this season.

Carrasco turned the game around before half-time thanks in part to some poor goalkeeping from Guillermo Ochoa.

However, the Mexican was faultless as Carrasco completed his first career hat-trick with a thumping finish from Antoine Griezmann’s fine cut-back on the hour mark.

Gaitan had only been on the pitch a minute before he added a fourth and then fired in his second nine minutes from time at Ochoa’s near post.

And Carrasco teed up two more for Angel Correa and Tiago in the final five minutes as Atletico made light of a dependence on Griezmann for goals so far this season.

In Saturday’s late kick-off, Real Madrid battered Real Betis 6-1 to end their run of four consecutive draws.

Midfield star Isco scored a brace while Raphael Varane, Karim Benzema, Marcelo and Cristiano Ronaldo added the other goals in the rout in Seville.

Zinedine Zidane’s men are level on 18 points with city rivals Atletico at the top of the La Liga table.

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PREMIER LEAGUE

Manchester City twice missed penalties in a 1-1 draw with Everton on Saturday as 10-man Arsenal went level with them on points at the top of the Premier League table after seeing off Swansea 3-2.

Arsenal leapfrogged Tottenham Hotspur into second place after their arch north London rivals also dropped points in a 1-1 draw away to West Bromwich Albion.

Everton goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg twice dived to his left to save penalties from Kevin de Bruyne and Sergio Aguero — his second spot-kick failure this week after he was off target in Argentina’s World Cup qualifying defeat by Paraguay.

Toffees defender Phil Jagielka gave away both penalties, the first on the stroke of half-time, and it seemed Everton’s luck was in when Romelu Lukaku fired the visitors in front in the 64th minute at Eastlands before substitute Aguero’s miss.

But City, who’ve now gone three games without a win in all competitions, equalised in the 72nd minute when Nolito headed in Silva’s cross as former Barcelona team-mates turned managers Pep Guardiola (City) and Ronald Koeman (Everton) had to settle for a point apiece.

At the Emirates, Theo Walcott scored twice as Arsenal defeated Swansea for a sixth straight win in all competitions.

Walcott struck in the 27th minute after Jordi Amat failed to clear Hector Bellerin’s headed cross.

The England international doubled the Gunners’ lead seven minutes later following Hull’s failure to clear a corner.

Swansea, in former United States manager Bob Bradley’s first game in charge, saw Gylfi Sigurdsson equalise in his 100th appearance for the Welsh club with a 38th-minute curling shot.

But Mesut Ozil marked his 28th birthday by restoring Arsenal’s two-goal advantage with a 57th minute-volley.

Swansea substitute Borja Baston pulled a goal back for the visitors and Arsenal had to play the final 20 minutes a man down after Granit Xhaka received a straight red card.

Tottenham dominated possession at the Hawthorns without scoring and were made to pay the price when former Spurs star Nacer Chadli scored eight minutes from time.

But Dele Alli’s 89th-minute equaliser preserved Spurs’ unbeaten league record.

Earlier, Chelsea dealt a fresh blow to champions Leicester City’s hopes of a successful title defence with a 3-0 win at Stamford Bridge.

Defeat meant the Foxes had won just two of their eight league games this season and manager Claudio Ranieri said: “We made mistakes…Our approach to the match was not good,” the former Chelsea manager added.

The result gave Antonio Conte, Ranieri’s fellow Italian, a much-needed win after speculation he was about to be sacked as Chelsea manager.

First-half goals from Diego Costa and Eden Hazard put hosts Chelsea in a strong position before Nigeria international Victor Moses’s effort 10 minutes from time set the seal on an impressive win.

“From the start I asked them to play well with intensity and to try to do what we are doing in training,” said Conte. “I am very happy because I had a good reply. This is the best game for us.”

Stoke won in the league for the first time this season as Wales international Joe Allen made it four goals in his last three games by scoring twice in a 2-0 win at home to basement club Sunderland.

Elsewhere, Bournemouth thrashed Hull 6-1 as Mike Phelan’s first game in full-time charge of the Tigers ended in an a thumping defeat.

The Cherries needed just five minutes to score, Charlie Daniels following up after Junior Stanislas’s 20-yard free-kick rebounded off the post.

Hull’s Ryan Mason equalised in the 34th minute with a deflected shot.

Bournemouth regained the lead thanks to Steve Cook’s header and they were 3-1 up ahead of the break when Stanislas scored from the penalty spot.

Stanislas made it 4-1 before Callum Wilson and Dan Gosling both scored late on.

Christian Benteke’s dream week ended with a nightmare penalty miss as Crystal Palace crashed 1-0 at home to struggling West Ham.

The Belgium striker began the week by scoring the fastest goal in World Cup qualifying history on his way to a hat-trick against Gibraltar, and three days later celebrated the birth of his daughter.

But when handed the opportunity to cap a remarkable seven days by cancelling out Manuel Lanzini’s strike, Benteke scooped his spot-kick horribly off target.

BUNDESLIGA

Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich are now winless in their last three games after being held to a 2-2 draw at ten-man Eintracht Frankfurt on Saturday in the German league.

After last month’s 1-0 Champions League defeat at Atletico Madrid and their 1-1 league draw with Cologne before the international break, this was neither the performance nor the result coach Carlo Ancelotti wanted.

Despite the draw, Bayern maintain a two-point lead in the Bundesliga ahead of Wednesday’s key Champions League game at home to PSV Eindhoven.

SERIE A

Edin Dzeko struck a brace and Mohamed Salah added a third as clinical Roma dented Napoli’s Serie A title hopes with a superbly-orchestrated 3-1 win at a shocked San Paolo on Saturday.

Napoli were looking to get back to winning ways after a shock defeat at Atalanta two weeks ago left them four points behind leaders and champions Juventus.

But the Azzurri never recovered from Dzeko’s second goal of the game on 54 minutes and heads dropped when Salah beat Pepe Reina four minutes from the end.

SCOTTISH PREMIERSHIP

Moussa Dembele’s hot-streak continued as his late penalty sealed a 2-0 win for Celtic over Motherwell in the Premiership on Saturday the perfect boost for their Champions League clash with Borussia Monchengladbach.

Dembele – who scored a double for the France Under-21 side in the international break – and another goal by the equally prolific Scott Sinclair ensured Celtic maintained their four point lead at the top of the table.

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