The Euro Roundup: Surprise leaders in La Liga, Bayern languish in sixth

All you need to know from the weekend of action in Spain, Italy, France and Germany, as Bayern’s struggles mount and Sevilla go top.

In France, PSG are predictably pulling away, and the story is the same in Italy with Juventus, but in Spain and Germany, things are hotting up as Bayern Munich, Barcelona and Real Madrid all failed to win for the second successive week.

For new Bayern boss Niko Kovac, the pressure is on; for Real’s Julen Lopetegui, who left Spain in turmoil just before the World Cup when he quit to join the Bernabeu side, that scrutiny is arguably even greater.

For Barcelona, at least, a brilliant win in the Champions League at Wembley against Tottenham midweek, means they have credit in the bank.

Celebrations at the Sanchez Pizjuan

Sevilla are top of the tree in Spain after eight matches as they beat Celta Vigo 2-1, with Barcelona held by Valencia.

Wissam Ben Yedder got the decisive goal for Sevilla while Barca went behind and then equalised through Lionel Messi but could not find a winner.

Real Madrid, meanwhile, lost 1-0 away at Alaves, meaning Los Blancos have scored just once in their last five matches.

Elsewhere, Atletico Madrid won 1-0 against Real Betis and Espanyol beat Villarreal 3-1. The game of the weekend saw Eibar win 3-2 away at Girona with Sergi Enrich getting the decisive goal.

Wins for Juve, Roma, et al

All the big sides were victorious in Italy this weekend, with Juventus staying top. They were guaranteed to stay top of the pile regardless of what happened against Udinese such was their buffer heading into the fixtures, but they won 2-0 thanks to goals from Rodrigo Bentancur and Cristiano Ronaldo.

Roma beat Empoli by the same scoreline, also away from home, with Steven N’Zonzi and Edin Dzeko both scoring. Francesco Caputo missed a penalty for Empoli but after a tough start to the season, Roma are now up to sixth place.

Lazio won 1-0 against Fiorentina with a goal from Ciro Immobile, AC Milan beat Chievo Verona 3-1 and Napoli won 2-0 at home to Sassuolo. Inter won 2-1 at SPAL with Mauri Icardi grabbing a brace.

PSG pull further away

PSG hammered Lyon on Sunday evening with Kylian Mbappe scoring four times in the space of a quarter of an hour and Neymar notching another. The game finished 5-0 to the Ligue 1 leaders, putting them eight points clear of Lille in second and 11 clear of third-placed Marseille.

Marseille beat Caen 2-0 with strikes from Konstantinos Mitroglou and Florian Thauvin helping them bounce back from losing 3-0 at Lille last weekend.

Lille beat Saint-Etienne 3-1 while Rennes went to Monaco and emerged with all three points with Hatem Ben Arfa scoring the winner after Monaco’s Andrea Raggi was sent off just before halftime. Raggi was given his marching orders for throwing a punch as a corner kick was sent into the box, well spotted by the referee.

Bordeaux also won 3-0 against Nantes while Montpellier drew 1-1 at Guincamp.

Bayern struggle continues

Bayern Munich are now in sixth place in the Bundesliga having been beaten 3-0 at home against Borussia Monchengladbach.

Alassane Plea, Lars Stindl and Patrick Herrmann were all on the scoresheet for Gladbach in what was a nightmare performance for Kovac’s men.

Borussia Dortmund occupy top spot having beaten Augsburg in the sixth minute of added time. Paco Alcacer got the goal to make it 4-3 less than ten minutes after Augsburg’s Michael Gregoritsch had made it 3-3.

RB Leipzig are second, three points off the top, after they beat Nurnberg 6-0 at the Red Bull Arena. Timo Werner scored twice but missed a penalty to that would have sealed a hat-trick, so that scoreline could have been even more severe.

Schalke won 2-0 at Fortuna Dusseldorf, Hertha Berlin could only draw 0-0 at Mainz while Eintracht Frankfurt won 2-1 in Hoffenheim despite Ante Rebic being shown a second yellow card with around a third of the game still to be played.