Ten-man Barcelona came from behind to thrash rivals Real Madrid 5-2, winning the Supercopa de Espana in Saudi Arabia to hand head coach Hansi Flick his first taste of silverware at the club.
Lamine Yamal, Robert Lewandowski, Raphinha and Alejandro Balde were all on target for Barca in a breathless first half at King Abdullah Sports City in Jeddah, where Kylian Mbappe had given Real an early lead.
Raphinha scored his second goal of the game early in the second half before goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny was sent off for bringing down Mbappe just outside the area. Rodrygo scored from the resulting free-kick but that was the end of the drama as the Catalans cruised to the final whistle.
Real's night had already started on a sour note, with Atletico Madrid replacing them at the top of LaLiga courtesy of a 1-0 win over Osasuna.
Julian Alvarez scored the only goal of the game after 56-minutes at Riyadh Air Metropolitano, providing the cool finish after a flawless corner routine involving Antoine Griezmann and Clement Lenglet.
That was enough to stretch Atleti’s winning run to 14 matches in all competitions, a new club record, as well as putting them a point ahead of their neighbours.
At the other end of the table, Getafe banked a vital at Las Palmas to move three points above the relegation zone. David Soria saved a Fabio Silva to preserve the stalemate before Coba da Costa and substitute Borja Mayoral struck. Adnan Januzaj got a late consolation but Jose Bordalas’ side held out to move away from the drop zone.
Paris Saint-Germain continued to make serene progress in Ligue 1, Ousmane Dembele inspiring a 2-1 win over St Etienne in their first game of the year.
Dembele had two inside 23 minutes, opening up the scoring and then slotting a penalty to take his league tally to 10 for the season.
Lens notched a 2-1 win over relegation battlers Le Havre, Deiver Machado with the winner after the sides swapped first-half goals. Strasbourg won their mid-table face-off with Toulouse, Emanuel Emegha playing matchwinner with an early brace.
Rock bottom Montpellier finished their 3-1 defeat by Angers with nine men, Jordan Ferri and Kiki Kouyate dismissed late on as a double from Esteban Lepaul inspired the visitors.
Antonio Conte’s Napoli continued to set the pace in Serie A, staying four clear at the summit after brushing off Hellas Verona 2-0.
Romelu Lukaku’s hit a post and was bundled in by goalkeeper Lorenzo Montipo after just five minutes, with a thundering effort from Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa making the result safe in emphatic fashion on the hour.
Inter went second after bouncing back from their agonising Supercoppa Italiana defeat to rivals AC Milan with a narrow 1-0 success away to strugglers Venezia. Matteo Darmian snapped up the solitary goal after just 16 minutes, converting after Lautaro Martinez’s shot was parried to decide matters in Venice.
Roma needed nerves of steel from Artem Dovbyk to take a 2-2 draw from their trip to Bologna. All four goals came in the second half, Alexis Saelemaekers breaking the deadlock before Thijs Dallinga and Lewis Ferguson turned things on their head.
A handball from Jhon Lucumi deep in added time allowed for one more twist and Dovbyk dispatched the last kick of the game from 12 games. Morten Frendrup was the man on target as Patrick Vieira’s Genoa beat Parma 1-0, leaving them winless and without a goal in 2025.
In the Bundesliga, RB Leipzig flexed their way to a 4-2 win over Werder Bremen as Xavi Simons marked his return from injury with a pair of goals.
The Netherlands international netted twice in the first half at the Red Bull Arena, Benjamin Sesko summoned a stunner and Christoph Baumgartner added his name to the scoresheet. Mitchell Weier and Oliver Burke responded for the away team but they were unable to prevent Leipzig returning to fourth spot.
Deniz Undav climbed off the bench to snatch the only goal for Stuttgart in a 1-0 win at Augsburg within four minutes of entering the fray.
