Real Madrid lose ground in LaLiga as Barcelona move eight points clear

The leaders beat Sevilla after their rivals had earlier suffered a surprise defeat at Mallorca.

Pa Sport Staff
Sunday 05 February 2023 22:22 GMT
Marco Asensio (right) saw his penalty saved (Francisco Ubilla/AP)
Marco Asensio (right) saw his penalty saved (Francisco Ubilla/AP) (AP)

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Real Madrid lost ground at the top of LaLiga after slipping to a 1-0 defeat at Mallorca as Barcelona extended their lead to eight points.

Mallorca went in front early on through a deflected header from Vedat Muriqi in the 13th minute.

Los Blancos had the chance to equalise when awarded a penalty just before the hour after Vinicius Junior was fouled by Mallorca goalkeeper Predrag Rajkovic.

However, Marco Asensio, who had a spell at the Balearic Islands club as a youngster, saw his spot-kick saved by Rajkovic.

In Sunday’s evening kick-off, Barcelona dispatched Sevilla 3-0 at the Nou Camp to move further clear at the summit.

All the goals came in the second half, captain Jordi Alba breaking the deadlock just before the hour with Gavi and Raphinha then wrapping things up in the closing stages.

Earlier, Real Sociedad missed the chance to close up on Real Madrid after Cyle Larin’s late goal gave Valladolid a 1-0 win in San Sebastian.

Managerless Valencia suffered a third straight league defeat when beaten 1-0 at Girona to sit just a point above the relegation zone.

In Serie A, Inter beat city rivals AC Milan 1-0 with a goal from captain Lautaro Martinez.

The Argentina forward headed in from a corner midway through the first half, which proved enough for the Nerazzurri to secure bragging rights as they consolidated second place.

Defending champions AC Milan slumped to a third consecutive defeat and sit in sixth, now 18 points adrift of leaders Napoli who extended their winning run with a comfortable 3-0 victory at Spezia.

Khvicha Kvaratskhelia slotted in a penalty before Nigeria forward Victor Osimhen added a late brace as Luciano Spalletti’s men kept themselves 13 points ahead of Inter.

Torino stayed in touch with the top six after beating Udinese 1-0 while Bologna won 2-1 at Fiorentina.

Bayern Munich moved back to the top of the Bundesliga after a 4-2 win at Wolfsburg, where midfielder Joshua Kimmich was sent off early in the second half.

Kingsley Coman struck an early double before Thomas Muller nodded in a third goal for the visitors in the 19th minute.

Jakub Kaminski reduced the deficit before half-time, before Kimmich was dismissed for a second caution in the 54th minute.

Teenage winger Jamal Musiala further extended Bayern’s lead and Mattias Svanberg scored a second goal for Wolfsburg with 10 minutes left.

Bayern ended a run of three straight league draws to move a point above Union Berlin.

Elsewhere, Werder Bremen won 2-0 at Stuttgart with second-half goals from Jens Stage and Marvin Ducksch to move into the top half of the table.

Marseille lost ground at the top of Ligue 1 after they were beaten 3-1 at home by rivals Nice.

Sofiane Diop nodded the visitors in front and Gaetan Laborde tapped in a second just before half-time.

Ruslan Malinovskyi pulled a goal back for Marseille on the hour, but a fine strike from Bilal Brahimi settled matters with five minutes left.

A late goal from Jonathan Gradit rescued a 1-1 draw for Champions League-chasing Lens at Brest.

Monaco kept up the pressure with a 2-0 win at Clermont after early goals from Guillermo Maripan and Breel Embolo.

Habib Diallo scored twice as relegation battlers Strasbourg beat Montpellier 2-0 despite having midfielder Jean-Eudes Aholou sent off.

Strugglers Ajaccio finished with 10 men as they were beaten 2-0 at home by Nantes while it finished goalless between Auxerre and Reims as well as Lorient versus bottom club Angers.

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