Spain

BARCELONA - Goals from Memphis Depay, Luuk de Jong and the returning Ansu Fati helped Barcelona claim a much-needed 3-0 home victory over Levante in LaLiga on Sunday.

The victory, Barça's first in their last four games in all competitions, moved the Catalans up to fifth in the table with 12 points from six games, five behind league leaders Real Madrid, who have played one more.

The 18-year-old Fati, who came on as an 81st-minute substitute before scoring Barça's third goal, was making his first appearance since suffering a serious knee injury last November.

Samir Nasri, now 34 and without a club since briefly playing for Vincent Kompany’s Anderlecht in 2019, has announced his retirement after a mercurial career that included two Premier League titles, 41 caps for France, an international retirement at the age of 27 and one trip to the Drip Doctors in Los Angeles.

Barcelona was always going to struggle after Lionel Messi left. The club was already on a downward trajectory before the legendary No. 10 skipped town, but even ardent Barça fans have to admit this is even worse than they expected. The club reached a new nadir this season when Sergio Busquets kicked a ball at an opponent to stop a scoring chance in the final moments of a 0-0 draw with Cádiz on Thursday.

Real Madrid hosted Mallorca on Wednesday night, and it was a special (and extremely rare) occasion for American fans of LaLiga as USMNT striker Matthew Hoppe earned a start at the Santiago Bernabéu.

MADRID, Sept 18 (Reuters) - Atletico Madrid forward Joao Felix was sent off as the LaLiga champions were held to a 0-0 draw at home to Athletic Bilbao on Saturday.

Felix, Atletico's record signing, was shown a yellow card for striking Unai Vencedor in the 78th minute and the Portuguese reacted to the decision by shouting at the referee, who instantly produced a second card and sent him off.

Ronald Koeman might be right that Barcelona could still cobble together a league challenge, but Barça hasn’t been this far from competing for Europe’s ultimate club prize since it played in the Europa League (the same season a 16-year-old Cesc Fàbregas left La Masia for Arsenal). 

Exactly 13 months after Barcelona suffered ultimate humiliation at the hands of Bayern Munich, the Blaugrana welcomed Die Roten to the Camp Nou to open Group E play in the Champions League. Based solely on scores, Barcelona improved by three goals, but it looked so much worse in doing so. At one point, Serge Gnabry took pity on his defender and kicked the ball out of bounds. 

The Seville skies opened up to a torrent of rain just before halftime, sending players to the locker room to regroup after an historic first half. The Sevilla-RB Salzburg match set a record for most penalties in a Champions League match — in the first half alone.

Sevilla and RB Salzburg played to a bizarre 1-1 draw on Tuesday in Seville to open Champions League play. The final score will take a back seat to the flood of penalty kicks awarded in the first half, when the referee pointed to the spot four times in the opening 42 minutes.

MADRID - Real Madrid's Karim Benzema netted a hat-trick as they capped their return to the refurbished Santiago Bernabéu stadium with a thrilling 5-2 comeback win over Celta Vigo in LaLiga on Sunday.

The Frenchman was unplayable at times as Madrid were reunited with their fans for the first time since March 1, 2020.

They played the whole of last season at reserve team Castilla's Alfredo Di Stéfano ground at their training complex.

BARCELONA - Thomas Lemar scored in the ninth minute of added time to give Atlético Madrid a last-gasp 2-1 victory at newly-promoted Espanyol in LaLiga on Sunday.

THOMAS LEMAR IN THE 98TH MINUTE!! pic.twitter.com/e9NG6CC0CW

— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) September 12, 2021