Barcelona battle to draw while Juventus edge out Lecce

LaLiga leaders Barcelona twice had to battle from behind as Fermin Lopez’s first goal for the club earned a hard-fought draw at Real Mallorca.

Xavi’s side have been the early pace-setters as they look to defend their league title but the visitors had to settle for a 2-2 draw at the Iberostar Stadium.

Vedat Muriqi and Abdon Prats goals had twice had the hosts in front but Raphinha cancelled out the opener before substitute Lopez struck to earn Barca a share of the spoils.

ATTABOY!!!! pic.twitter.com/lyLTdyXvbC

— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) September 26, 2023

Two early goals set Sevilla on their way to an emphatic 5-1 home win over Almeria.

Youssef En-Nesyri headed home with seven minutes on the clock after Loic Bade had hit the woodwork and just a minute later the lead was doubled courtesy of a fine solo strike from Dodi Lukebakio.

Suso’s curling effort wrapped up the win before the interval with Erik Lamela adding a fourth before a Luis Suarez penalty reduced the arrears, only for Kike Salas to make it five in stoppage time.

5⃣ performance#SevillaFCAlmería pic.twitter.com/Nb0HBt4z1g

— Sevilla FC (@SevillaFC_ENG) September 26, 2023

In Italy, Juventus moved two points behind early leaders Inter Milan with a 1-0 win over a Lecce side who finished with 10 men.

Arkadiusz Milik’s close-range effort proved to be enough for Juve, who saw out the game to wrap up the win as the visitors had Mohamed Kaba sent off in injury time after picking up a second yellow card for simulation.

Meanwhile, Lille’s inconsistent start to the Ligue 1 season continued as they fell to a 2-1 home defeat to Reims.

REIMS WITH A BIG AWAY WIN AGAINST LILLE pic.twitter.com/Yv6OWM6bSy

— Ligue 1 English (@Ligue1_ENG) September 26, 2023

Paulo Fonseca’s side have won just two of their six opening league games and early goals from Mohamed Daramy and Keito Nakamura saw them slip up once again despite Benjamin Andre’s second-half consolation.

Elsewhere, a much-changed Bayern Munich side made light work of third-tier Preussen Munster in the first round of the DFB-Pokal.

Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting put the Bundesliga giants ahead early on and they were out of sight by the break as Konrad Laimer and Frans Kratzig got in on the act.

The 4-0 win was wrapped up by a late Mathys Tel effort as Thomas Tuchel’s side advance with ease.