MADRID: Barcelona cruised to a 4-0 rout over 10-man Real Sociedad to regain the lead in Spain on Sunday.
Gerard Martín, Marc Casadó, Ronald Araujo and Robert Lewandowski scored a goal each to put Barcelona one point ahead of second-placed Atletico Madrid at the top of the Spanish league. Barcelona is three points ahead of third-placed Real Madrid, which lost 2-1 at Real Betis on Saturday, when Atletico beat Athletic Bilbao 1-0 at home.
“Very happy with the match we played,” Araujo said. “It was important to win and become leaders again. It was a great effort by the team.”
Sociedad played a man down from the 17th minute after Aritz Elustondo was sent off with a straight red card for grabbing Barcelona forward Dani Olmo to stop a breakaway.
“It was a clear red card,” Sociedad coach Imanol Alguacil said. “After that there was no game. It’s already hard 11 against 11 against them, you can imagine with a man down.”
It was the sixth win in a row for Barcelona in the league, and the second loss in three matches for Sociedad, which stayed in ninth place.
Barcelona coach Hansi Flick rested some regular starters ahead of the team’s Champions League match at Benfica on Wednesday in the first leg of the round of 16.
Prolific Lewandowski
Barcelona was in control from the start at Montjuic stadium, with Martín scoring in the 25th and Casadó in the 29th. Araujo added to the lead in the 56th and Lewandowski closed the scoring in the 60th for his eighth goal in his last nine matches.
Lewandowski now has 34 goals this season in all competitions, one more than the 33 he scored in what had been his previous best season with the Catalan club in 2022-23.
Sociedad, which along with Barcelona, Madrid and Atletico is playing in the Copa del Rey semifinals, struggled from the start and had no attempts on goal. Barcelona had 33 total attempts.
Sociedad defender Hamari Traoré entered the match in the second half to mark his return to action nearly six months after having to undergo knee surgery.
Earlier Sunday, striker Diego García scored two minutes into second-half stoppage time to give 16th-placed Leganes a 1-0 win over 14th-placed Getafe in a match between teams from the Madrid area.
Valencia later Sunday has a chance to move out of the relegation zone with a win at Osasuna.
Barcelona routs 10-man Real Sociedad 4-0 to go top in Spain
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Barcelona routs 10-man Real Sociedad 4-0 to go top in Spain
- “Very happy with the match we played,” Araujo said. “It was important to win and become leaders again. It was a great effort by the team”
Forest, Celtic into Europa League play-offs as Villa fight back
- Villa looked to be sliding to just a second defeat in Europe this campaign when Salzburg surged 2-0 ahead in Birmingham through goals from Karim Konate and Moussa Yeo
PARIS, France: Nottingham Forest will go into the Europa League play-off round after a 4-0 win over Ferencvaros on Thursday, while Celtic secured their place in the knockout phase with victory over Utrecht.
Aston Villa finished second in the league phase after recovering from two goals down to beat Red Bull Salzburg 3-2 with their spot in the last 16 already assured.
Forest stood an outside chance of climbing into the top eight going into the final round of matches but needed to beat Robbie Keane’s Ferencvaros and rely on other results going their way.
Sean Dyche’s side did their bit as Igor Jesus struck twice for Forest after Ferencvaros defender Bence Otvos scored an own goal. James McAtee tucked away a late penalty, but the win was only enough for the Premier League club to finish 13th overall.
“It has not been easy through various games, the schedule, planning, traveling and all that sort of stuff. To come out of a disappointing one in Braga (1-0 loss last week) and then to deliver that I am very pleased,” Dyche told TNT Sports.
Twice former European champions Forest will learn their play-off fate on Friday. They will face Fenerbahce or Panathinaikos over two legs next month, while Stuttgart or Ferencvaros await Celtic, who overcame lowly Utrecht 4-2 after scoring three times in the first 19 minutes in Glasgow.
Benjamin Nygren put Celtic ahead before an own goal from Utrecht captain Nick Viergever. Arne Engels converted a penalty with Celtic cruising, but Utrecht pulled it back to within one until Auston Trusty’s header gave the hosts some more breathing space.
Teen wins it for Villa
Villa looked to be sliding to just a second defeat in Europe this campaign when Salzburg surged 2-0 ahead in Birmingham through goals from Karim Konate and Moussa Yeo.
Morgan Rogers reduced the deficit and Tyrone Mings headed Villa level, with 19-year-old Jamaldeen Jimoh-Aloba netting his first senior goal to complete the turnaround for Unai Emery’s men.
“It’s a proud moment for me on my European debut,” Jimoh-Aloba told TNT Sports. “It’s just really nice to make my family proud and stuff because of all the hard work. I’ve had a lot of lows this season and a lot of highs, but this is top.”
Villa, who sit third in the Premier League, will get a welcome break before the last 16 — where they could meet Lille, PAOK, Red Star Belgrade or Celta Vigo.
Emery has won the Europa League a record four times as a manager and Rogers believes that is a considerable advantage for Villa.
“He knows how to get his way through a competition, especially this one. To have him in our corner guiding us through it is going to be massive,” said Rogers.
Lyon topped the table with seven wins from eight after completing the league phase with a 4-2 victory over PAOK. A minute’s silence was observed before kick-off in memory of the seven Greek fans killed in a minibus accident in Romania on Tuesday.
Midtjylland, Real Betis, Porto, Braga, Freiburg and Roma all finished in the top eight to ensure direct qualification for the last 16.
Rangers concluded a miserable European campaign with a 3-1 loss at Porto, their sixth defeat in eight games in the competition.
