Lionel Messi set up two goals and scored one himself as Barcelona returned to the pitch and returned to the win column on Saturday. Three months after LaLiga halted play due to the novel coronavirus pandemic, the Blaugrana had few problems beating relegation-threatened Mallorca 4-0.
Messi was in the middle of three of the four goals and debuted his adorable new quarantine haircut.
BERLIN — Borussia Dortmund substitute Erling Haaland headed a stoppage-time winner to give them a 1-0 victory at Fortuna Duesseldorf on Saturday and keep their slim Bundesliga title hopes alive.
Norwegian Haaland scored with the last action of the game to lift second-placed Dortmund to 66 points, with leaders Bayern Munich on 70 before they host Borussia Moenchengladbach later. After the goal, BVB coach Lucien Favre pulled up with an apparenty injury while celebrating.
Espanyol defender Bernardo Espinosa and forward Wu Lei scored either side of the break to hand the relegation-threatened side a 2-0 LaLiga home win over Alaves, who had goalkeeper Fernando Pacheco sent off early in Saturday's contest.
Victory in their first match on the league's resumption after the COVID-19 stoppage took basement team Espanyol to 23 points from 28 games, three points off the safety zone.
Top-flight football returned to Turkey from a three-month hiatus with a bang on Friday. Fenerbahce went down a man and a goal before rallying to beat Kayserispor 2-1, with Luiz Gustavo scoring a late winner on a beautiful curler in the 88th minute.
The Turkish Super Lig had been suspended since March 17 due to the novel coronavirus pandemic. The league returned with two matches on Friday, including first-place Trabzonspor defeating Goztepe 3-1.
Third-placed RB Leipzig scored two quickfire goals through Dani Olmo immediately after Hoffenheim had a penalty award overturned by VAR in a remarkable opening 12 minutes on the way to a 2-0 victory on the road in the Bundesliga on Friday.
The win gave Leipzig coach Julian Nagelsmann a happy first return to the club where he began his coaching career as a 28-year-old. His side now have 62 points from 31 games, one behind Borussia Dortmund and eight off Bayern Munich who both play on Saturday.
BELGRADE — Holders Partizan Belgrade beat bitter city rivals Red Star 1-0 on Wednesday to reach the Serbian Cup final as fans were allowed to attend games in unrestricted numbers for the first time since the coronavirus halted soccer in the Balkan nation in mid-March.
A near-capacity 25,000 crowd turned out for a tense Belgrade derby in a familiar atmosphere at Partizan's stadium as both sets of fans lit flares and taunted each other, with Bibras Natcho settling the match in the 58th minute.
VfL Wolfsburg striker Wout Weghorst scored with only eight minutes remaining to hand the visiting team a 1-0 win at Werder Bremen on Sunday and push their hosts closer towards relegation from the Bundesliga.
A return to form for the Dutch international ensured Wolfsburg moved up to sixth place, jumping above Hoffenheim, and putting themselves back in place to qualify for next season’s Europa League.
Leon Goretzka had already scored once, a well-taken strike from the edge of the box. With a chance to double his tally, he suddenly ducked out of the way of a header.
It was, of course, the correct decision.
Goretzka dropped his head at the last second to allow Robert Lewandowski to head home his 30th goal of the Bundesliga campaign as Bayern Munich shook off an early deficit to score four straight on the way to a 4-2 victory at BayArena on Saturday.
After a scoreless first half, Borussia Dortmund shifted through the gears in the second 45 to overwhelm Paderborn 6-1 on Sunday. The match featured a couple of historic firsts for Dortmund: 20-year-old English phenom Jadon Sancho notched his first professional hat-trick, and 17-year-old American prodigy Giovanni Reyna registered his first Bundesliga assist.
The well-worn cliché in England states that league titles are captured by winning games on your worst days. In Germany, Bayern Munich claims titles by demoralizing opponents on its best days.
Bayern looked well on its way to an eighth straight Bundesliga championship with a 5-0 win over Fortuna Düsseldorf on Saturday at Allianz Arena. The German giants never let up the pressure against relegation-threatened Fortuna, squeezing the life out of the visitors for 90 minutes.