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Real Sociedad damaged Barcelona’s title defence with a surprise 2-1 home victory as Hansi Flick’s side fell to a first defeat in 12 matches. The Catalan side, who hit the woodwork four times and had two goals disallowed, now lead their rivals Real Madrid by only a point at the top of La Liga after Álvaro Arbeloa’s side beat Levante on Saturday.
Sociedad, now unbeaten in four games under their new American coach Pellegrino Matarazzo, had Carlos Soler sent off late on but managed to hold on.
In a frantic start to a compelling game at the rainy Reale Arena both teams had goals ruled out. The hosts had the ball in the net inside 30 seconds when Mikel Oyarzabal headed home a Gonçalo Guedes cross, but had strayed offside. At the other end Barcelona’s Fermín López drilled home from range but Dani Olmo had committed a foul in the buildup and it was ruled out.
Lamine Yamal also found the net but the goal was ruled out for an extremely tight offside, before Real Sociedad took the lead against the run of play when Oyarzabal lashed in a Guedes cross with a blistering volley inside Joan García’s near post.
Lamine Yamal was felled just inside the area before half-time but although the referee pointed to the spot, a VAR review showed the teenager was offside again and it was cancelled.
Barcelona turned up the pressure in the second half and Real Sociedad were left depending on their goalkeeper Álex Remiro and the frame of the goal to keep the Catalan side at bay. Olmo crashed a shot against the post from López’s cross and then Remiro denied the Barça midfielder with a fine near-post save. Remiro then tipped substitute Robert Lewandowski’s header against the crossbar with the save of the night.
Another Barça substitute, Marcus Rashford, eventually pulled the champions level, heading home Lamine Yamal’s cross after 70 minutes. However the hosts immediately regained their advantage, with the Barça goalkeeper García erring as he saved Soler’s shot. The midfielder was able to gather the rebound and cross for Guedes, who fired in Sociedad’s winner.
Alexander Sørloth’s towering header secured a narrow 1-0 victory for Atlético Madrid against Alavés to maintain their distant pursuit of the leaders, Barcelona. Diego Simeone’s side stay fourth with 41 points, level with Villarreal, who sit third with a game in hand, after their 2-0 loss to Real Betis on Saturday.
In what was a largely uninspiring affair at the Metropolitano, Atlético dominated possession but struggled to find penetration against a disciplined and compact Alavés defence. The first half, marked by its ill-tempered nature, featured fouls aplenty and few moments of quality. The home side’s best chance came in stoppage time before the break when Thiago Almada’s shot from close range was blocked on the goalline by Víctor Parada.
The winner arrived three minutes into the second half as Pablo Barrios whipped in a precise cross from the right wing, allowing Sørloth to rise above the defence and head the ball into the net off the post. The Norwegian’s goal proved decisive in a match that offered little else in excitement other than an Álex Baena curling strike from just inside the box in the 70th minute that ricocheted off the right post.
In Italy, Niclas Füllkrug kept Milan in touch with the Serie A leaders, Inter, with the only goal in a 1-0 win against Lecce, his first for the club since joining on loan from West Ham.
The 32-year-old glanced in Alexis Saelemaekers’s hooked cross in the 76th minute, finally breaking the deadlock after being frustrated by Lecce who drop into the relegation zone on goal difference.
Wladimiro Falcone was excellent in the Lecce goal, denying Samuel Ricci and Christian Pulisic with two phenomenal saves, but he could do nothing to stop Füllkrug.
Niclas Füllkrug’s header beats Wladimiro Falcone in the Lecce goal to secure three points for Milan. Photograph: Claudio Villa/AC Milan/Getty ImagesPaulo Dybala starred for Roma with a goal and an assist in a 2-0 win at Torino, which boosted his team’s Champions League hopes.
Dybala laid on Donyell Malen, who signed on loan from Aston Villa on Friday, for a classy close-range finish midway through the first half before ensuring a third straight win for fourth-placed Roma in the 72nd minute. The Argentina international’s brilliantly guided finish from Devyne Rensch’s cross was his first goal in nearly three months and helped put Roma on 42 points.
The 32-year-old was excellent coming in from the left in a win that was revenge for elimination from the Coppa Italia by Torino on Tuesday, and moved Roma three points ahead of fifth-placed Juventus in the battle for Champions League football.
Without a win until just before Christmas, Fiorentina beat Bologna 2-0 to record a deserved third victory in six matches thanks to goals in the first half from Rolando Mandragora and Roberto Piccoli.
The three points could prove crucial in the Serie A relegation battle and were a fine way to pay tribute to the American media mogul Rocco Commisso, who died on Saturday at the age of 76 and was remembered with a minute’s silence before kick-off.
During pre-match preparations, Fiorentina players wore T-shirts with a picture of Commisso and the message “Thanks Rocco”, in tribute to a man who just missed out on giving the Tuscan club a first major trophy since 2001.
He also invested in a new €120m training centre and redevelopment of the Stadio Artemio Franchi in Florence, works which are still ongoing ahead of Fiorentina’s centenary next season.
In Germany, Eintracht Frankfurt have fired their head coach, Dino Toppmöller, after a string of bad games and poor defending, the club said on Sunday.
The decision was based on analysis of the team’s performance over the past few weeks, including the first three games of 2026, the club said in a statement. Germany’s Bild newspaper said a crisis meeting had been held on Saturday to discuss Toppmöller’s future, the day after Eintracht’s 3-3 Bundesliga draw against struggling Werder Bremen.
“It’s always the same. We didn’t perform well from start to finish,” the sporting director, Markus Krösche, was quoted as saying. “We can’t go on like this.”
Dino Toppmöller watches on during the draw against Werder Bremen. Photograph: Action Press/ShutterstockToppmöller’s contract was extended last year until mid-2028. The 45-year-old took over as head coach in 2023. “I would have loved to continue working with this team and continue to face the challenges that lie ahead. But I accept the decision,” Toppmöller said in the statement from the club.
VfB Stuttgart conceded an 83rd-minute equaliser to settle for a 1-1 draw at home to Union Berlin and miss their chance to move into the top three. Sebastian Hoeness’s team thought they were cruising to their fourth win in the last five league games when Chris Fuehrich put them in the lead in the 59th minute but Union struck seven minutes from time through the substitute Jeong Woo-yeong to snatch a point.