European football roundup: Madrid go level with Barca in LaLiga; Thuram fires Inter to top of Serie A table

Fede Valverde and Vinicius Junior strikes helped Real Madrid bounce back from their first defeat since January with a 2-0 win over Villarreal on Saturday in La Liga.

Los Blancos lost in the Champions League at Lille but are still unbeaten in the Spanish top flight and moved level with leaders Barcelona, before the Catalans visit Alaves on Sunday.

Valverde’s deflected effort and a rocket from Vinicius allowed Madrid to put a four-point gap between them and their third-placed opponents, who battled well but came up fractionally short in the capital.

Madrid’s victory was marred by a late injury to defender Dani Carvajal, who had to be taken off on a stretcher.

“It seems a serious knee injury, it will be looked at in the coming hours,” Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti told reporters.

“The players are sad, worried, because something happened that happens a lot, because of the (busy) calendar, and it happened to a very, very important player for us.”

Ancelotti said Vinicius would also have medical tests after being taken off late on with discomfort in his shoulder and neck.

The Italian coach started Kylian Mbappe after the French striker had recovered from a thigh problem.

The former Paris Saint-Germain striker could only appear from the bench in Madrid’s disappointing midweek display.

Mbappe, who France have not selected for upcoming Nations League fixtures, was quiet at the Santiago Bernabeu as his team ground out victory with a determined, rather than inspiring, performance.

Madrid are still missing German midfielder Toni Kroos, although on this occasion he was watching on from a box.

Mbappe sent an early volley off-target from Luka Modric’s corner but it was midfield powerhouse Valverde who broke the deadlock after 14 minutes.

The Uruguayan’s drive from distance deflected off Villarreal playmaker Alex Baena and arced beyond the reach of goalkeeper Diego Conde.

The visitors, enjoying a strong start to the season under coach Marcelino Garcia Toral, came close when Nicolas Pepe’s header clipped the top of the crossbar.

Mbappe had one further chance, bursting into the area with his electric pace, but goalkeeper Conde managed to dispossess him with an outstretched leg.

Villarreal appealed for a penalty early in the second half when Aurelien Tchouameni, playing at centre-back, pulled down Barry, but the French striker was offside.

Baena hit the side-netting of Andriy Lunin’s goal with a free-kick, nearly catching out the Ukrainian goalkeeper standing in for the injured Thibaut Courtois.

Vinicius flashed a shot narrowly wide, before his strike partner Mbappe was replaced with 20 minutes to go by Rodrygo Goes.

Brazil striker Vinicius, who is hoping to win a first Ballon d’Or later in October, netted the second with a superb effort from outside the area, which ripped into the top corner.

Carvajal hurt

In stoppage time, Spanish right-back Carvajal suffered an injury while attempting to clear the ball under pressure from Yeremi Pino.

“In the end, the result’s a less important thing – Dani’s health is what matters,” Valverde told Real Madrid TV.

“The game was fine, it was neither very good or bad, it was what we had to do to win, two goals was enough.”

Villarreal defender Raul Albiol was also concerned about Carvajal.

“It looked bad… let’s hope it’s the least (damage) possible, because we all know how important he is for Real Madrid and Spanish football,” he said.

The centre-back said Madrid were efficient with their finishing and that made the difference.

“They have a lot of attacking punch and more or less with three chances they had two goals,” he said.

Earlier, nine-man Celta Vigo earned a 1-0 win at bottom-of-the-table Las Palmas.

The Canary Islanders were unable to record their first win of the season even after Ilaix Moriba and Iago Aspas’ red cards for Celta, who climbed to ninth thanks to Borja Iglesias’ goal.

Osasuna moved into fifth with a 1-1 draw at Getafe, while Espanyol beat Mallorca 2-1 and Rayo Vallecano won at Valladolid by the same score.

Serie A: Thuram helps Inter beat 10-man Torino, move to top

Marcus Thuram shot Inter Milan second in Serie A with a hat-trick in Saturday’s 3-2 win over 10-man Torino which moved the champions to within two points of league leaders Napoli.

France forward Thuram headed home first-half crosses from Alessandro Bastoni and Francesco Acerbi before bundling in his third on the hour mark to give Inter a narrow, but deserved win at the San Siro.

Inter can be overtaken by both Juventus, who host Cagliari, and AC Milan on Sunday with their local rivals at Fiorentina in the weekend’s final fixture before the international break.

Thuram leads the scoring charts in Italy’s top flight with seven goals alongside Mateo Retegui, who hit a treble of his own in Atalanta’s 5-1 hammering of Genoa earlier on Saturday.

“It’s been a few matches since I last scored but it was more important that the team won tonight,” said Thuram to Sky.

“Being top scorer doesn’t interest me, the only thing that counts is that Inter win matches.”

Back to near full strength, after the second string hammered Red Star Belgrade in the Champions League on Tuesday, Simone Inzaghi’s Inter won their third straight match in all competitions since losing the Milan derby last month.

Thuram was involved in everything good Inter did going forward and was also left in agony on the ground by Guillermo Maripan’s awful tackle in the 20th minute which left Torino a man down.

The 27-year-old could easily have been seriously injured but instead he punished Torino five minutes later with the first of two almost identical headers, the second of which came in the 35th minute.

Duvan Zapata, who was later stretchered off with what could be a serious knee injury, pulled a goal back for sixth-placed Torino seconds later after poor defending by Yann Bisseck.

But Thuram re-established Inter’s two-goal lead when he pounced on goalkeeper Vanja Milinkovic-Savic’s failure to hold Lautaro Martinez’s header.

Inter have been less solid than when they romped to the Scudetto last season and Hakan Calhanoglu gave Torino some hope with five minutes remaining by bringing down Adam Masina and allowing Nikola Vlasic to cut the deficit from the penalty spot.

However Inter held out for a win which will leave them hot on Napoli’s trail as their players head off to their respective national teams.

“Let’s focus on the fact that the team won three matches in a week after losing the derby,” said Inzaghi to Sky.

“I can’t say anything to the players as we deserved to win all of them.”

Retegui on fire

Retegui condemned his former club Genoa to a heavy defeat with his hat-trick at the Gewiss Stadium which which ensured Atalanta would move up to ninth on 10 points.

Ederson and Marten de Roon also scored with spectacular strikes as Atalanta crushed sorry Genoa, who scored late through Jeff Ekhator but dropped into the relegation zone on goal difference behind Lecce.

Argentina-born Retegui has settled in quickly in Bergamo since signing in the summer after Gianluca Scamacca suffered a serious knee injury, establishing a near-immediate connection up front with Ademola Lookman and Charles De Ketelaere.

The 25-year-old also supplied the pass from which Ederson lashed in Atalanta’s third on the hour.

“I’m really happy, but not for myself, for the team, who played really well,” Retegui told DAZN.

“I can only thank everyone for how I’ve been treated over these first few months, I’m really happy.”

Retegui opened the scoring by sliding in Lookman’s low cross in the 24th minute and doubled the hosts’ lead five minutes after half-time when he reacted quickest to net on the rebound after Ederson’s shot was saved by Pierluigi Gollini.

He completed his hat-trick from the penalty spot in the 74th minute after Alessandro Vogliacco was penalised for handball, making up somewhat for his fluffed spot-kick which denied Atalanta an opening Champions League win over Arsenal last month.

Saturday’s convincing win came after another strong display on Wednesday, when Atalanta beat Shakhtar Donetsk 3-0 in Gelsenkirchen in Europe’s top club competition

Bundesliga: Careless Leverkusen held to draw

Bayer Leverkusen on Saturday suffered another early setback in their Bundesliga title defence as they let slip a two-goal lead to draw 2-2 with struggling Holstein Kiel.

Xabi Alonso’s side now have 11 points from six matches, giving Bayern Munich the chance to extend their advantage at the top when they travel to Eintracht Frankfurt on Sunday.

Victor Boniface put Leverkusen ahead at the BayArena after just four minutes with a left-footed shot from a tight angle.

Exequiel Palacios’ break forward had created the opener and the Argentinian was also involved in Leverkusen’s second goal four minutes later, passing to Jonas Hofmann on the edge of the area who coolly slotted home.

Win, Lose or Draw. Always behind us. 🙏🖤❤️#B04KSV pic.twitter.com/nSGb6o8fhm

— Bayer 04 Leverkusen (@bayer04_en) October 5, 2024

But Kiel pulled back a goal in first-half stoppage time, underlining the defensive frailties that have plagued Leverkusen this season, as Max Geschwill forced the ball into the net with his left shoulder. The goal was allowed to stand after a VAR check.

Leverkusen failed to hold onto their advantage in the second half and Jann-Fiete Arp pulled Kiel level from the penalty spot in the 69th minute and Leverkusen’s efforts to find a winning goal proved fruitless.

Leverkusen captain Lukas Hradecky said the side had lost some of the winning mentality that helped them wrest the title from Bayern last season.

“We were champions because we approached every game like crazy. Today I didn’t see the desire to kill the game,” the goalkeeper said.

“The lead came too quickly and too easily. You should never give up a 2-0 lead, regardless of whether you’re facing Holstein Kiel, AC Milan or Bayern,” Hradecky added.

In the capital, Union Berlin streaked into a 2-0 lead against Borussia Dortmund thanks to a penalty from Kevin Vogt and a goal from 23-year-old Belgian forward Yorbe Vertessen.

Norwegian international Julian Ryerson put Dortmund back in contention with a 62nd-minute strike but it was not enough as Dortmund crashed to a 2-1 defeat, leaving them with 10 points from a possible 18 this season.

In other games, Wolfsburg gained a valuable three points in a 3-1 win away to Bochum to lift themselves out of the relegation zone.

Werder Bremen lost 1-0 at home to Freiburg, who climbed to third.

In Saturday’s final game, Jonathan Burkardt scored twice as Mainz won 3-0 away to St Pauli.

Augsburg beat Borussia Moenchengladbach 2-1 in a mid-table clash on Friday.

On Sunday, RB Leipzig travel to Heidenheim, Bayern visit Frankfurt and then Stuttgart host Hoffenheim.