Barcelona regain lead in La Liga
PSG drop first points in French league against a gritty Bordeaux
Barcelona retook the lead of the Spanish league on Sunday after beating Villarreal 2-0 while Sevilla was held to a draw at Alaves.
Barcelona’s first win in three rounds left it one point above second-placed Sevilla, which rallied to a 1-1 draw at fourthplaced Alaves.
Injury-depleted Barcelona got goals from Gerard Pique and rarely used reserve player Carles Alena in each half at Camp Nou.
With the hosts missing striker Luis Suarez, France forward Ousmane Dembele led Barcelona with his speedy incursions from the right flank.
Dembele crossed for Pique to head in his 36th-minute opener. The defender sent the ball off the turf and past goalkeeper Sergio Asenjo, who got a hand on the ball but couldn’t keep it out.
Sunday’s matches: La Liga
1 Real Sociedad Atletico Madrid Villarreal 0 1 0 1
Lionel Messi was the playmaker in the 87th for Alena, who had come on for Arturo Vidal.
Sevilla couldn’t hold on to first place in the standings that they won last round. Jonathan Rodriguez stabbed in a cross by Jonathan Calleri to give Alaves the lead in the 37th. Sevilla needed playmaker Pablo Sarabia to come off the bench to help rescue a point, crossing for Wissam Ben Yedder to level in the 78th. Alaves are undefeated in all seven home matches this season.
Pegged back
Atletico Madrid needed a late own-goal to salvage a 1-1 draw to remain in third place, three points behind Barcelona.
Paris St Germain, meanwhile, dropped their first points of the Ligue 1 season as Girondins de Bordeaux held the visiting champions to a 2-2 draw and halted the longest winning run in Europe’s top five leagues.
Despite twice holding the lead with goals in either half from Neymar and Kylian Mbappe, PSG were pegged back by an 84th minute equaliser to see their perfect 14-match start to the campaign ended.
The result, though, did little to change the picture at the top of the league, with runaway leaders PSG sitting atop the table with 43 points from 15 matches, 14 clear of secondplaced Montpellier.