Sergio Ramos own goal sends Barcelona top while Dortmund see off Hoffenheim
Barcelona moved top of La Liga with a 1-0 home win over Sevilla on Friday after Sergio Ramos accidentally bundled the ball into his own net in the second half.
Ramos, a former Real Madrid captain playing his old rivals Barcelona again for the first time since 2020, was helpless when he attempted to block a cross from 16-year-old Lamine Yamal and saw the ball creep over the line in the 76th minute. The 37-year-old, who once held young Yamal’s hand in the tunnel when the Barça forward was a club mascot, received a hostile welcome when his early touches were met with jeers from the home fans.
But a loud cheer rang out at the Montjuic Olympic Stadium, Barca’s temporary home ground, after the 37year-old’s own goal. The result moved Barca one point clear of Girona, who are second with a game in hand, while Sevilla are 12th.
Ramos returned to Sevilla, his boyhood club, this month after leaving Paris
Saint-Germain.
This was the first outing from Barcelona since they came under formal investigation for suspected long-running bribery of the country’s refereeing committee earlier this week.
Borussia Dortmund battled past hosts Hoffenheim 3-1 with veteran
Marco Reus on target for a third straight Bundesliga game as they provisionally climbed to the top of the standings.
Dortmund’s third consecutive league win lifted them to 14 points, one ahead of Bayer Leverkusen and Bayern Munich, who are in action on Saturday. The visitors, who face Milan in the Champions League next week, took an 18th-minute lead after a defensive error and with Niclas Füllkrug slotting home for his first goal of the season.
Andrej Kramaric scored with a 25thminute penalty for a deserved equaliser but Dortmund went into the break 2-1 with Reus slotting in after keeper Oliver Baumann spilled a cutback into his path.
Hoffenheim got off to a strong start in the second half and hit the crossbar with a superb Robert Skov freekick, with Dortmund down to 10 following the dismissal of Ramy Bensebaini with a second booking in the 71st. But it was Dortmund who scored again with Julian Ryerson’s scintillating 70-metre stoppage-time sprint that snapped Hoffenheim’s four-game winning run.