European football roundup: Newcastle United inflict first defeat on Arsenal; Bayern Munich thump Dortmund

Arsenal were beaten in the Premier League for the first time this season at Newcastle on Saturday as Bruno Fernandes’ stoppage time winner at Fulham eased the pressure on Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag. Manchester City moved to the top of the table with a 6-1 demolition of Bournemouth, but victory came at a cost for the English champions as Erling Haaland limped off with a twisted ankle. Newcastle shrugged off a mounting injury crisis to climb into the top six after winning a feisty encounter at St. James’ Park 1-0. Anthony Gordon’s controversial winner 25 minutes from time survived a VAR check for three different offences before it was finally awarded. Gabriel Magalhaes claimed he was fouled by Brazilian international teammate Joelinton before the ball broke for Gordon to smash into an empty net. A check for offside and whether the ball had gone out of play earlier in the move also proved inconclusive. Arsenal’s lack of a world class number nine in the absence of the injured Gabriel Jesus was exposed as they failed to muster a response against a makeshift Newcastle defence. - Fernandes comes good for Ten Hag - Ten Hag’s future at Old Trafford had come into question over the past week after consecutive 3-0 home defeats to City and Newcastle. United were again far from spectacular at Craven Cottage but got a much-needed three points thanks to captain Fernandes. The Portuguese midfielder’s shot from the edge of the area had just too much power for Fulham ‘keeper Bernd Leno as it squirmed into the bottom corner to secure 1-0 win. “He showed every time as a captain he is an example,” said Ten Hag. “You see today how he is working, how he is pressing and in the end he scored the goal.” - Doku stars for City - City, by contrast, cruised to their three points despite losing Haaland at half-time. Jeremy Doku was the star of the show as the Belgian winger opened the scoring and played a major role in four more goals. “He surprised all of us - he’s a great footballer,” said Pep Guardiola of Doku’s impact. “It’s incredible how he changes the rhythm in five metres. After that when he’s not able to dribble, he takes good decisions and I’m impressed by that." Bournemouth held out for 30 minutes at the Etihad, but the floodgates opened once Doku prodded into the far corner after exchanging a one-two with Rodri. Doku teed up Bernardo Silva to slot home and his shot then hit Manuel Akanji and flew past Andrei Radu in the Bournemouth goal. Haaland was not moving freely for the closing stages of the first half and the Norwegian striker did not reappear for the second period. His replacement Phil Foden got the fourth for Pep Guardiola’s men courtesy of another Doku assist 25 minutes from time. Luis Sinisterra pulled a goal back for Bournemouth. But City had the final say as Silva scooped home his second of the game with an audacious finish before Nathan Ake crashed in a diving header. - Maupay breaks drought - Brentford edged the game of the day as the Bees came from behind to beat West Ham 3-2. Neal Maupay ended a 45-game goal drought to put Brentford in front early on, but West Ham hit back to lead through Mohammed Kudus and Jarrod Bowen. Konstantinos Mavropanos’ own goal brought Thomas Frank’s men level once more before Nathan Collins’ towering header won the game 20 minutes from time. Sheffield United secured their first win back in the Premier League in dramatic fashion as Oliver Norwood’s 100th minute penalty beat Wolves 2-1. Victory is not enough to lift the Blades off the bottom of the table, but they move level on points with Burnley and within two points of safety. Burnley became the first Premier League side to ever lose their first six home games of the season as Crystal Palace won 2-0 at Turf Moor thanks to goals from Jeffrey Schlupp and Tyrick Mitchell. Everton were denied a third consecutive win for the first time since September 2021 as Ashley Young’s late own goal rescued a 1-1 draw for Brighton at Goodison Park. Tottenham, who began the weekend on top, are not in action until Monday when they host Chelsea. Bundesliga: Harry Kane hits hat-trick as Bayern thrash Dortmund [caption id=“attachment_13349822” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Bayern’s Harry Kane celebrates after scoring against Borussia Dortmund in the Bundesliga. AP[/caption] Harry Kane scored a hat-trick as Bayern Munich thrashed Borussia Dortmund 4-0 away on Saturday, closing the gap with leaders Bayer Leverkusen to two points. Bayern captain Manuel Neuer lauded his striker, telling German TV “that’s his experience, he brought it with him to the Bundesliga from England and he shows us it week after week.” “We’ve got some quick guys up front and with them we really hurt Dortmund.” Stung by a midweek German Cup elimination by third-division Saarbruecken, Leverkusen’s 3-2 win at Hoffenheim on Saturday meant injury-hit Bayern were five points behind Xabi Alonso’s side at kickoff. The visitors however crafted the perfect response, scoring two goals in the opening nine minutes to grab a hold on the match. France centre-back Dayot Upamecano, cleared to play just hours before the match after missing a month with a hamstring injury, headed Bayern in front four minutes in from a Leroy Sane pass. The former Man City winger laid on Bayern’s second on the counter, slipping a perfect pass across the face of goal for Kane to tap in. Bayern coach Thomas Tuchel said after the match “we had confidence because we have quality” despite the Cup defeat. “We knew what we could do, and we had enough confidence to put a plan in place.” Unbeaten at home for more than a year, Dortmund were shellshocked by the power of the supposedly weakened visiting side. Dortmund manager Edin Terzic made four changes early in the second-half as his side hoped to chase the game but Bayern scored next, Kane stroking in a controlled finish with 15 minutes remaining. “The way we played during the week, it was bitter” Neuer said of the German Cup loss “but we showed what we can do today.” “Bayern were simply more aggressive in the duels and simply more dangerous on the counter attack” said Dortmund ‘keeper Gregor Kobel, who made several key saves early in the second half. The England captain scored again in injury time and now has 15 league goals in 10 matches since joining Bayern from Tottenham in the summer. Billed as Germany’s equivalent to La Liga’s ’el Clasico’ between Real Madrid and Barcelona, Bayern have not lost to Dortmund in the league since 2018. - Leverkusen on top - Earlier on Saturday, goals in each half from Alex Grimaldo took Bayer Leverkusen to a 3-2 win at Hoffenheim. Unbeaten Leverkusen, who have now won nine and drawn one in the league, made difficult work of the win, allowing Hoffenheim to score twice in two minutes to let a 2-0 lead slip. The visitors re-took the lead thanks to a late Grimaldo goal. “I gave Grimaldo a kiss,” said Leverkusen goalkeeper Lukas Hradecky, whose howler let Hoffenheim back in the game. “Last year we would not have won this game.” Florian Wirtz scored first after just nine minutes, tapping in a Victor Boniface assist, with Grimaldo scoring from a set piece just before half-time. With Leverkusen cruising, goalkeeper Hradecky hit a low pass while roaming well outside his box and Anton Stach took advantage of the error by driving a long-range shot home. Former Manchester United striker Wout Weghorst unleashed a stunner just two minutes later to bring the home side level but Grimaldo curled in the winner with 20 minutes remaining, his fifth league goal of the season since arriving from Benfica in the summer. “That was a fight” Wirtz told Sky. “We did it hard… but wins like that are also nice.” Union Berlin’s woes continued ahead of Wednesday’s Champions League visit to Napoli, losing 3-0 at home to Eintracht Frankfurt thanks to a first-half double from Omar Marmoush and a late strike from Nacho Ferri. The loss, Union’s 12th in a row in all competitions, means the side has now tasted defeat eight times so far this season – equal to their final total at the end of the last campaign. “It’s difficult to talk about being in a relegation battle,” said captain Christopher Trimmel, “but we simply need to do it.” Elsewhere, Mainz won their first match of the season, shocking RB Leipzig 2-0 at home thanks to goals from Lee Jae-sung and Leandro Barriero, just days after sacking manager Bo Svensson. Freiburg fought back from 3-1 down to draw 3-3 at home to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Italy midfielder Vincenzo scoring a penalty in the sixth minute of injury time to level the scores. Cologne were held 1-1 at home to Augsburg, meaning Steffen Baumgart’s side will finish the match in last place. LaLiga: Barcelona snatch ‘inexplicable’ win at Real Sociedad, Girona go top [caption id=“attachment_13349832” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Ronald Araujo scored in stoppage time to give Barcelona an unlikely win against Real Sociedad in LaLiga. AP[/caption] Barcelona coach Xavi Hernandez said football is “inexplicable” after Ronald Araujo’s 92nd minute winner snatched Barcelona an undeserved 1-0 victory at Real Sociedad on Saturday in La Liga. Having suffered a last-gasp defeat by Real Madrid in the Clasico last Saturday despite having the better of the game, Xavi’s side inflicted the same suffering on Real Sociedad in San Sebastian. Barcelona failed to create any clear chances until the final stages, with their goalkeeper Marc-Andre Ter Stegen keeping the score level, before Araujo headed Ilkay Gundogan’s cross home with seconds remaining. The victory takes Barcelona third, two points above Atletico Madrid, who lost on Friday at Las Palmas, and one point behind second place Real Madrid, who host Rayo Vallecano on Sunday. Girona provisionally lead La Liga by three points from Los Blancos after they came from behind to beat Osasuna 4-2 earlier Saturday. “It tastes spectacular,” Xavi told Movistar after Araujo’s late winner. “Football sometimes is inexplicable – last week we deserved to win and ended up losing, now (we) don’t deserve to win, and end up winning.” Madrid midfielder Jude Bellingham’s double inflicted Barcelona’s first league defeat and Xavi said the team were still reeling from it as La Real outplayed them. “Maybe we came out with a post-Clasico hangover… we didn’t have the intensity that we wanted,” added Xavi. The coach brought Robert Lewandowski into the Barca starting line-up after he made his return from injury as a substitute against Madrid. However the Polish forward was just as quiet as he was last weekend as the game passed him and Barcelona by for large periods. Real Sociedad pushed the Catalans back through the first half, carving out by far the better chances but were unable to find the opener. Within the first 30 seconds Ander Barrenetxea called Ter Stegen into action, and Barcelona’s German goalkeeper was under the cosh as the hosts rampaged forward. Real Sociedad remained on top after the break but Barcelona found more stability, tightening up at the back and closing off some of the space Barrenetxea and Kubo enjoyed earlier on. Pedri made his comeback from injury in the second half, replacing Lewandowski for his first appearance since August, as Xavi sought more control. The champions produced their first genuine chance in stoppage time when Pedri cleverly slipped in Gavi, but Remiro denied the midfielder. Their chance to steal the points seemed to have vanished but centre-back Araujo popped up in the right place at the right time to pull off the heist. “These are three very important points after coming from the Clasico, which we lost playing well,” Araujo told Movistar. The defeat leaves Real Sociedad sixth, after Real Betis beat Mallorca to rise above them. “Generally we were better then them, we didn’t put away our chances and they scored the one they had,” Real Sociedad forward Mikel Oyarzabal told Movistar. “I think it’s worse to lose without showing up, to lose without playing well… if you have to lose, I prefer to lose like this.” - Girona top - Earlier Girona continued their stunning start to the season with a late comeback to beat Osasuna and take pole position. Ivan Martin sent the visitors ahead but Osasuna striker Ante Budimir netted twice to turn the game on its head. Ukrainian duo Artem Dovbyk and Viktor Tsygankov both struck for Girona to put them back in front and Aleix Garcia wrapped up the win late on, their 10th victory in 12 league games. However Girona coach Michel said his club were not competing with Spain’s big three, but instead the other sides aspiring to establish themselves in the top four. “We’re not in the league of Barca, Madrid and Atleti, but we will fight to be in the league of those coming in behind them,” said Michel. “I dream of that, being in the league of La Real (Sociedad), Athletic, Rayo… now, yes, I dream of that league.” Elsewhere Real Betis earned a comfortable 2-0 win at home over Real Mallorca. French playmaker Nabil Fekir appeared as a substitute for Betis to make his return from a knee ligament injury which has kept him out since February. Rafa Benitez’s Celta Vigo remained in the relegation zone after Youssef En-Nesyri struck late to secure a 1-1 draw for Sevilla at Balaidos. Serie A: Lautaro Martinez fires Inter past Atalanta Lautaro Martinez scored the winning goal as Serie A leaders Inter Milan edged Atalanta 2-1 away in a rain-lashed slog in Bergamo on Saturday. Inter are now five points clear of Juventus and six ahead of AC Milan, who slipped to a 1-0 home defeat to Udinese, after showing relentless spirit despite the conditions playing havoc with the run of the ball. The away side suffered an early blow when French central defender Benjamin Pavard limped off in the first half. Hakan Calhanoglu lifted their spirits with a confidently converted spot-kick on 40 minutes sending Inter into a welcome half-time break from the rain. The fiesty Martinez ripped a curling shot round two defenders and into the top corner with an impressive effort on 57 minutes. Inter lost ‘keeper Andre Onana to Manchester United in the close season but replaced him with Swiss stopper Yann Sommer, who produced an assured performance with his saves, calls and mobility. Former West Ham player Gianluca Scammaca was fortunate to see his pullback goal stand after a foul in the build-up, but at 2-1 it was game on again until Rafaele Toloi was given a straight red card late on. After a tricky test, Inter can look forward to Wednesday’s Champions League game at Salzburg, where a victory would send them through to the last 16. Reigning Italian champions Napoli beat southern neighbours Salernitana 2-0 earlier on Saturday to climb provisionally into the top four. Inter, Juventus and Milan are all still ahead of the champions, but Napoli appear to be putting early season jitters behind them as French coach Rudi Garci starts to make his mark. This could have been a mismatch with bottom side Salernitana winless so far this season. Napoli, who host Union Berlin in the Champions League in midweek, were without injured Nigerian forward Victor Osimhen. In his absence Giacomo Raspadori slotted home on 13 minutes and Macedonian winger Eljif Elmas assured the win on 82 minutes with a curling shot after an impressive burst down the left. If AC Milan were hoping for a confidence boost before the visit of Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League on Tuesday, they were disappointed as they went down to Roberto Pereyra’s 62nd-minute penalty at the San Siro. Milan poured into attack looking for an equaliser but were unable to find an opening as Udinese claimed all three points.