Inter and Juventus exchanged remarkable home victories, while dominant Roma were held to a draw at home by Milan

Lady Gaga’s electropop banger Born This Way is 15 years old, but by the standards of some Serie A stadium DJs that makes it positively modern. Thumping out at the Olimpico on Sunday night it somehow felt timely. Roma were on the right track, baby, after a first half in which they thoroughly dominated Milan.

The expected goals counter had them up by 1.8 to 0.02. Sure, the actual scoreboard still showed 0-0, but the way Donyell Malen kept making space for himself inside the box was enough to convince fans his swaggering debut against Torino seven days before could be no flash in the pan.

• Three second-half goals put Barça back on top

• Juventus beat Napoli to leave title challenge in tatters

Barcelona capitalised on two defensive mistakes by bottom-of-the-table Real Oviedo to seal a 3-0 victory at a rain-drenched Camp Nou, regaining top spot in La Liga. Goals from Dani Olmo, Raphinha and, acrobatically, Lamine Yamal powered the Catalan club to 52 points, one ahead of Real Madrid, while Atlético Madrid trail in third on 44.

Barça struggled to break the deadlock against a spirited Oviedo until they finally found the breakthrough in the 52nd minute, with Olmo striking home following a defensive lapse. Five minutes later, Oviedo’s struggles deepened, with the defender David Costas under-hitting a back-pass, which Raphinha intercepted before calmly chipping the onrushing Aarón Escandell in Oviedo’s goal to double Barcelona’s lead. Lamine Yamal wrapped up Barça’s win by scoring in the 73rd minute with a brilliant acrobatic volley from an Olmo cross.

Gian Piero Gasperini is clearly a fan of the on-loan Aston Villa forward who shone in their 2-0 victory at Torino

Was it even a real quote, or only an approximation, a convenient lead-in to columns such as this? After Donyell Malen put the ball in the net for the second time in the first half-hour of his Roma debut, a member of his new team’s coaching staff was reportedly heard asking: “ma chi abbiamo preso?” – who on earth have we just signed?

Nobody would clarify who said this, and frankly it did not matter. The phrase was now canon, repeated in commentary and churned across the oceans of online news aggregation. It resonated because Roma’s supporters were asking the same question of a player who arrived from Aston Villa two days before.

• La Liga lead cut to one point after surprise 2-1 defeat

• Füllkrug scores first goal in Italy since leaving West Ham

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.

• Roma have £21.6m option to buy forward

• Winger Ta Bi arrives from Maccabi Netanya

Donyell Malen has left Aston Villa after only a year with the club to join Roma. The Serie A side have signed Malen on loan with an option to buy.

The loan fee is reported to be £1.7m, with the fee should the deal be made permanent understood to be £21.6m. That will only come into force should certain conditions are met.

After attacks on immigrants’ homes, groups patrol the streets to intimidate potential victims, who try to keep a low profile

When a mob stormed a neighbourhood in Ballymena last summer to expel families from their homes, a chilling shout echoed around the narrow streets: “Where are the foreigners?”

The hunt for immigrants in the Northern Ireland town prompted Poles, Bulgarians, Filipinos, Nigerians and other nationalities to flee or barricade their doors. Police called the outburst of hate an attempted pogrom, one that made headlines around the world.

• David’s failed Panenka costs Juventus against Lecce

• Chelsea target Rosenior’s Strasbourg draw at Nice

The Barcelona manager Hansi Flick hailed Joan García as one of the best goalkeepers in the world after the former Espanyol player delivered a decisive performance against his old club in the Catalan derby on Saturday.

García was instrumental in Barcelona’s 2-0 victory, producing a series of outstanding saves, with the league leaders extending their lead at the top of the La Liga standings to seven points.

Lisbon court rules the posters could incite hatred and tells party leader Andre Ventura to remove them within 24 hours

The leader of Portugal’s far-right Chega party has been ordered to remove street posters attacking the Roma community, after a Lisbon court ruled they were discriminatory and could incite hatred.

Judge Ana Barao said the posters’ wording “attacks an ethnic minority” and she gave Andre Ventura 24 hours to remove them or face a daily fine of €2,500 (£2,200) per poster.

• Mbappé makes it 59 goals in a year in win over Sevilla

• Juventus stay in Serie A race with 2-1 win over Roma

Kylian Mbappé equalled Cristiano Ronaldo’s record of 59 goals in a calendar year for Real Madrid with a late penalty in his side’s 2-0 home win over Sevilla in La Liga on Saturday, the French forward celebrating his 27th birthday in style.

Mbappé missed several earlier chances before getting his chance from the spot four minutes from time and he made no mistake to net his 59th goal in as many games across all competitions in 2025 to level Ronaldo’s 2013 haul.

Two matches is not an adequate window in which to judge a manager. Nonetheless, these are worrying times for Wilfried Nancy and Celtic. Seriously worrying, in truth.

Back-to-back losses since the Frenchman’s arrival would be bad enough without the rampant manner in which Roma ensured six points from six in visits to Glasgow during this season’s Europa League. What a canter this proved from minute one.

• García and Carreras sent off, Swedberg double for Vigo

• Napoli move top of Serie A after Højlund sinks Juventus

Real Madrid suffered a shock 2-0 loss and finished with nine men against Celta Vigo in La Liga on Sunday after Williot Swedberg scored an audacious goal with his heel and a second in stoppage time to leave the hosts four points off leaders Barcelona.

Swedberg cleverly diverted a cross from Bryan Zaragoza past Thibaut Courtois in the 53rd minute to put Celta ahead and had an easy finish three minutes into added time, going around the goalkeeper to wrap up the points.

No team in Serie A have collected more points this year, so the Giallorossi remain upbeat in a stacked title battle

Gian Piero Gasperini was a victim of mistaken identity last week, after an Italian news story about a man who allegedly impersonated his dead mother to collect her pension was picked up by media outlets around the world. Roma’s manager has no connection to any of this, yet one Argentinian broadcaster included an old photo of him in their coverage.

The segment for Telefe Noticias showed Gasperini’s face between those of the accused and the deceased. A silly meme, circulated by football fans on social media to imply some (dubious) resemblance, had been confused as being authentic. The online version of the video was quickly taken down from YouTube, but not before it created a fresh set of headlines back in Italy.

• Roma claim 3-1 away victory to maintain league form

• Teenager Ouédraogo scores in victory for RB Leipzig

Roma gave themselves a chance of finishing the weekend top of Serie A with a 3-1 win at Cremonese, where the Irish striker Evan Ferguson came off the bench and ended his almost 13-month goal drought at club level.

Roma are on 27 points, two points ahead of Napoli who beat Atalanta 3-1 on Saturday, with Inter third on 24 points going into their home derby with Milan on Sunday night. Cremonese are 12th in the standings on 14 points.

• Barcelona beat Elche after last weekend’s clásico defeat

• Last-gasp own goal hands Inter fortunate win at Verona

Goals from Lamine Yamal, Ferran Torres and Marcus Rashford guided Barcelona to a 3-1 victory over Elche on Sunday, propelling the defending champions to second place in La Liga with 25 points, five adrift of the leaders, Real Madrid.

Looking to bounce back after their 2-1 loss to Madrid in last weekend’s clásico, Barcelona wasted no time in asserting their dominance at Montjuïc’s Olympic Stadium. They made the most of two defensive errors by Elche in the opening minutes to grab a two-goal lead with strikes by Lamine Yamal and Torres in the ninth and 11th minutes.