Real Madrid leapfrogged Barcelona at the summit of LaLiga as goals from Karim Benzema, Federico Valverde and Rodrygo sealed a 3-1 triumph in El Clasico on Sunday.

Barca had conceded just one goal in eight league games this season prior to the visit to the Santiago Bernabeu, but two clinical finishes from Benzema and Valverde saw them two goals down at the interval.

Xavi's side pulled one back with seven minutes remaining through Ferran Torres, but the hosts restored their two-goal advantage in stoppage time courtesy of Rodrygo's penalty.

The result marked Barca's first league defeat of the campaign, with victory for Los Blancos moving them three points clear of their great rivals at the top of the table.

Madrid went ahead in the 12th minute when Benzema fired home from 12 yards via a deflection from Sergi Roberto after Marc-Andre ter Stegen had raced off his line to deny Vinicius Junior.

Barca were presented with a golden opportunity to restore parity in the 25th minute, yet a stretching Robert Lewandowski somehow managed to scoop the ball over the crossbar from just a few yards out following Raphinha's cross.

Xavi's men were punished for that miss 10 minutes before the interval when Valverde whipped into Ter Stegen's bottom-right corner from 20 yards.

Benzema thought he had scored a wonderful second shortly after half-time, but his curled effort from 20 yards was ruled out for offside.

Substitute Torres reduced the deficit with a simple finish at the back post after superb work from Ansu Fati, yet Rodrygo wrapped the win up for Madrid from the spot after he had been tripped by Eric Garcia – the decision given following a VAR review.

 

Brooks Koepka edged out Peter Uihlein in a play-off to clinch the final individual prize of the inaugural LIV Golf Invitational Series on Sunday.

Two birdies on Koepka's front nine in Jeddah set him up well to push on for glory, but the American slipped up after the turn at Royal Greens Golf and Country Club.

A birdie on the 10th was followed by three successive bogeys, and though Koepka recovered to birdie on the 15th and the last to finish at 12 under par, he had provided his rivals with an opportunity to catch up.

Overnight leader Uihlein was one of those to take advantage, with a clean back nine seeing the 33-year-old bounce back from carding two double bogeys earlier on in his round, with his final score of 70 enough to force a play-off with Smash GC team-mate Koepka.

While it was good news for Smash GC, who secured a six-shot win to boost their form ahead of the Team Championship in Miami later this month, there had to be a loser, and after three holes with no give, Uihlein found a bunker.

Having rescued himself from a similar situation on the previous play-off hole, this time Uihlein could only clip a shot into the water, handing four-time major winner Koepka the chance to putt for victory.

"The last two years – they haven't been fun," an emotional Koepka said.

"So it's been a long road, I'm super excited. My whole team, we got the band back together a couple of months ago, this is for them.

"I didn't know if my career was over, for a half-second. I wasn't sure when I was going to play. It's nice to come back and win."

Joaquin Niemann went round in 65 to finish one shot behind the leading pair, tied with Sergio Garcia.

Inaugural LIV Golf champion Dustin Johnson came in at 10 under, alongside Matthew Wolff, while Bernd Wiesberger joined Niemann in recording 65.

Bukayo Saka was Arsenal's match-winner once again and Patrick Bamford endured a nightmare as the Premier League leaders secured a dramatic 1-0 win at Leeds United.

The Gunners would have been braced for a typically energetic start from Leeds, but play was suspended less than two minutes after it started as a power cut was affecting Hawk-Eye and communications between referee Chris Kavanagh and the VAR.

The in-form Saka gave the Gunners a first-half lead with his fourth goal in three matches after the game resumed following a delay of around 40 minutes.

Arsenal rode their luck to secure a seventh consecutive victory in all competitions, half-time substitute Bamford having a goal disallowed and missing a penalty.

Leeds were then awarded another spot-kick in stoppage time and Gabriel Magalhaes was shown a red card for kicking out at Bamford, but referee Kavanagh overturned his decision following a VAR check as the striker had pushed the Brazil defender – who was instead issued with a yellow card – before he lashed out.

 

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp named Darwin Nunez and Trent Alexander-Arnold on the bench as his team prepared to face Manchester City in the Premier League.

Despite scoring in each of his last two appearances, Nunez made way in the Liverpool attack, along with Fabio Carvalho, following the 7-1 Champions League win at Rangers. Diogo Jota and Ibrox hat-trick hero Mohamed Salah came in.

Alexander-Arnold had been expected to miss Sunday's fixture entirely after suffering an ankle injury in the 3-2 loss at Arsenal, but he was surprisingly among the substitutes for the clash at Anfield.

James Milner got the nod to start at right-back in place of centre-back Ibrahima Konate, who missed out through injury, meaning Joe Gomez moved inside to partner Virgil van Dijk in the middle.

There were two more changes from the thrashing of Rangers as Jordan Henderson and Kostas Tsimikas were replaced by Thiago Alcantara and Andy Robertson.

City made five changes following their 0-0 draw in Copenhagen, with Ruben Dias, Nathan Ake, Phil Foden, Bernardo Silva and Erling Haaland coming in for Aymeric Laporte, Sergio Gomez, Riyad Mahrez, Jack Grealish and Julian Alvarez.

Manchester United's top-four hopes suffered another setback as they were held to a 0-0 draw by Newcastle United at Old Trafford.

United are now three points adrift of fourth-placed Chelsea after an uninspiring performance in which they rarely looked like breaking Newcastle down prior to a flurry in the closing minutes.

Eddie Howe's visitors earlier had the better chances, with Joelinton twice frustrated by the frame of the goal, and have still only suffered one defeat this season after surviving a late scare.

Newcastle remain a point behind the Red Devils in sixth, with Sunday's showing the latest sign they will be persistent challengers to the 'big six' in the years to come.

The Magpies were in the ascendancy from the early stages, with the best United could muster in the opening exchanges a speculative effort from Jadon Sancho that sailed over the crossbar.

Newcastle would have taken the lead in the 24th minute if not for the woodwork, which denied Joelinton twice in quick succession after Kieran Tripper’s blocked free-kick broke to him in the box. His first header was repelled by the bar and his second the post.

United did create a clear-cut opening seven minutes before half-time, but Antony’s near-post effort was easily kept out by Nick Pope.

Erik ten Hag's team were more dangerous after the break. Cristiano Ronaldo had the ball in the net but was correctly flagged for offside, and he and Sancho had penalty appeals waved away.

There were few moments of concern for Newcastle thereafter until Marcus Rashford sprung the offside trap, rounded an advancing Pope and squared only for Fred to incredibly skew wide of an open goal.

Rashford could have settled it himself in the final minute of injury time but sent his close-range header the wrong side of Pope's right-hand post.

Mason Mount's double and a Kepa Arrizabalaga masterclass saw Chelsea beat Aston Villa 2-0 to extend their unbeaten run under Graham Potter.

Mount scored in each half of Sunday's Premier League encounter at Villa Park, yet Chelsea were fortunate to hold their advantage in-between thanks to a dynamite performance from their goalkeeper.

Kepa made a string of wonderful save before half-time, with his stop from a close-range Danny Ings header the highlight.

Steven Gerrard, meanwhile, will lament errors from Tyrone Mings and Kepa's opposite number Emiliano Martinez, though the pressure is growing on Villa's boss.

Mings made a mess of a clearance to gift Mount the chance to open the scoring six minutes in, with the playmaker calmly slotting past Martinez, but Chelsea had their backs to the wall for much of the first half.

Leon Bailey hit the crossbar with a header and Kepa came to Chelsea's salvation with a superb double save, keeping out John McGinn's strike before tipping Jacob Ramsey's follow-up onto the post.

Ings hit another rebound against the upright from an offside position in that flurry, and he was thwarted by Kepa 10 minutes later – the Spaniard acrobatically tipping the striker's header over.

Raheem Sterling hit the bar at the other end before the break, but any hope Villa had was extinguished when Mount's dipping long-range free-kick, conceded by Mings, dropped in over Martinez, who should have done far better.

A miserable day for Mings concluded with a calf injury, though he battled through to full time, which was greeted by jeers from the Villa fans that had not already made their exit.

Lautaro Martinez believes Sunday's 2-0 win over Salernitana proved Inter have matured as a result of honest conversations that occurred in the changing room during their difficult run.

Their win at San Siro made it four games unbeaten across all competitions for the Nerazzurri, though that run followed a sequence of five defeats in 10 at the start of the season.

Before Sunday's game, Inter defender Alessandro Bastoni told Sky Italia their recent improvement came after purposeful talks among the players behind the scenes.

Bastoni indicated Inter came to understand there were too many players complaining about others, with this realisation helping force a change in attitude.

While Martinez – scorer of the first goal on Sunday – did not want to elaborate on specifics, he feels Inter are past their issues.

"What we say in the locker room stays there," he said to Sky Italia. "We talked a lot after the defeats, we started working and it shows on the pitch.

"This victory means that we have grown and matured after the match against Barcelona at home.

"We are fine, we have to continue like this."

Asked if Inter are "back", he added: "We are on the right path, we have moved on."

Inter's early season struggles led to head coach Simone Inzaghi coming under pressure, though he insists he was never particularly concerned, well aware such scrutiny is to be expected in his job.

He said: "It is normal that things weren't working out, we looked at 84 points last year as a defeat, behind Milan.

"We come from three wins and a draw – what I look at now is on the field. There are pressures and there always will be – I know what job I'm doing.

"We had control of this match from the start to the end. We have to continue like this, things are going well and they have to get better."

Andrey Rublev defeated Sebastian Korda in straight sets in Sunday's Gijon Open final to land his 12th ATP Tour title.

The Russian had already prevailed in Belgrade, Dubai and Marseille this year and added another crown to his collection with a 6-2 6-3 victory against Korda in 75 minutes.

Top seed Rublev had dropped only one set in his three matches en route to the final and impressed against Korda with 29 winners, three breaks and just four unforced errors.

Korda, seeking a second Tour-level trophy following success in Parma last year, had his serve broken in the fourth and eighth games of the opening set.

Some heavy-hitting exchanges kept spectators gripped, though Rublev proved too strong for Korda in the second set and earned the only break in the sixth game.

Rublev got over the line with his fourth match point and remains sixth in the chase for an ATP Finals spot, with four of those ahead of him already qualified, along with Novak Djokovic. 

Sunday's Premier League clash between Leeds United and leaders Arsenal was suspended soon after it started due to technical issues following a power cut at Elland Road.

The game had only been under way for a couple of minutes when referee Chris Kavanagh brought it to a halt, having lost contact with the VAR and also being unable to use goal-line technology.

Following a lengthy spell on the field attempting to keep warm, both sets of players were told to return to the dressing rooms by referee Kavanagh.

Leeds tweeted: "The game is temporarily suspended, after a power cut causes issues with the referee's communications systems."

Arsenal arrived in Yorkshire looking for a seventh consecutive win in all competitions to go four points clear ahead of second-placed Manchester City's trip to Liverpool later in the day.

Sunday's Premier League clash between Leeds United and leaders Arsenal was temporarily suspended soon after it started due to technical issues following a power cut at Elland Road.

The game had only been under way for a couple of minutes when referee Chris Kavanagh brought it to a halt, having lost contact with the VAR and also being unable to use goal-line technology.

Following a lengthy spell on the field attempting to keep warm, both sets of players were told to return to the dressing rooms by referee Kavanagh.

Leeds tweeted: "The game is temporarily suspended, after a power cut causes issues with the referee's communications systems."

Play in Yorkshire resumed around 30 minutes later, with Arsenal looking for a seventh consecutive win in all competitions to go four points clear ahead of second-placed Manchester City's trip to Liverpool later in the day.

Xavi brought Jules Kounde straight back into Barcelona's team for Sunday's Clasico clash with Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu.

Kounde, a big-money signing from Sevilla, returned to training earlier this week after recovering from a hamstring issue sustained on international duty with France in September.

His return to the starting XI, which marks his Clasico debut, came at the expense of Gerard Pique, who was culpable for one of Inter's goals in Wednesday's 3-3 draw in the Champions League, which left Barca on the brink of an early exit from the competition.

Frenkie de Jong also came into the team, replacing Gavi, while Marcos Alonso made way for Alejandro Balde at left-back.

Xavi stuck with the same front three that started against Inter, with Ousmane Dembele and Raphinha flanking Robert Lewandowski, the latter two, like Kounde, making their Clasico debuts.

Lewandowski has scored six goals in eight meetings with Real Madrid, all in the Champions League, making him the player who has scored the most goals against Los Blancos in the history of that competition.

Sergio Busquets, meanwhile, will equal Francisco Gento (21 wins) as the player with the most victories in Clasico history in all competitions should Barca win.

Carlo Ancelotti was unable to call on goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois, who has failed to recover from injury in time to feature for the hosts, so Andriy Lunin retained his place.

Ancelotti was otherwise able to name what many would consider a first-choice XI, spearheaded by Karim Benzema, who has been involved in 20 goals in 38 Clasicos, a record only bettered by Lionel Messi in the 21st century (40).
 

Six-time MotoGP champion Marc Marquez said he would not wish Alex Rins well as the latter prepares to join Honda from Suzuki next season.

The pair were involved in another tight last-lap duel at the Australian Grand Prix on Sunday, with Rins - set to join LCR Honda in 2023 - emerging victorious after holding off the Repsol Honda man.

Marquez, who picked up his 100th podium in the premier class, said he would not offer any advice to his fellow Spaniard though, stating it would be "fake" to offer him his wishes as he will still be his rival.

"I will not give any advice," he said. "For me it is another opponent. It's good that joining Honda is one world champion [Joan Mir] and one rider that is winning races with another manufacturer. 

"Like this we will see exactly the level. I'm working really hard for the 2023 project with Honda and they are working really, really hard too. 

"I don’t say I wish [him] the best. He is another opponent, if not it would be fake."

Inter clinched their third win in four games as they comfortably beat Salernitana 2-0 at San Siro.

Simone Inzaghi had come under pressure after a shaky start to the season saw Inter lose five of their first 10 matches, but they are now unbeaten in four and built on Wednesday's promising 3-3 draw away to Barcelona with three points in Serie A.

Lautaro Martinez's long-range effort gave Inter a first-half lead on Sunday, and although the hosts struggled to add to that initially, Salernitana rarely looked capable of posing much of a threat.

A brilliant Nicolo Barella goal put Inter in complete control just before the hour, ensuring the Nerazzurri moved to within two points of the top four for at least a few hours.

The visitors' resistance lasted just 13 minutes as Martinez's 25-yard strike bobbled awkwardly on its way past Luigi Sepe and into the bottom-left corner.

Edin Dzeko headed agonisingly wide as Inter looked to put the game beyond Salernitana, before Sepe kept out Milan Skriniar's powerful close-range effort.

But Inter's best opportunity to double the lead before the break came on the stroke of half-time – Martinez missed the ball as he tried to backheel Denzel Dumfries' pass goalwards, with Sepe saving a point-blank header when the Argentinian was offered a fortunate reprieve.

Boulaye Dia forced Inter goalkeeper Andre Onana into action early in the second half, but the points were wrapped up four minutes later.

Barella brought Hakan Calhanoglu's pinpoint pass down exquisitely in the box before flicking the ball past a defender and drilling left-footed into the bottom-right corner to seal a routine triumph.

What does it mean? – Inzaghi building positivity again

It was not so long ago that Inzaghi looked in real danger of losing his job. He certainly is not out of the woods yet, but things are going in the right direction.

With three wins and a draw – which itself was very nearly a victory – in the past 12 days, Inter are beginning to look a little more like their usual selves.

While this may not have been a spectacular performance, you have to credit the professionalism in Inter's display. Salernitana hardly threatened at all.

Calhanoglu pulls the strings

Much of what was good about Inter's performance stemmed from Calhanoglu. The Turkey international's four key passes led the match, and he also got an assist for Barella's goal with that wonderful long-range pass into the box.

Piatek virtually anonymous

Former Milan forward Krzysztof Piatek was particularly quiet for Salernitana. He probably was not helped by being seemingly shunted out to the right, but even then he might have been a bit more involved. The Poland international was unsurprisingly withdrawn just after Inter's second goal, having had just one attempt, though he did get it on target at least.

What's next?

Inter go to Fiorentina on Saturday, while Salernitana host Spezia the same day.

Diego Simeone has suggested Atletico Madrid were never interested in offering Cristiano Ronaldo a route out of Manchester United due to his association with Real Madrid.

Atletico were one of a number of European clubs, along with the likes of Bayern Munich, Chelsea and Napoli, to have been linked with the United forward in the transfer window.

Simeone remained quiet on the speculation at the time, though supporters made their thoughts clear by unfurling a "CR7 NOT WELCOME" banner during pre-season.

However, with Ronaldo remaining at Old Trafford until at least January, Simeone says the 37-year-old making a move to Atleti was never feasible due to the unrest it would have caused among the fanbase.

"What these little birds [journalists] have said is far from what happened," Simeone told Tigo Sports reporter Martin Liberma.

"People sometimes speak to tell you what they want to tell, not what actually happens. Ronaldo is an absolute benchmark for Real Madrid.

"You wouldn't see [Martin] Palermo or [Juan Roman] Riquelme play for River Plate or [Ariel] Ortega playing for Boca Juniors. There are certain situations that are very clear."

Simeone added: "I remember in pre-season when a fan behind me, without knowing what was happening, yelled 'Cholo, careful, it's not the Champions League at all costs'.

"I liked that because it's a healthy reflection of what I felt at that time. We signed Luis Suarez [from Barcelona] before, but that is different to the Ronaldo case."

Ronaldo scored 450 goals across nine seasons at the Santiago Bernabeu, winning two LaLiga titles and the Champions League four times.

He has since spent three years with Juventus and is now in his second campaign back at United, but he was reportedly eager to move on in the close season.

While distancing Atleti from a move, Simeone respects what the five-time Ballon d'Or winner has achieved throughout a remarkable career.

"I have no doubt Ronaldo will score goals again as he's done it all his life," he added. "It's impossible for him to walk away if he's mentally as strong as he's always been."

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