European football: Barça retake top spot, Parma stun Milan to deal title blow

Fermín López goal caps 3-0 win over Levante

Milan’s Loftus-Cheek hospitalised as Parma win 1-0

Barcelona returned to the top of La Liga with a 3-0 victory over relegation-threatened Levante as Marc Bernal, Frenkie de Jong and substitute Fermín López struck at Camp Nou.

Last season’s champions moved to 61 points from 25 games, one ahead of Real Madrid after their rivals’ defeat by Osasuna on Saturday. Barça had slipped to second after last week’s 2-1 loss to Girona but rarely looked troubled by a Levante side second from bottom on 18 points.

Hansi Flick’s team led in the fourth minute when 18-year-old Bernal slid in from close range after Eric García surged down the left and crossed low. De Jong made it 2-0 in the 32nd, arriving unmarked to turn in João Cancelo’s arching cross, also from the left.

Barcelona controlled the second half, with Robert Lewandowski and Raphinha missing chances before López came off the bench to seal it, drilling a left-footed shot from the edge of the box in off the post in the 81st minute.

In Sunday’s later games, Villarreal came from behind to beat Valencia 2-1 and end the weekend third thanks to Pape Gueye’s spot-kick late in first-half stoppage time. Celta Vigo are sixth and added to Mallorca’s relegation troubles with a 2-0 victory that came through two late Iago Aspas goals – the first an 85th-minute penalty, and the second deep in stoppage time.

In Serie A, Mariano Troilo scored an 80th-minute winner as Parma stunned Milan with a smash-and-grab 1-0 victory at San Siro, dealing a significant blow to the Italian giants’ hopes of reeling in rivals Inter. Milan’s Ruben Loftus-Cheek was also hospitalised following a collision with opposing goalkeeper Edoardo Corvi.

The defeat, a first in 25 league games, leaves second-placed Milan on 54 points from 26 games, 10 points behind city rivals Inter with 12 rounds remaining.

Early in the game, Loftus-Cheek was struck on the head and bloodied after a cross into the area. He was stretchered off with a neck and head brace, and reports in Italy said he had sustained broken teeth and was being examined for head trauma

After the restart, Milan had the better of the chances in a game that lacked clearcut opportunities and struck the post through Rafael Leão, whose volley hit the base of the post and flashed agonisingly across the face of goal.

Parma took the lead when Troilo headed in from a corner, but the referee Marco Piccinini initially disallowed it for a block on the Milan goalkeeper Mike Maignan. However, after being directed to review the footage by VAR, Piccinini overturned his decision.

Atalanta’s Lazar Samardzic scored a late winner at home as they fought back to beat third-placed visitors Napoli 2-1, extending their unbeaten league run to nine games. Napoli’s loss left them 14 points adrift of Inter.

Genoa eased their relegation fears with a 3-0 home victory over 10-man Torino, overtaking their opponents in the process. First-half goals from the London-born Brooke Norton-Cuffy and Caleb Ekuban came before Emirhan Ilkhan’s red card on the stroke of half-time. The hosts’ Brazilian forward Júnior Messias then made the points safe seven minutes from time.

Three second-half goals gave Roma a 3-0 win at home against Cremonese. Midfielder Bryan Cristante opened the scoring just before the hour mark, before Evan Ndicka and Niccolò Pisilli made the result safe.

In Germany, forward Deniz Undav scored late to salvage a 3-3 draw for Stuttgart at bottom side Heidenheim as the Bundesliga’s relegation scrap and race for Champions League qualification converged.

Stuttgart stayed fourth in the last qualification spot for Europe’s premier club competition, but missed the chance to move four points above fifth-place Leipzig, who were held by Borussia Dortmund on Saturday.

St Pauli boosted their chances of survival with a 2-1 home win over relegation rivals Werder Bremen that lifted the Hamburg-based club above the visitors into the relegation playoff spot. The Japan midfielder Joel Chima Fujita scored what proved to be the winner with a low shot inside the far corner in the 70th minute

In the Netherlands, Raheem Sterling made his debut for Feyenoord, coming on for the last 30 minutes of their narrow 2-1 home victory over struggling Telstar in the Eredivisie.

The 31-year-old was given a rapturous welcome at De Kuip in Rotterdam as Feyenoord stayed second in the standings, cutting the gap to runaway leaders PSV Eindhoven to 14 points, but they had to hang on grimly for the win against the side second from bottom.

In France, Lyon failed to close on the top two – Paris Saint-Germain and Lens – as they slumped to a 3-1 defeat at Strasbourg. The visitors had pulled a goal back having been from 2-0 down shortly after halt-time, but Joaquín Panichelli’s penalty seven minutes from time took the game away from them.