Gundogan leads 10-man Barcelona to 3-1 win

BARCELONA: Ilkay Gundogan set up Robert Lewandowski and scored a goal of his own to lead 10-man Barcelona to a 3-1 win at Alaves in the Spanish league on Saturday.

Second-place Girona missed the chance to retake the lead after being held 0-0 at home by Real Sociedad. Girona coach Michel Sanchez was sent off with a red card in the 89th, apparently for excessive protests.

Girona is one point behind Real Madrid, which hosts fourth-place Atletico Madrid on Sunday.

Barcelona was already leading 3-1 when substitute Vitor Roque, who scored the visitors’ third goal, was sent off in the 72nd minute after picking up two quick yellow cards.

This made it two straight wins for Barcelona since Xavi Hernandez said he would not continue as coach after this season following last weekend’s 5-3 loss at home to Villarreal. After that debacle he had said his players had lacked the ‘maturity’ to protect their lead and compete for the entire match.

But after the comfortable win in Vitoria, Xavi praised his team for what he called a ‘mature,’ all-round performance.

“I think my team played a mature game,” Xavi said. “It showed it knew how to compete, and at a pitch that is very demanding and requires you to be focused for 90 minutes. I am satisfied. This is the response by the team that I expected.”

Barcelona also won midweek with a 1-0 league win over Osasuna, thanks to Roque’s first goal since joining the team last month.

Lewandowski ended a six-round scoreless streak when he chipped the goalkeeper after receiving a through ball from Gundogan for the opener in the 22nd.

After Alaves came close to equalizing at the end of the first half, Gundogan skillfully volleyed in a lobbed pass by Pedri González at the far post to double the lead in the 49th.

Alaves striker Samuel Omorodion responded quickly to Gundogan’s goal with a header in the 51st.

Third-place Barcelona moved to within seven points of Madrid.

Aston Villa routs Sheffield United 5-0

London: Aston Villa returned to the top four in the Premier League after scoring four goals in the opening 30 minutes in a rampant 5-0 win at last-place Sheffield United.

Villa had won just one of its last five games to fall out of the Champions League places but Unai Emery’s team leapfrogged Tottenham into fourth with a dominant display at Bramall Lane. Goals from John McGinn, Ollie Watkins, Leon Bailey and Youri Tielemans before the half-hour mark decided the game well before the halftime break, with Alex Moreno adding the fifth less than two minutes after the restart. It was Villa’s biggest Premier League away win since 2004.

It was another chastening day for Sheffield, just four months after it was beaten 8-0 by Newcastle at Bramall Lane.

Manager Chris Wilder’s team looks headed for relegation after taking just 10 points from 23 games, sitting 10 points from safety.

Villa, meanwhile, has its sights set on Champions League qualification.