Barcelona crush Real, City go top, Brentford in 7-goal thriller, what happened overnight

Late goals order of the day across Europe, except at the Bernabeu Stadium, where Real Madrid's 42-game win streak came to a shuddering halt

Late goals were seemingly the order of the day across Europe on Saturday. Stoppage time decided games in London, Brighton and Bremen, but nothing came close to the match in Lille.

The French side scored a 98th-minute penalty and added a second goal three minutes later for a 2-0 win over northern rivals Lens, in a Ligue 1 encounter that showed no signs of the exciting finish for those hardy fans who stuck around to the end.

There was nothing late about Barcelona's crushing 4-0 victory in the Clasico though, so that's where we will start with our look at what happened while you were sleeping.

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A thumping victory

Humiliating, humbling, Karma, really funny for anyone who isn't a Real Madrid fan. Whatever your emotion, the lopsided nature of Barcelona's triumph, which was their opponent's first La Liga loss since September 23 last year, was certainly surprising.

Robert Lewandowski scored a quick-fire second-half double to silence the Bernabeu crowd, teenage superstar Lamine Yamal added a third, becoming the youngest player to score in the Clasico, and Raphinha put the icing on the cake with a fourth, six minutes from time.

It was a miserable night for Real all round, with Kylian Mbappe having a torrid time upfront. The French striker, who was consistently outwitted by the Barcelona defence, had two goals ruled out for offside, and failed to beat second-choice goalkeeper Inaki Pena one-on-one with his team down 2-0.

"For 60 minutes we competed very well and we have to forget the last 30," Carlo Ancelotti, the Real manager, said.

Pep the Magnanimous

Manchester City did not need a late goal to beat Southampton, Erling Haaland saw to that after just five minutes, but the Premier League champions were made to work for their 1-0 victory, and boss Pep Guardiola was full of praise for his relegation-threatened opponents.

Southampton play the kind of football the Spaniard loves to see, even if Russell Martin's side are rock bottom of the league without a win to their names.

"Today it was not how Southampton defend deep it was how good they play with the ball with the keeper and the movement," Guardiola said. "I'm a spectator, when I see the opponent do the things I like to do with my team and they do it really well, I make a compliment."

Not a happy chappy

Brentford also won on Saturday, but in contrast to Guardiola, manager Thomas Frank was in a cranky mood after his side battled back from two goals down at home to beat 10-man Ipswich 4-3.

Chasing a first win in the top flight, Ipswich pair Sam Szmodics and George Hirst scored twice in three first-half minutes, but the visitors went in level at the break thanks to Yoane Wissa's 44th minute strike and Harry Clarke's own goal a minute later. Clarke was sent off for picking up a second yellow with 20 minutes to go.

Bryan Mbeumo put the home side ahead six minutes after the restart, Liam Delap equalised with time almost up, only for Mbeumo to grab the winner in the 96th minute.

"Being completely honest, I am still irritated. They were by far the better team for the first 40 minutes, it was one of our worst ever [performances] in the Premier League," Frank said afterwards, while counterpart Chris McKenna used words like "extreme disappointment and devastation".

Late, late shows

There was a late goal too on Merseyside, where Everton substitute Beto headed a stoppage-time equaliser to earn a 1-1 home draw with Fulham, after the Londoners had been seemingly easing to a deserved victory courtesy of a goal by Goodison Park old boy Alex Iwobi.

Striker Beto scored in the fourth minute of added time to stretch Everton's unbeaten run to five games. Sean Dyche said his side were "a long way short of where we could be", but was "really pleased" with the point.

In Brighton, meanwhile, Wolves pulled off a Lille-type escape act, although Matheus Cunha's strike in the third minute of stoppage time was only enough to earn them a point.

Still, at 2-0 down with five minutes left, there was little sign of the basement dwellers collecting anything other than a sixth successive defeat, until Rayan Ait-Nouri scored in the 88th minute.

"At 85 minutes, when they scored their second goal, I thought I was going to be in the studio answering some more tough questions about well, 'you played quite well again, but it's another defeat', so I'm delighted for the players and the fans," Wolves boss Gary O'Neil said.

Sainz takes pole

Ferrari's Carlos Sainz claimed pole position for the Mexico City Grand Prix, and Max Verstappen's Red Bull will start alongside the Spaniard on the front row for Sunday's race.

McLaren's Lando Norris, trailing Verstappen by 57 points in the title race, sets off on the second row. Charles Leclerc in the second Ferrari and the Williams of George Russell and seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton round out the top five.

It was Sainz's sixth career pole and completed a run of qualifying fourth, third and second in the last three Mexican events.

"I am very happy with that and to be on pole," said Sainz, who is set to leave Ferrari for Williams next year, having been replaced for 2025 by Hamilton. "I had a great couple of laps and it is very difficult here with lots of sliding. My laps were almost identical and perfect. It is such a tricky circuit!"

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This article originally appeared on the South China Morning Post (www.scmp.com), the leading news media reporting on China and Asia.

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