PARIS: Zlatan Ibrahimovic, contentiously tipped for the FIFA World Player prize this week by agent Mino Raiola, was sent off as Paris Saint-Germain lost 2-1 at home to Saint-Etienne the French league.
Sweden striker Ibrahimovic was shown a straight red card 21 minutes from time after a reckless kick at keeper Stephane Ruffier’s chest as he was chasing the ball. PSG went on to suffer their first defeat of term.
PSG, who have 22 points from 11 games, were already 1-0 down after Mamadou Sakho had deflected a Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang cross into his own goal 10 minutes into the second half. Aubameyang put the result beyond doubt in the 73rd, beating Salvatore Sirigu from close range after being set up by Alejandro Alonso.
Striker Guillaume Hoarau pulled one back with two minutes left when he controlled the ball from a Javier Pastore free kick before firing past Ruffier.
In Germany Bayern Munich won 3-0 away to Hamburg to go seven points clear at the top of the Bundesliga as rivals Schalke 04 and champions Borussia Dortmund slipped up.
Bastian Schweinsteiger headed in a Toni Kroos chip to give Bayern the lead in the 40th minute before early second half goals from Thomas Mueller and Kroos made sure the Bavarians bounced back in style from their first league defeat last week. Bayern’s ninth win in 10 league games lifted them to 27 points.
Hoffenheim’s Sven Schipplock scored in injury time to condemn second-placed Schalke 04 to a 3-2 defeat that leaves them seven points adrift. Dortmund also lost ground after drawing 0-0 against Stuttgart and remain fourth on 16 points. Hamburg dropped to eighth on 13.
In Holland PSV Eindhoven cruised to a 4-0 home win over Heracles Almelo to go top of the championship while champions Ajax Amsterdam suffered their first defeat of the season by 2-0 against Vitesse Arnhem.
Juventus’ unbeaten run came to an end in Italy after 49 games when they lost 3-1 at home in the ‘Derby of Italy’ to reviving Internazionale for whom Diego Milito scored twice.
Juve scored straight from the kick off when Kwadwo Asamoah latched onto Mirko Vucinic’s through ball and scuffed his shot into the path of Arturo Vidal, who gleefully tapped home from the edge of the six yard box after 19 seconds. Television replays showed Asamoah was offside when he collected Vucinic’s pass but the linesman’s flag stayed down.
Inter hit back just before the hour mark when Milito was fouled and converted the subsequent penalty. With a quarter of an hour left Fredy Guarin’s powerful shot was pushed out by Buffon and Milito put Inter ahead.
As Juve piled forward in pursuit of an equaliser so they left gaps at the back which allowed Palacio a third goal on the break.
Juventus won last season’s title undefeated and had last suffered defeat in the league against Parma in the penultimate round of the 2010-11 season. The overall Serie A undefeated record run of 58 games was put together 20 years ago by AC Milan.
In Spain Barcelona pulled three points clear of Atletico Madrid at the top of the table when David Villa scored and created a goal for Jordi Alba in a 3-1 win at home to promoted Celta Vigo.
Celta have not won at the Nou Camp for 70 years but Mario Bermejo levelled at 1-1 three minutes after Adriano’s 21st-minute opener. Villa, back to his best after a broken leg, put Barca back in front two minutes after Bermejo’s strike.
He sent Andres Iniesta clear with a deft flick and raced into the area to sidefoot his Spain’s team mate’s low cross into the net for his fifth league goal of the season.
The 30-year-old then produced another delightful back heel to put Alba through in the 61st minute and the referee allowed the fullback’s neat finish to stand despite the fact he was clearly offside when Villa made the pass.