BARCELONA: Barcelona’s gloomy spell on and off the pitch continued when they lost at home in the Spanish leage for the first time this season, by 3-2 to Valencia. They also had Spain fullback Jordi Alba sent off.
The champions remained top of the table only on goal difference despite starting promisingly when Alexis Sanchez gave them the lead in the seventh minute.
Gerardo Martino’s men then went behind to goals from Dani Parejo and Pablo Piatti either side of half-time.
Lionel Messi equalised from the penalty spot, but Paco Alcacer scored the visitors’ third goal on 59 minutes and this time Barcelona had no answer.
InItaly Milan dropped their first points under Clarence Seedorf as high-flying Torino came away from the Stadio Meazza with a 1-1 draw.
Ciro Immobile gave the visitors the lead in the 17th minute, but an Adil Rami strike early in the second half earned the Rossoneri a point.
Milan put Torino under pressure for much of the second half, but failed to find a winning goal, leaving Seedorf with only a point after two wins in his first two Serie A games in charge.
In Germany Bayer Leverkusen narrowed the gap on Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich to 10 points, for 24 hours at least, as they came from behind to beat Stuttgart 2-1 at the BayArena.
Moritz Leitner gave the visitors the lead in the 12th minute, but Stefan Kiessling and Eren Derdiyok turned the game on its head to move Leverkusen four points clear of Borussia Dortmund.
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