European Football Round Up: Barcelona Embarrass Real Madrid, Monaco Thrash Messi-Less PSG

• Barcelona thrashed Real Madrid on Sunday night in a blockbuster El Clasico encounter as La Liga season enters the latter stage
• PSG also saw their lead on the Ligue 1 standings drop to 12 points after they were defeated by rampaging Monaco
• In Italy, Tammy Abraham grabbed a brace in Roma’s 3-0 win over Lazio in the Rome Derby in a dominant performance

The French Ligue 1 produced an astonishing weekend as Paris Saint-Germain lost 3-0 to Monaco as pressure mounts on coach Mauricio Pochettino two weeks after their Champions League exit, The Guardian reports.

Superstar Lionel Messi was ruled out of the game due to his bout with flu and then the Parisians performed woefully in the encounter.

PSG, on 65 points from 29 games, saw their lead at the top of the Ligue 1 table cut to 12 points after Marseille beat Nice 2-1.

Pochettino said:

Fascinating details about Equatorial Guinea national football team

Football

“The way we lost is not acceptable at this level of competition. We can’t start a game the way we started this one.

“We need to get over the Champions League exit, hopefully, the international break will help put it behind us.”

Serie A

Juventus comfortably defeated bottom side Salernitana courtesy of first-half goals from Paulo Dybala and Dusan Vlahovic as Massimiliano Allegri’s side kept in touch with the leaders, Milan.

Returning from injury after about a month, Dybala scored for the Old Lady inside five minutes before Dusan Vlahovic rose highest to head home and effectively put the game to bed in the 29th minute.

In the second half the visitors rallied and created some openings of their own, with Federico Bonazzoli’s volley brilliantly kept out by Wojciech Szczesny, but they could not force their way back into the contest.

The hosts held on to stretch their unbeaten league run to 16 matches, closing the gap to leaders Milan.

Jubilation at Oshodi Under Bridge as sensational ‘Area Boy’ defeats Canadian High Commissioner in chess game

Other Sports

Tammy Abraham grabbed a brace in Roma’s 3-0 win over Lazio in the Rome Derby in a dominant performance from Jose Mourinho’s side.

La Liga

In Spain, Barcelona walloped eternal rivals Real Madrid in the latest edition of the El Clasico as the Catalan giants won the tie 4-0 at the Bernabeu.

Villarreal stayed three points behind Betis after a 1-0 loss at Cádiz, who are a point ahead of 18th-placed Mallorca after they lost 1-0 at Espanyol for a sixth consecutive defeat.

Jurgen Klopp delighted as Liverpool reach Champions League last eight

Meanwhile, Sports Brief earlier reported that Jurgen Klopp has revealed he was relieved after Liverpool avoided an English side in the Champions League quarter-final draw.

The Reds are among three Premier League sides that progressed to the last eight of the European competition.

Klopp's men saw off Serie A giants, Inter Milan, in the last 16 to book their place in the quarter-finals of the tournament.