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Barcelona Scores 4 Goals in Opening 24 Minutes, Overwhelms Valencia 7-1

Barcelona's Spanish forward #07 Ferran Torres kicks the ball during the Spanish league football match between FC Barcelona and Valencia CF at the Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys in Barcelona on January 26, 2025. (Photo by MANAURE QUINTERO / AFP)
Barcelona's Spanish forward #07 Ferran Torres kicks the ball during the Spanish league football match between FC Barcelona and Valencia CF at the Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys in Barcelona on January 26, 2025. (Photo by MANAURE QUINTERO / AFP)
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Barcelona Scores 4 Goals in Opening 24 Minutes, Overwhelms Valencia 7-1

Barcelona's Spanish forward #07 Ferran Torres kicks the ball during the Spanish league football match between FC Barcelona and Valencia CF at the Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys in Barcelona on January 26, 2025. (Photo by MANAURE QUINTERO / AFP)
Barcelona's Spanish forward #07 Ferran Torres kicks the ball during the Spanish league football match between FC Barcelona and Valencia CF at the Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys in Barcelona on January 26, 2025. (Photo by MANAURE QUINTERO / AFP)

Barcelona got back on track in the Spanish league by overwhelming Valencia on Sunday with four different players scoring in the first 24 minutes of a 7-1 rout.
Frenkie de Jong opened the scoring in the third minute, Ferran Torres added to the lead in the eighth, Raphinha found the net in the 14th and Fermín López struck in the 24th at Montjuic stadium, The Associated Press reported.
López added the fifth in first-half stoppage time as Barcelona ended the first half with a 5-0 lead.
Valencia got its goal with Hugo Duro in the 59th before Barcelona scored again with Robert Lewandowski in the 66th and an own-goal by César Tárrega in the 75th.
The victory moved Barcelona within three points of second-placed Atletico Madrid and seven points off leader Real Madrid, which won 3-0 at Valladolid on Saturday with a hat trick by Kylian Mbappé. Atletico was held 1-1 by Villarreal on Saturday.
“We hadn't been doing well in the league and we needed to bounce back with a victory like that,” López said. “We have to keep fighting.”
Barcelona was coming off victories in the Champions League, Copa del Rey and the Spanish Super Cup, but had been winless in its last four league games.
Hansi Flick became the second-fastest coach to reach 100 goals with Barcelona, which has now scored 101 goals in 32 games in all competitions under the German. Helenio Herrera reached the mark in 31 matches in the 1950s.
Luis Enrique and Tito Vilanova each needed 34 games to reach the 100 mark, three quicker than Pep Guardiola at 37 matches.
Barcelona has scored five goals or more in four of its last five games across all competitions. It was coming off a 5-4 win over Benfica in the Champions League, and beat Real Betis 5-1 in the Copa del Rey and Real Madrid 5-2 in the Spanish Super Cup.
Valencia is 19th in the 20-team standings. The club had the return of defender Mouctar Diakhaby 11 months after he sustained a serious knee injury.
“The only positive from this game was the return of Diakhaby,” Valencia coach Carlos Corberán said. “We all know how important he is for us.”
Other results Midtable Real Sociedad fell 3-0 at home against 14th-placed Getafe, losing for the third time in a row across all competitions.
Randy Nteka scored in the 80th and 83rd minutes as seventh-placed Rayo Vallecano came from behind to beat eighth-placed Girona 2-1.
Fourth-placed Athletic Bilbao was held to a 0-0 home draw against struggling Leganes.

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Hakimi Declared Fit for Morocco's AFCON Bid

Morocco's head coach Walid Regragui and Morocco's defender #02 Achraf Hakimi attend a press conference at Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium in Rabat, Morocco on December 20, 2025, ahead of the start of the Africa Cup of Nations (CAN) football tournament. (Photo by Abdel Majid BZIOUAT / AFP)
Morocco's head coach Walid Regragui and Morocco's defender #02 Achraf Hakimi attend a press conference at Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium in Rabat, Morocco on December 20, 2025, ahead of the start of the Africa Cup of Nations (CAN) football tournament. (Photo by Abdel Majid BZIOUAT / AFP)
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Hakimi Declared Fit for Morocco's AFCON Bid

Morocco's head coach Walid Regragui and Morocco's defender #02 Achraf Hakimi attend a press conference at Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium in Rabat, Morocco on December 20, 2025, ahead of the start of the Africa Cup of Nations (CAN) football tournament. (Photo by Abdel Majid BZIOUAT / AFP)
Morocco's head coach Walid Regragui and Morocco's defender #02 Achraf Hakimi attend a press conference at Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium in Rabat, Morocco on December 20, 2025, ahead of the start of the Africa Cup of Nations (CAN) football tournament. (Photo by Abdel Majid BZIOUAT / AFP)

Morocco captain and star player Achraf Hakimi is fit and ready for the host nation's Africa Cup of Nations bid but may not start in the tournament's opening game, coach Walid Regragui said on Saturday.

"Tomorrow will be my decision but he has more than done his job. His injury was not an easy one," Regragui told reporters in Rabat where Morocco play minnows Comoros in the first match on Sunday.

"I still have another night to sleep and decide whether he starts or whether we protect him and see how it goes for the remaining games.

"He is able to start, but he might not start."

Paris Saint-Germain right-back Hakimi, the African player of the year, has not played since coming off with a left ankle injury in a Champions League game against Bayern Munich on November 4.

The 27-year-old left the field in tears that night, clearly fearing for his chances of featuring at the Cup of Nations. The injury was later diagnosed as a severe sprain.

"I feel good. I am following the program given to me by the medical staff and the coach," Hakimi, who also came sixth in this year's Ballon d'Or ranking, said Saturday, according to AFP.

Regragui added: "He has made sacrifices over the last four or five weeks that nobody else could have made, and has set an example to the other players and the staff.

"Today we can see that the protocol we put in place after his injury has been more than positive but now we have the whole competition to manage."
Morocco will also face Mali and Zambia in Group A as they bid to win a first Cup of Nations since 1976.

The tournament runs into the New Year and will finish with the final in Rabat on January 18.

Sports

Kimmich, Neuer Headline Absentee List for Injury-hit Bayern

Bayern Munich's Belgian head coach Vincent Kompany arrives for the German first division Bundesliga football match between FC Bayern Munich and Mainz 05 in Munich, southern Germany on December 14, 2025. (Photo by Karl-Josef HILDENBRAND / AFP)
Bayern Munich's Belgian head coach Vincent Kompany arrives for the German first division Bundesliga football match between FC Bayern Munich and Mainz 05 in Munich, southern Germany on December 14, 2025. (Photo by Karl-Josef HILDENBRAND / AFP)
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Kimmich, Neuer Headline Absentee List for Injury-hit Bayern

Bayern Munich's Belgian head coach Vincent Kompany arrives for the German first division Bundesliga football match between FC Bayern Munich and Mainz 05 in Munich, southern Germany on December 14, 2025. (Photo by Karl-Josef HILDENBRAND / AFP)
Bayern Munich's Belgian head coach Vincent Kompany arrives for the German first division Bundesliga football match between FC Bayern Munich and Mainz 05 in Munich, southern Germany on December 14, 2025. (Photo by Karl-Josef HILDENBRAND / AFP)

Bayern Munich coach Vincent Kompany confirmed captain Manuel Neuer and Joshua Kimmich were among several absentees for Sunday's Bundesliga match against Heidenheim.

Speaking to reporters on Saturday ahead of the final match of the calendar year, Kompany said Sacha Boey would also miss out through injury, Konrad Laimer is suspended while Nicolas Jackson is away on Africa Cup of Nations duty with Senegal.

Long-term absentee Jamal Musiala returned to team training this week but would not return until 2026.

France winger Michael Olise, who had eye surgery earlier in the week, is expected to return, as is Luis Diaz who missed out last week with suspension.

The dependable Olise is yet to miss a match with injury since joining Bayern from Crystal Palace in 2024.

According to AFP, Kompany said Germany captain Kimmich is still struggling with an ankle complaint picked up on international duty in November.

"We've had so many matches recently, at a certain point the pain becomes too much," Kompany said, adding Kimmich had "been playing at the limit of what's too painful" for weeks.

Unbeaten Bayern have enjoyed a close to flawless league campaign this season, dropping just four points in their opening 14 matches.

League leaders Bayern sit six points clear of second-placed Borussia Dortmund, who have played a game more.

On Saturday, German tabloid Bild reported Bayern was set to extend with winger Serge Gnabry by two years until 2028.

The former Arsenal forward has played at Bayern since 2017 and has impressed this campaign, with five goals and seven assists in all competitions.

The 30-year-old has also returned to form at international level, with three goals and an assist in Germany's six World Cup qualifiers.

Sports

Arsenal's Arteta Says he Has to Earn the Right to Get Contract Extension

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta kicks back a ball during the English Premier League match between Arsenal FC and Wolverhampton Wanderers, in London, Britain, 13 December 2025. EPA/TOLGA AKMEN
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta kicks back a ball during the English Premier League match between Arsenal FC and Wolverhampton Wanderers, in London, Britain, 13 December 2025. EPA/TOLGA AKMEN
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Arsenal's Arteta Says he Has to Earn the Right to Get Contract Extension

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta kicks back a ball during the English Premier League match between Arsenal FC and Wolverhampton Wanderers, in London, Britain, 13 December 2025. EPA/TOLGA AKMEN
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta kicks back a ball during the English Premier League match between Arsenal FC and Wolverhampton Wanderers, in London, Britain, 13 December 2025. EPA/TOLGA AKMEN

Mikel Arteta suggested he could extend his contract at Arsenal beyond 2027 but says he still has to earn the right to continue as manager by winning silverware at the Premier League club.

Arteta, who completes six years in charge of Arsenal on Saturday, won the FA Cup with the North London club in 2020 but has yet to taste success in the league, his side finishing runner-up in ⁠the last three campaigns.

They are currently two points clear this season and have also reached the quarter-finals of the League Cup.

Asked whether he could see himself extending his stay beyond the end of his contract in 2027, Arteta told ⁠reporters on Friday: "Yes, but it’s about today. And a lot of things have to happen in the next few months as well to earn the right.

"I think a manager has to earn the right to be here tomorrow. A lot of things have to happen in the next few months as well to earn the right (for an extension),” Reuters quoted him as saying.

The Spaniard said ⁠Arsenal's lack of trophies was not down to substandard performances.

"You look at the performances, all the records that we had that were broken in the history of the club. We still haven't managed to do that (win trophies)," he added.

"That tells you the level we are in, which is a level that the Premier League has never experienced in the past."

Arsenal travel to Everton later on Saturday.