European roundup: RB Leipzig sack Jesse Marsch, Barça sink to home defeat

RB Leipzig have parted company with head coach Jesse Marsch after a poor start to the season. Last season’s Bundesliga runners-up were beaten 2-1 at Union Berlin on Friday, a third consecutive league loss that saw them drop to 11th.

Marsch was hired to replace Julian Nagelsmann, who join Bayern Munich in the summer, but has seen his team win just five of their 14 league games this season.

The club said in a statement: “RB Leipzig and head coach Jesse Marsch have mutually agreed to part ways. The decision is the result of an in-depth analysis and intensive discussions after the Bundesliga match against Union Berlin.”

Achim Beierlorzer, who was Marsch’s assistant, will take charge for Tuesday’s game against Manchester City in the Champions League, a competition they have already been eliminated from. Marsch, a former USA international, was the first American to coach in the Champions League.

“It was not easy for us to part company … I hold Jesse in high regard as a person and as a coach,” said the Leipzig CEO, Oliver Mintzlaff. “It’s a shame that things did not work out as we had hoped with this setup, and that this step has now become necessary. Unfortunately, the development we were hoping for and the results needed to achieve our goals for the season have not been achieved.”

Barcelona were stunned by Juanmi’s late goal as Real Betis inflicted a first defeat on Xavi Hernandez since his return as manager three weeks ago. The 1-0 victory was Betis’s first at the Camp Nou in more than three years and left Barça languishing in seventh place.

With a decisive Champions League match at Bayern Munich coming up on Wednesday, Xavi rested Gerard Piqué, Frenkie de Jong and Ousmane Dembélé but the decision backfired. Betis were dangerous on the counterattack and Juanmi, who earlier had a goal disallowed by VAR for offside, struck a clean finish past Marc-André ter Stegen after fine buildup play by Sergio Canales.

“They scored when we were playing better. We can’t allow this type of counterattack to happen,” Xavi said. “It’s a defeat that hurts. We were at home, playing well in the second half. We need to get better but we deserved more. It was an unfair punishment after playing a good game.”

With Dembélé on the bench, Barca needed Philippe Coutinho to step up, but it was another disappointing afternoon for the Brazilian, who failed to create any chances. He came off for Dembélé just before the hour mark with boos ringing in his ears from around the stadium.

Betis played better until Dembélé came on and changed the game. The France international almost scored on at least four occasions and was leading Barça’s blitz until Betis caught them off guard.

Canales sprinted from the right, with Christian Tello and Juanmi in the middle, three on three against a defence out of position. Canales had the patience to wait until Tello was inside the area and gave him the ball near the penalty spot. Tello slowly rolled the ball to the left for Juanmi, who scored what proved to be the winner with a precise shot.

Barcelona now trail Real Madrid by 16 points after the La Liga leaders won 2-0 at Real Sociedad. Luka Jović set up Vinícius Júnior to break the deadlock just after half-time and then added the second himself 10 minutes later.

Sevilla remain second – eight points behind Real Madrid – after a first-half goal from Lucas Ocampos sealed a 1-0 win over Villarreal while Atlético Madrid conceded twice in the final 10 minutes as they suffered a shock 2-1 home defeat to Mallorca.

Milan went top of Serie A after they cruised to a comfortable 2-0 win over the bottom side Salernitana, thanks to early goals from Franck Kessié and Alexis Saelemaekers.

Roma collapsed to a 3-0 defeat at home to the manager Jose Mourinho’s former club Internazionale, as the champions climbed to second. Hakan Calhanoglu scored direct from a corner after 15 minutes before Edin Dzeko doubled the lead nine minutes later. Denzel Dumfries headed a deserved third six minutes before the break to seal a fourth consecutive league win. Napoli slipped from first to third after Atlanta – who remain fourth – came from behind to beat them 3-2 at home with goals from Ruslan Malinovsky, Merih Demiral and Remo Freuler.