This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Barcelona missed the chance to return to the top of La Liga after being held to a 1-1 draw at Valencia, while Kylian Mbappé scored four times in the second half as Paris Saint-Germain thumped Lyon 5-0.

Lionel Messi’s classy goal cancelled out Ezequiel Garay’s opener, which came after 79 seconds. But an uninspiring game at the Mestalla meant Barça’s winless run in the league stretched to four games.

After winning their first six games in all competitions this season, Barça’s only win in their last five has come at Tottenham in the Champions League. They are now second, a point behind the new leaders, Sevilla, who beat Celta Vigo 2-1 earlier on Sunday.

The point moved Valencia up to 14th, two points above the bottom three, but it was a morale-boosting result for the hosts, who have won only once this season. But following their Champions League draw at Manchester United, Marcelino’s side are finding some consistency.

The big boys in La Liga have struggled for form this season - with Real Madrid winless and without a goal in their last three top-flight outings. And it looked as if another shock was on when Barça were stunned inside two minutes.

Valencia forced an early corner and, when Thomas Vermaelen failed to deal with Parejo’s delivery, Garay bundled in at the far post. Michy Batshuayi then fired inches wide as Barça struggled to get to grips with their opponents.

Slowly, though, Ernesto Valverde’s side began to exert their authority and, after Luis Suárez had fanciful appeals for a penalty turned down, they equalised. Messi had been quiet but he grabbed his 11th goal of the season after 23 minutes when he played a neat one-two with Suárez and found the bottom corner from 20 yards.

While Valencia emerged for the second half with added gusto Barcelona appeared leggy as their 4-2 win over Tottenham in the Champions League appeared to have caught up with them. Cheryshev had Marc-André ter Stegen scrambling and Kevin Gameiro shot just over.

Neto needed to save from Messi but the striker, along with Suárez and Philippe Coutinho, struggled to make a second-half impact. The Argentina star fired a free-kick over with 20 minutes left as Barça’s threat began to wane.

They struggled to break through Valencia’s solid defence, well marshalled by Garay, and had to settle for a point.

Meanwhile PSG extended their lead at the top of Ligue 1 to eight points after Mbappé’s heroics. The France international scored four second-half goals – including three in eight minutes – to take his tally to 10 for the season.

PSG maintained their 100% record – winning all nine league games – after Neymar’s early penalty put them on course for victory on Sunday. But both teams finished with 10 men as Lucas Tousart was dismissed for Lyon after Presnel Kimpembe had walked for the hosts.

Mauro Icardi scored twice as Internazionale climbed to third place in Serie A with a 2-1 win against SPAL.

Inter’s sixth win in a row across all competitions, and fourth in succession in Serie A, sends them into the international break in high spirits.