Barca’s 5th loss of season has club showing coach Ronald Koeman exit door

Madrid, October 28

Draws by Real Madrid and Sevilla left four teams tied for the lead in the Spanish league. Another Barcelona loss left coach Ronald Koeman out of a job.

The Catalan club fired Koeman shortly after the team’s 1-0 loss at Rayo Vallecano on Wednesday, three days after a 2-1 home defeat to rivals Madrid in the El Clasico at the Camp Nou Stadium.

Barcelona’s fifth league loss of the season left them winless in away matches and only ninth in the standings with 15 points from 10 games. Barcelona had not gone five consecutive away matches without a win in nearly 20 years.

Club president Joan Laporta informed Koeman of his decision after the loss, and Xavi Hernandez became the favourite to take over the club in their first season without Lionel Messi in nearly two decades.

Madrid were held 0-0 by Osasuna at home, while Sevilla couldn’t manage more than a 1-1 result at Mallorca, missing their chance to take sole possession of the lead. Real Betis joined them at the top with a 4-1 win over Valencia.

League Cup: City’s 5-year reign comes to an end

Manchester: Manchester City’s four-year reign as English League Cup titleholders is over.

City lost 5-3 to West Ham in a penalty shootout in the last-16 on Wednesday after the game finished 0-0 after 90 minutes at the London Stadium.

That condemned City to their first elimination in the League Cup since losing to Manchester United at the same stage five years ago.

Meanwhile, Liverpool continued their unbeaten start to the season in all competitions by beating second-tier Preston 2-0, with Takumi Minamino and Divock Origi scoring in the second half.

In another penalty shootout, Leicester beat Brighton 4-2 in an all-Premier League encounter.

Taste of their own medicine

Berlin: Bayern Munich usually deal out the thrashings in Germany, not the other way around.

The Bavarian powerhouse got a taste of their own medicine on Wednesday when Borussia Monchengladbach knocked them of the German Cup with a fully deserved 5-0 victory in front of their ecstatic fans.

It was Bayern’s biggest-ever defeat in the competition and heaviest loss in 43 years, since a 7-1 Bundesliga defeat at Fortuna Dusseldorf on December 9, 1978.

Sassuolo leave it late

Milan: Massimilano Allegri’s 200th match in charge of Juventus ended in defeat as Sassuolo scored late to snatch a 2-1 victory in Turin in Serie A.

Maxime Lopez struck in the fifth minute of stoppage time to hand Sassuolo their first-ever victory at Juventus. American Weston McKennie had cancelled out Davide Frattesi’s first-half opener. — AP

Barjuan takes over as interim coach

Barcelona: With its coffers depleted and a critical Champions League match right around the corner, Barcelona was looking for a new coach on Thursday after it named a caretaker coach following the firing of Ronald Koeman. The Spanish club said that reserve team coach Sergi Barjuan will temporarily lead the squad until it finds a permanent replacement for Koeman. Barjuan is a former Barcelona defender. The club said that he will be in the dugout for Saturday’s Spanish league match against Alaves. ap