First slip for champions Barca in Rayo draw

Madrid, Sept. 2: Champions Barcelona dropped their first points of the La Liga season with a 1-1 draw at Rayo Vallecano on Sunday.

The Catalan giants had goalkeeper Joan Garcia to thank for earning them that as he made several fine saves on a testing night in the Spanish capital.

Barca took the lead through a contested Lamine Yamal penalty, at a time in the match VAR was not working, but Fran Perez levelled after the break for the hosts, who could have gone on to win.

After leaders Real Madrid won their third game on Saturday and Athletic Bilbao followed suit earlier on Sunday, Barcelona are fourth and trail the leaders by two points.

"We didn't deserve more -- in the end we had a fantastic goalkeeper," said Barca coach Hansi Flick.

"We made too many mistakes, too many errors and this is why they come back and this was not a good match for us."

Barca's teenage star Yamal said his team had to come back strongly in a fortnight when La Liga resumes.

"We have to learn from this after the international break, and come back with the intensity that we had last year, and start to win every time we can," Yamal told DAZN.

Flick shuffled his pack, bringing Dani Olmo and Andreas Christensen into the starting line-up among several changes, with Marcus Rashford dropping to the bench.

Barcelona left with a point, largely thanks to the superb work of goalkeeper Garcia, as despite Flick's changes they showed the same defensive deficiencies on show during last weekend's comeback win at Levante.

"We're working (on our high defensive line) but I don't think that's the reason we conceded -- the goal came from a set piece," added Yamal.

Earlier Athletic Bilbao won 2-1 at Real Betis to pull level with Real Madrid as the only teams still boasting a 100-percent record.

Third-place Villarreal were held to a 1-1 draw by Celta Vigo as the Yellow Submarine dropped their first points of the campaign.

 Szoboszlai shines for Liverpool

Liverpool boast the only perfect Premier League record three games into the new season after Dominik Szoboszlai's brilliant free-kick defeated title rivals Arsenal 1-0 at Anfield.

Manchester City's title challenge is already crumbling after a second defeat in three games for Pep Guardiola's men at Brighton, while Tottenham's fine start under Thomas Frank came off the rails in a 1-0 defeat to Bournemouth.

Szoboszlai said he took a "risk" with the power he put behind his free-kick to become the first player to score against Arsenal this season. 

That desire to go for the winner rather than fear losing was symptomatic of the difference between the two sides. Despite still finding their feet after a major overhaul of the squad that romped to the title last season, Liverpool sit top of the table thanks to three late winners.

The Gunners, by contrast, were overly conservative and paid the price in missing the chance to land an early psychological blow in the title race.

A Liverpool defence that had conceded twice to each of Crystal Palace, Bournemouth and 10-man Newcastle in the Community Shield and Premier League this season was rarely tested. "At the end of the game, I said we have to find a way to win these big matches," said Arteta.

Meanwhile, Liverpool have agreed a deal to sign Alexander Isak from Newcastle United for a British record transfer fee, media reports said Monday.

The Swedish forward is set to join the Reds in a deal worth about £130 million ($176 million), according to reports by The Athletic and The Telegraph, among other outlets. The Athletic reported that Isak will undergo a medical on Monday before completing a six-year deal with the Merseyside club.

Guardiola has spent over £300 million ($270 million) on new signings since January, but Sunday's shock 2-1 defeat at Brighton showed the Manchester City manager's expensive revamp of his spluttering side is yet to pay dividends.

Faced with the evidence of a team in decline during the first half of last season, Guardiola responded by splashing out £180 million on Omar Marmoush, Abdukodir Khusanov, Vitor Reis and Nico Gonzalez in the winter window.

There was little improvement as City limped to a third place finish and lost the FA Cup final against Crystal Palace. 

Yet, after a meek 2-0 home defeat to Tottenham last weekend, City this time capitulated after Erling Haaland had fired them into a first-half lead.

"We are Manchester City and we come here to win, but this is the reality. We are not at the level for a long, long time," said midfielder Rodri.

Inter stunned by Udinese 

Inter Milan slumped to a shock 2-1 home defeat to Udinese on Sunday to lose early ground on Serie A leaders Napoli and rivals Juventus, who won 1-0 at Genoa thanks to Dusan Vlahovic.

Cristian Chivu's team trail by three points the champions, Juve, Roma and promoted Cremonese who all have two wins from their opening two fixtures of the new season.

Inter looked on their way to a thumping victory in the 18th minute when Denzel Dumfries ended a confused passage of play by tapping into an empty net.

However, Dumfries was then at fault for handling in the area, giving Keinan Davis a chance to score from the penalty spot in the 29th minute which he did not waste.

And France's Arthur Atta stunned the San Siro five minutes before half-time with a beautiful curling strike, his first in Serie A, which would give Udinese a win few would have predicted prior to kick-off.

Juve were struggling to break down spirited Genoa until substitute Vlahovic headed home Filip Kostic's corner when left completely unmarked in the 73rd minute. The Serbia striker looked destined to be sold in the summer as Juve brought in Jonathan David and pushed to sign Randal Kolo Muani from Paris Saint-Germain.

But on Thursday sporting director Damien Comolli said that there was a "99 percent chance" that Vlahovic would stay at Juve and the 25-year-old rewarded the Turin giants with the winning goal at the Stadio Liuigi Ferraris.

Vlahovic stood defiantly facing Juve's delirious support with his arms aloft, as he did when scoring against Parma last weekend, after managing to stay at the club that spent 70 million euros to snatch him from Fiorentina in January 2022.

His 60th goal for Juve was the highlight from a keenly-contested match which lacked in goalmouth incident, although Igor Tudor's team escaped being pegged back in the final seconds of the game as Patrizio Masini's looping head struck the crossbar.

Lazio hammered sorry Verona 4-0 while Fiorentina played out a drab goalless draw at Torino in the other of the day's early kick-offs. (AFP/AP)