Liverpool’s new summer signing Jeremy Jacquet has sustained a “serious” shoulder injury, according to Rennes head coach Habib Beye. The 20-year-old fell awkwardly in the second half of a 3-1 defeat to Lens in Ligue 1 and appeared in agony as he left the pitch.
“For Jeremy, it’s his shoulder, and for Abdelhamid [Ait Boudlal, the other Rennes player injured] it’s muscular,” Beye said in his post-match interview. “We’ll have time to see, but it’s definitely quite serious for both of them.”
Liverpool saw off competition from Chelsea to agree a deal to sign the highly rated France Under-21 centre-back for £55million plus £5m in add-ons on 1 July on a five-year contract, with the option of a further 12 months. Arne Slot described Jacquet as “a very big talent and maybe even more than a talent, but we speak about talent because of his age.”
The result meant Lens reclaimed top spot from Paris Saint-Germain to keep up their unexpected title challenge with what was a 10th successive home win. Esteban Lepaul steered Rennes into an early lead in northern France when he slid home a pass from new signing Arnaud Nordin for his 10th goal of the season.
The former Crystal Palace striker Odsonne Édouard brought Lens level before half-time and Ruben Aguilar headed in a cross from Florian Thauvin to put Lens ahead eight minutes into the second half.
Aguilar’s joy was cut short when he was sent off shortly after for a second yellow card, but 10-man Lens held on and grabbed a third through the former Newcastle winger Allan Saint-Maximin. Lens have won 10 of their last 11 games in the French top flight and hold a one-point lead over PSG, who host bitter rivals Marseille at the Parc des Princes on Sunday.
In Spain, Barcelona outclassed Mallorca 3-0 at home to increase their lead at the top of the LaLiga standings. Hansi Flick’s side controlled possession from the start and Marcus Rashford fired narrowly wide before playing a key role in the opener, as Dani Olmo headed his blocked effort into the path of Robert Lewandowski, who finished calmly in the 29th minute.
Barcelona pushed on after half-time, with Marc Casado hitting the post, and the pressure told in the 61st minute when 18-year-old Lamine Yamal struck a superb shot from distance to register his fifth goal in consecutive matches in all competitions. Substitute Marc Bernal, also 18, completed the scoring with a fine solo run and low finish. Barcelona moved to 58 points, four clear of second-placed Real Madrid, who play Valencia on Sunday.
Earlier on Saturday, La Liga postponed Rayo Vallecano’s home match against Real Oviedo because of the condition of the pitch at the Madrid’s side’s Vallecas stadium. They later moved Sevilla’s home game against Girona, scheduled for Saturday evening, to Sunday because of adverse weather conditions. Real Sociedad beat Elche 3-1 in Spain’s late game. Sociedad went two goals up through Luka Sucic and Mikel Oyarzabal before André Silva pulled one back for Elche before the break. Orri Oskarsson sealed the win for the hosts in the final minute.
Striker Serhou Guirassy snatched the winner three minutes from time to earn second-placed Borussia Dortmund a 2-1 victory at VfL Wolfsburg that cut Bayern Munich’s Bundesliga lead to three points. Guirassy’s 10th league goal of the season came at the end of an intricate set of midfield passes as Dortmund advanced to 48 points from 21 games, three behind Bayern, who host third-placed Hoffenheim on Sunday.
Dortmund dominated the first half and deserved their 38th-minute lead through Julian Brandt, but Konstantinos Koulierakis’ 52nd-minute header put relegation-threatened Wolfsburg back in the contest and they squandered several good chances to take the lead. Their profligacy was punished when Fabio Silva and Felix Nmecha played a one-two on the edge of the penalty area before Guirassy stole in from the left to finish with a right-footed shot.
Relegation-threatened St Pauli, whose last win was before the winter break, won 2-1 at home to fourth-placed Stuttgart, who had not lost in the league since a 5-0 home drubbing by Bayern on 6 December.
Fifth-placed Bayer Leverkusen failed to capitalise on Stuttgart’s slip as they were held to a 1-1 draw in the late game at Borussia Mönchengladbach. Yannik Engelhardt pounced to give the hosts the lead inside 10 minutes but an own goal by Gladbach’s Philipp Sander on the stroke of half-time ensured a share of the points.
Mainz continued their remarkable turnaround under Swiss coach Urs Fischer, who has guided Mainz from the bottom of the table to 13th in a matter of weeks, with a 2-0 win over Augsburg. Nadiem Amiri scored both goals from the spot to make it four wins in five. Hamburg also picked up a precious three points, winning their first game on the road this season 2-0 at bottom-placed Heidenheim. Werder Bremen were edged out by a sensational solitary strike by Freiburg’s Jan-Niklas Beste to extend their winless streak to 11 games.
In Serie A, Napoli’s Rasmus Hojlund scored a stoppage-time penalty to snatch a 3-2 victory at Genoa as they finished with 10 men but closed the gap on the top two. Hojlund, who also hit Napoli’s first, slotted home the spot-kick five minutes into added time as the champions moved to 49 points, still six adrift of leaders Inter but one behind second-placed Milan, who both have a game in hand.
It was a controversial penalty, after a VAR review found Genoa substitute Maxwel Cornet stood on Antonio Vergara’s foot, but a major boost to Napoli hopes of retaining the Scudetto. Napoli played out the last quarter of an hour with 10 men after the dismissal of defender Juan Jesus.
Guillermo Maripán was on target in time added on as Torino salvaged a 2-2 draw at relegation threatened Fiorentina. Cesare Casadei gave Torino a first-half lead before Manor Soloman and Moise Kean put Fiorentina 2-1 up. Maripán’s 94th-minute equaliser stunned the hosts, who are in 17th place in Serie A and could fall into the relegation zone if Lecce get a draw or better against Udinese on Sunday.
