Lionel Messi and Argentina will try for a 3rd straight major title in Copa America

MADRID: There was no rout this time but Barcelona still prevailed Sunday with Robert Lewandowski scoring a second-half winner as the Catalan club beat Alaves 1-0 to move within four points of rival Real Madrid at the top of the Spanish league.

“It’s not every time that we will be able to score three, four or five goals in a game,” Lewandowski said. “We had to be patient and in the end we did what we had to do, which was to score one more goal than our opponent.”

Madrid lost 1-0 at Espanyol on Saturday after a run of 10 victories in its last 11 matches in all competitions.

Third-placed Barcelona are three points behind second-placed Atletico Madrid, which ended a two-match winless streak in the league with a 2-0 victory against Mallorca on Saturday.

“We knew we had to win this match,” Lewandowski said. “We needed the victory. We had lost too many points in the league already.”

It was an unusually low-scoring game for Barcelona, which had claimed 14 goals in its last three matches — including a 7-1 rout of Valencia in the league.

Lewandowski scored his fourth goal in as many matches across all competitions, and his seventh in the last eight games.

The Poland striker scored from close range after a volley by Lamine Yamal from inside the area deflected off a defender.

Yamal had amazed the crowd only a few minutes into the game, using nifty moves to get past six defenders in a run that ended with Raphinha sending a shot wide of the net.

Alaves, which ended with no attempts on target, stayed inside the relegation zone with the loss. It has won only one of its last 11 matches in all competitions.

Head injuries for Gavi and Conechny

Barcelona midfielder Gavi and Alaves forward Tomas Conechny had to be substituted in the first half after a collision of heads while going for the ball about 10 minutes into the match at Montjuic stadium.

Gavi left the field on his own but Conechny was carried off on a stretcher and taken to a local hospital for further tests.

Alaves said Conechny sustained a head trauma and was expected to spend the night in the hospital.

Valencia rebound from embarrassing loss

Second-to-last Valencia rebounded from the embarrassing 7-1 loss at Barcelona with a 2-1 home victory over 13th-placed Celta Vigo, who are winless in its last five matches across all competitions. Valencia won two in a row at home in the league for the first time this season. It beat Real Sociedad 1-0 two rounds ago.

Ante Budimir scored a goal in each half as seventh-placed Osasuna defeated 11th-placed Sociedad 2-1 at home. It was the third straight league loss for Sociedad.

Osasuna won for the first time after nine consecutive league matches without a victory, with its last win in the competition coming against last-place Valladolid back in November.

Fourth-placed Athletic Bilbao missed a chance to move even closer to the top three after a 2-2 draw at ninth-placed Real Betis. Athletic twice came from behind to earn the draw in Seville.

MANCHESTER: Manchester United slumped to another meek home defeat as Crystal Palace won 2-0 at Old Trafford on Sunday, while Tottenham eased the pressure on Ange Postecoglou by beating Brentford 2-0.

Jean Philippe-Mateta was Palace’s hero with both goals in the second half as United suffered a fifth defeat in their last six home league games.

Victory takes the Eagles above the Red Devils in the table as Oliver Glasner’s side climb to 12th.

Three consecutive wins for United had lifted the mood around Old Trafford but it was back to square one for Ruben Amorim after another home display lacking in creativity and riddled with defensive lapses.

Amorim’s decision to start without a natural striker backfired with both Rasmus Hojlund and Joshua Zirkzee left on the bench.

Midfielder Kobbie Mainoo started in a center-forward role after scoring in a 2-0 victory over Romanian side FCSB in midweek.

The England international’s scuffed strike came back off the post in United’s best effort of a bright opening before their attacking threat fizzled out.

Palace have lost just one of their last seven league games to recover from a miserable start to the season.

The visitors missed the creative spark offered by Eberechi Eze for the first hour as an injury meant he was only fit enough for a cameo appearance off the bench.

But Eze made an instant impact as from his free kick Maxence Lacroix’s header came back off the bar and into Mateta’s path to fire home.

Worse was to follow for United as Lisandro Martinez had to be stretchered off with what appeared a serious knee injury.

Palace showed no mercy to secure the three points when Daniel Munoz charged through the middle of the home side’s defense and unselfishly squared for Mateta to knock in his sixth goal in five games.

Spurs eased fears they could be dragged into a relegation battle as Postecoglou’s injury-ravaged side kept a rare clean sheet to see off Brentford.