Teenage star Lamine Yamal struck twice as La Liga leaders Barcelona thrashed Girona 4-1 on Sunday.

Elsewhere Atletico Madrid eased to a 3-0 victory over Valencia to pull level with second-place Real Madrid.

Hansi Flick’s Barca have now won all five of their opening matches and avenged two humiliating Catalan derby defeats by Girona last season with an emphatic victory at Montilivi.

Yamal’s first-half double sent Barcelona on their way with Dani Olmo and Pedri Gonzalez adding further goals after the break.

Cristhian Stuani pulled one back for the hosts, last season’s surprise package who finished third in only their fourth season in the top flight.

Girona lost several key players in the summer with coach Michel Sanchez forced to rebuild.

Barcelona have new momentum under former Bayern Munich and Germany coach Flick and produced their best performance of his reign to date.

Barcelona FINALLY beat Girona 😅🔵🔴 pic.twitter.com/yfG8rf80kZ

— OneFootball (@OneFootball) September 15, 2024

“I think you can see the confidence we have, and when we have the ball, we have the quality to play and to create chances,” Flick told reporters.

“I think today we had a lot of chances to score one or two goals more, but in the end I’m very happy with the performance of the team.”

Yamal, 17, and striker Robert Lewandowski came close in the opening exchanges before the teenage star, who led Spain to Euro 2024 victory in the summer, broke the deadlock.

The winger picked the pocket of David Lopez as he tried to bring the ball out of defence, before finishing with aplomb past Paulo Gazzaniga after 30 minutes.

“We started very concentrated, very focussed, we pressed them – we know when we give them the space they need for combinations we get in trouble,” said Flick.

“You saw the first goal, it was unbelievably good (pressing) from Lamine.”

Yamal grabbed his second before the break with a fine guided finish from the edge of the box after a free-kick was cleared into his path.

Olmo expanded Barcelona’s lead early in the second half with a sublime finish from a tight angle, leaving the new arrival from RB Leipzig on three goals from three La Liga matches.

Their fourth came through Pedri when midfielder Marc Casado cleverly played him through and the Canary Islander took his time to sidestep Gazzaniga and finish.

‘Turn the page’

Former Espanyol striker Stuani finished from close range with 10 minutes remaining to give Girona a consolation, before Barcelona substitute Ferran Torres was sent off for a high tackle on Yaser Asprilla.

They were the only blots on Barcelona’s otherwise pristine copybook as they maintained their 100 percent record at the start of the campaign.

On Saturday champions Real Madrid earned a 2-0 win at Real Sociedad to move second, four points behind Flick’s side.

Girona are seventh after the defeat, with their next match a Champions League debut away at Paris Saint-Germain.

“We have to try and forget about (the loss) as quickly as possible, this week we have a very special game, we have to face that with as much excitement as possible because for us it’s an historic match,” Stuani told Movistar.

🎩 Mr. Conor.

❤🆕🤍 ¡Gallagher se estrena como goleador del @Atleti en #LALIGAEASPORTS!#AtletiValencia | #LALIGAHighlights pic.twitter.com/0aZtWJ9LR4

— LALIGA (@LaLiga) September 15, 2024

Later on Conor Gallagher and Julian Alvarez netted their first Atletico Madrid goals as Diego Simeone’s side earned a comfortable victory over Valencia on Sunday.

Antoine Griezmann tucked home the second for the dominant Rojiblancos at their Metropolitano stadium.

Atletico are unbeaten in their first five fixtures and level on 11 points with Madrid, and Villarreal in fourth.

England international Gallagher, who arrived from Chelsea this summer, tucked home in the 39th minute after Rodrigo de Paul played him in with a clever pass that nutmegged a defender.

“Conor had a great game, he adds a lot of intensity to the match,” said Atletico goalkeeper Jan Oblak.

Atletico stayed on top in the second half and Griezmann pounced from close range after 54 minutes, staying alert to react quickest to a loose ball.

Simeone brought summer arrival Julian Alvarez off the bench in the second half and the former Manchester City striker tapped home late on to get his first goal in five appearances for his new club.

“I’m very happy for the win… and for the goal, for the confidence (it brings) and to help the team,” Alvarez told Movistar.

“I haven’t been feeling the pressure… I’m always ready to play when called on, to help the team.”

In-form Napoli top Serie A after Inter stumble at Monza

Napoli are top of Serie A after thrashing Cagliari 4-0 on Sunday in a match which was stopped in the first half due to fan disorder, as Inter Milan were held to a 1-1 draw at Monza ahead of their Champions League opener at Manchester City.

Goals from Giovanni Di Lorenzo, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, Romelu Lukaku and Alessandro Buongiorno gave Napoli their third straight win and a one-point lead over Inter, Torino and Juventus, who they face in Turin next weekend.

Sunday’s display was another step in the right direction for new coach Antonio Conte, who is already having to field questions about whether his team will challenge for the league title.

“Teams are still settling in as the transfer window closed late and we are all trying to find our shape,” said Conte to DAZN.

“We’ve worked hard over the last two and a half months, we’ve got to keep pushing forward without thinking about anyone else.”

Napoli’s win was marred by ugly scenes midway through the opening period when the away fans unveiled a banner which mimicked sheep bleating and sparked the throwing of objects between the two sets of supporters.

That banner came after Napoli’s fans were pictured with another one on their ferry trip to largely rural Sardinia which read “sheep hunting”.

I’ve seen players get scolded by their own supporters after a heavy loss, but Cagliari’s Flamingo mascot being subject to this dressing-down after a 4-0 loss to Napoli has absolutely finished me pic.twitter.com/FJIPicGaPX

— Zach Lowy (@ZachLowy) September 15, 2024

The match was stopped for seven minutes as both home and away ends supporters threw projectiles and flares.

Antonio Conte’s side were already leading at that point through Di Lorenzo’s wildly deflected 18th-minute opener, and Kvaratskhelia and Lukaku showed signs of a burgeoning partnership by setting each other up for the goals which sealed the three points by the 70th minute.

Buongiorno nodded home the fourth in stoppage time to make it a perfect night for Napoli and set up a mouth-watering clash with Juve.

Inter gave up their league lead as Denzel Dumfries saved a point for the champions with three minutes remaining after Dany Mota’s brilliant 81st minute header threatened to give Monza their first win under new coach Alessandro Nesta.

Simone Inzaghi’s unbeaten side, who would have moved a point above Napoli with a win, were uninspiring in a largely drab encounter at the U-Power Stadium and will need to improve at City on Wednesday night, with the Milan derby also coming up next weekend.

“We created some chances but weren’t able to take advantage. We were slower and not as on it as we normally are,” said Inzaghi to DAZN.

Lookman back with bang

Great to be back 🕺🏽⚽️ pic.twitter.com/wQub4620FB

— Ademola Lookman (@Alookman_) September 15, 2024

Ademola Lookman made sure that Atalanta warmed up for their return to the Champions League with the winner in a 3-2 victory over Fiorentina.

Nigeria forward Lookman did not feature in Atalanta’s first three league matches after agitating for a transfer to Paris Saint-Germain.

But the 26-year-old netted the decisive strike in stoppage time at the end of the first half, jinking through the Fiorentina defence before shooting past David de Gea, seconds after Charles De Ketelaere headed Atalanta level.

Lookman, the hat-trick hero from last season’s Europa League final triumph, also floated in a pinpoint cross for Mateo Retegui to head in Atalanta’s first equaliser in the 21st minute.

His immediate impact is great news for coach Gian Piero Gasperini, whose side host Arsenal on Thursday night and entertained their home fans in the newly-completed Gewiss Stadium.

“We’re very pleased to be playing in the Champions league this season,” added Lookman.

“We deserve it so we have to demonstrate that again on Thursday with the same drive, the same mentality that we showed today.”

Atalanta, whose most recent appearance in the Champions League was in 2021, played their first three Serie A fixtures away from Bergamo to allow the club to put the finishing touches to their redeveloped home.

They are eighth on six points, three ahead of 14th-placed Fiorentina who twice went ahead in the first half through Lucas Martinez Quarta and Moise Kean but are yet to win under new coach Raffaele Palladino.

Earlier Genoa snatched a 1-1 home draw with Roma in the final seconds to continue their positive start to the season.

Ten-man Werder Bremen win at Mainz

Derrick Koehn’s 69th minute goal lifted Werder Bremen to a 2-1 win at Mainz on Sunday, despite having to play the final half an hour with 10 men.

Marvin Ducksch gave Bremen the lead from the spot after Justin Njinmah was fouled in the box, with the injured player taken from the field as a result of the collision.

With former Mainz manager Jurgen Klopp watching on from the stands, the hosts hit back through Jae-sung Lee, who tapped in after goalkeeper Michael Zetterer spilled the ball at his feet.

Bremen’s chances of taking all three points looked dim when Marco Friedl saw straight red for a last-man foul with 60 minutes remaining, but Koehn’s goal on debut just nine minutes later put them in the driver’s seat.

Zetter redeemed himself for his error with a string of late saves to keep Bremen on track for their first win of the season.

“We didn’t let the red card knock us off course,” Bremen striker Marvin Ducksch told DAZN.

“To make my debut and score 125 seconds later, it’s great”, Koehn said of his “fairytale” debut.

Four-time German champions Bremen finish the round in eighth, ahead of Mainz who sit 15th.

Klopp took over as Mainz manager after retiring from the club as a player, before moving to coach Borussia Dortmund and then Liverpool.

Earlier on Sunday, goals from Marius Wolf, Phillip Tietz and Yusuf Kabadayi took Augsburg to a 3-1 Bundesliga home win over promoted St Pauli.

One-time Germany defender Wolf, who moved from Dortmund to Augsburg in the summer, broke the deadlock with a superb curling strike three minutes into the second half.

Tietz doubled the home side’s lead with a well-placed header on the 67-minute mark.

St Pauli’s Carlo Boukhalfa cut the deadlock shortly after – Pauli’s first goal since returning to the league – but the visitors were unable to break through, with Kabadayi grabbing his goal in the fifth minute of stoppage time to seal the match.

The win was Augsburg’s first of the season and ended a winless run going back seven league matches, while St Pauli have now lost three from three on their return to the top flight.

On Saturday, Harry Kane scored three goals as Bayern Munich thumped promoted Holstein Kiel 6-1 away from home. Bayern are the only side to have won all three of their opening fixtures.