Joao Cancelo needed little time to make an impact for Bayern Munich as he helped his new team reach the quarter-finals of the German Cup with a 4-0 win at Mainz.
The Portugal full-back started on the right wing one day after joining on loan from Manchester City and set up Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting to open the scoring in the 17th minute.
It was Bayern’s first win of 2023 after they restarted the Bundesliga with three draws, and the first time since 2020 the Bavarian powerhouse reached the German Cup last eight.
Cancelo made the most of some passive defending from Mainz as he lofted a cross to the far post for Choupo-Moting, then Thomas Muller set up Jamal Musiala to shoot in off the right post after half an hour.
It got worse for Mainz before the break when captain Silvan Widmer had to go off injured and Choupo-Moting set up Leroy Sane to score.
Mainz improved drastically for the second half, but Bayern withstood the pressure and Joshua Kimmich delivered a free-kick for Alphonso Davies to complete the scoring with a header in the 83rd minute.
Mainz coach Bo Svensson had been sent off just before Davies’ goal and defender Alexander Hack followed with his second yellow card in the 86th minute.
Also in the German Cup, defending champions RB Leipzig defeated Hoffenheim 3-1 to progress to the quarter-finals, while Union Berlin and Stuttgart booked their places on Tuesday. There are further third-round games next week.
Mbappe injured and misses penalty twice
Kylian Mbappe missed a penalty twice before getting injured
Lionel Messi scored as Paris Saint-Germain stretched their Ligue 1 lead to five points with a 3-1 win at Montpellier – despite Kylian Mbappe limping off the pitch.
Mbappe, who also missed a penalty, held his left thigh as he was replaced after 20 minutes, but coach Christophe Galtier said the France forward had damaged his knee.
“It’s a knock on the knee and it hurts behind the thigh,” Galtier said. PSG play Bayern Munich in their Champions League last-16 first leg in two weeks’ time.
Mbappe had a night to forget, having had his spot-kick parried away by Benjamin Lecomte in the eighth minute. The France forward was handed a reprieve and allowed to take the penalty again, only for the Montpellier goalkeeper to deny him for a second time.
PSG, who had lost their two previous away games and were held to a last-gasp home draw by Reims on Sunday, were much improved and were rewarded in the 55th minute, when Fabian Ruiz volleyed home from Hugo Ekitike’s headed pass.
Fabian was the provider 17 minutes later, finding Messi with a laser-sharp pass for the Argentine forward to beat Lecomte with a low shot from close range.
Arnaud Nordin pulled one back for Montpellier, but 16-year-old midfielder Warren Zaire-Emery, who was born two years after Messi made his professional debut, put the result beyond doubt at the end of a counter-attack.
Elsewhere, Marseille claimed a 2-0 victory at Nantes to leapfrog Lens, who dropped their first points at home in a 1-0 defeat by Nice, into second place.
Azzedine Ounahi celebrated his first match for Marseille after joining from Angers with a cool finish following a spectacular dribble to add to Joao Victor’s own goal.
With 46 points, Marseille lead third-placed Lens by one point. Monaco stayed fourth, four points behind Lens, by beating Auxerre 3-2.
England U21 striker Folarin Balogun – on loan from Arsenal – bagged a hat-trick to help Reims beat Lorient 4-2 and move top of the Ligue 1 scorers’ charts.
Bottom club Angers were beaten 2-1 at home by Ajaccio to rack up a top-flight record 13 defeats in a row, beating the mark set by Dijon in the 2020-21 season and Cercle Athletique Paris (1933-34).
Barcelona go eight points clear of Real
Robert Lewandowski scored his first LaLiga goal since October
Robert Lewandowski ended his scoring drought in LaLiga to help Barcelona defeat Real Betis 2-1 and increase their lead over Real Madrid.
Lewandowski – who was making his return after a three-game ban – sealed Barcelona’s sixth straight victory in all competitions with his first league goal since October and now leads LaLiga with 14 goals.
Raphinha opened the scoring for Barcelona – who now lead Real Madrid by eight points ahead of their rivals’ game against Valencia at the Bernabeu on Thursday – with a touch from close range after a low cross by Alejandro Balde in the 65th minute.
Lewandowski added to the lead with a shot from inside the area in the 80th minute, but Betis got on the board with an own goal by Jules Kounde five minutes later.
It was Betis’ sixth straight league loss at home against Barcelona, with Manuel Pellegrini’s side staying sixth in LaLiga – three points behind fourth-placed Atletico Madrid.
Mourinho’s Roma stunned by Cremonese
Jose Mourinho’s Roma were beaten by a side without a Serie A win this season
Serie A strugglers Cremonese pulled off another shock in the Italian Cup by beating Roma 2-1 to reach the semi-finals for only the second time in their history.
Cremonese are bottom in Serie A having failed to win in the league, but followed up their cup victory at Napoli in the last round by eliminating Jose Mourinho’s side.
Cremonese will face Fiorentina in their first semi-final since 1987, while the other last-four contest pits holders Inter Milan against either Juventus or Lazio.
Roma defender Marash Kumbulla was partly to blame for Cremonese’s opener as he took too long on the ball, allowing Cyriel Dessers to steal it off him on the halfway line and sprint into the area, where he was brought down by goalkeeper Rui Patrcio.
Dessers dusted himself down and fired a precise penalty into the top-left corner to give the visitors a 28th-minute lead.
Mourinho rang the changes at half-time, but Cremonese doubled their advantage four minutes after the break when David Okereke raced down the right flank and rolled the ball across for Charles Pickel, who tried to flick it on to Frank Tsadjout, but it was deflected into his own net by Roma defender Zeki Celik to send the 200 traveling fans wild.
Andrea Belotti pulled one back for Roma in the fourth minute of stoppage time, but it was not enough for Mourinho’s side.
Elsewhere, Fiorentina avenged their Serie A loss to Torino by beating them 2-1 in the quarter-finals, thanks to goals from Luka Jovic and Jonathan Ikone.
