Lens go top of Ligue 1, Espanyol suffer home defeat

Lens moved, at least temporarily, back to the top of Ligue 1 with a 1-0 win over Le Havre.

Ruben Aguilar’s volley in first-half stoppage time proved enough for Lens to go a point clear of Paris Saint-Germain, who face a tricky trip to Strasbourg on Sunday.

Adrien Thomasson appeared to have doubled Lens’ lead in the 66th minute, but saw his goal chalked off by VAR for a handball in the build-up.

But Le Havre rarely looked like finding an equaliser, with defeat leaving them fourth-bottom, six points clear of Nantes in the relegation play-off place.

Espanyol 1-2 Alaves

In LaLiga, Espanyol’s Champions League aspirations suffered a setback as they were surprisingly beaten at home by Alaves.

Alaves started the game just a point above the relegation zone but are now in the top half following an impressive fightback.

Robert Fernandez Jaen headed Espanyol into a 15th-minute lead, only for Antonio Blanco to level 12 minutes later when he found the bottom-left corner with a superb effort from the edge of the area.

Alaves completed the turnaround when Toni Martinez made the most of poor defending to latch onto a long ball forward and pull the ball back from the right byline for Lucas Boye to roll home the decisive goal.

Espanyol remain fifth, seven points adrift of fourth-placed Villarreal having played two games more. They could be leapfrogged by Real Betis and Celta Vigo, who face Valencia and Getafe on Sunday.

Lazio win thriller, Cologne prevail

In Serie A, Lazio prevailed in a thrilling contest with Genoa, Danilo Cataldi’s penalty in the 100th minute securing a 3-2 victory at the Stadio Olimpico.

A penalty from Pedro and Kenneth Taylor’s first goal for Lazio gave them a 2-0 lead. However, it was wiped out by Ruslan Malinovskyi’s spot-kick and a close-range effort from Vitinha, who pounced after Lazio failed to clear a corner.

But there was a final twist in the tale in the 95th minute when the referee was called to the pitchside monitor to review a potential handball against Leo Ostigard. He duly pointed to the spot and Cataldi found the bottom-left corner with a precise strike to secure the points.

In the Bundesliga, Linton Maina’s first-half goal gave Cologne a 1-0 win over Wolfsburg.