Away from the chaos caused by the non-stop Sunday matches in England, the Europa League had some holidays of its own.
Following Real Madrid's win on Saturday, Barcelona were looking to keep pace with the La Liga leaders against Valencia.
Elsewhere, both Milan clubs were in action.
Milan faced Parma at the San Siro, while Inter traveled to Lecce.
Read on to see how the matches developed throughout the day.
Barcelona 7-1 Valencia
🚀 Fly, Bara, Fly! 🚀 pic.twitter.com/fY91BeFaZU
– FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) January 26, 2025
Barcelona beat Valencia 7-1 in an exciting match in the Spanish League. The hosts took the lead after just 145 seconds, as Frenkie de Jong scored the winning goal after a wonderful cross from Lamin Yamal. Ferran Torres doubled the lead moments later, converting a cross from Alex Balde with a brilliant touch.
Barcelona's relentless pressure saw Rafinha round the goalkeeper to make it 3-0, before Fermin Lopez added a stunning fourth goal with a powerful shot into the top corner. The first-half rout was completed just before half-time when Firmin pounced on a rebound to score his second goal, leaving Valencia in shock and trailing 5-0 at half-time.
Valencia briefly rebounded in the second half as Hugo Duro pulled one back with a sharp finish from a Diego Lopez pass. However, Barcelona quickly extinguished any hope of a comeback. Substitute Robert Lewandowski scored the sixth goal, before Cesar Tárrega scored an own goal to secure the emphatic victory.
Milan 3-2 Parma
– AC Milan (@acmilan) January 26, 2025
Milan achieved an exciting victory over its guest Parma, 3-2, in an exciting match in the Italian League at the San Siro Stadium.
The visitors took an early lead in the 24th minute when Matteo Cancellieri fired a stunning shot into the bottom corner after taking advantage of a defensive slip by Theo Hernandez. Milan thought they had equalized minutes later through Alvaro Morata, but the goal was disallowed due to offside.
Parity was restored in the 37th minute after Strahinja Pavlović was fouled inside the penalty area by Parma goalkeeper, Chigeyuki Suzuki. Christian Pulisic converted the resulting penalty with a confident shot into the bottom corner.
The second half remained tense until the 80th minute, when Enrico del Prato took advantage of a rebound to put Parma back in front. However, Milan's persistence paid off in stoppage time. Tijani Reynders scored with a perfect pass from Younes Musa to equalize in the 92nd minute.
Just minutes later, Samuel Chukwueze confirmed the comeback with a header from Pavlovic past Suzuki to seal the win. The victory raised Milan to seventh place, while Parma fell to 16th place.
Lecce 0-4 Inter Milan
Inter go for four 😉#ForzaInter #LecceInter pic.twitter.com/13GzVRXKh9
– Inter ⭐⭐ (@Inter) January 26, 2025
Inter Milan produced a strong performance to achieve a 4-0 victory over Lecce, closing the gap with Napoli, the leaders of the Italian League.
Davide Fratesi opened the scoring in the sixth minute with a direct shot into the net after a brilliant individual run and an assist from Marcus Thuram. The Nerazzurri took control of the match early, although two other goals were ruled out due to offside. Lautaro Martinez doubled the lead in the 39th minute with a stunning shot into the top corner.
Lecce showed a promising performance at the beginning of the second half, but retreated in the 57th minute when Denzel Dumfries scored the third goal from a tight angle after a decisive pass from Martinez. Substitute Mehdi Taremi made an immediate impact, scoring a penalty after just four minutes after Fratesi was fouled by goalkeeper Vladimiro Falcone.
