Espanyol?s Antonio Alvarez ?Ito? (left) vies for the ball with Sevilla?s Julio Baptista as teammate Alex Fernandez looks on in Seville on Sunday. (Reuters)

Madrid: Sevilla climbed to third in the Primera Liga after Brazilian forward Julio Baptista?s first-half strike earned them a 1-0 win over high-flying Espanyol on Sunday. Baptista charged on to a neat through pass from fellow striker Carlos Aranda, rode a challenge from the goalkeeper and poked the ball into the net six minutes before the break.

The Brazil striker missed a penalty late in the second half after Espanyol defender Mauricio Pochettino was penalised for handball but it did not prevent his side from getting their season back on track with a first win in four outings. Barcelona stretched their lead at the top to seven points on Saturday after outclassing arch-rivals Real Madrid with a 3-0 win at the Nou Camp.

Barca lead the table with 29 points from 12 matches, Real follow on 22 and Sevilla have 21. Espanyol are in fourth spot with 20 points, one ahead of Valencia, who recorded their first victory in 10 matches with a 2-0 win at Malaga on Saturday. The match of the day, though, was at Anoeta where Real Sociedad fought back from two goals down to claim a morale-boosting 3-2 win over neighbours Athletic Bilbao in the Basque derby.

Sociedad seemed down and out after Athletic hit them with two quick-fire goals at the end of the first half, midfielder Santi Ezquerro opening the scoring after 40 minutes with a stylish finish after a fine solo run down the right wing. Striker Ismael Urzaiz scored his 100th league goal for the club when he made it 2-0 three minutes later with a neat volley after midfielder Andoni Iraola had lofted a delightful pass over the defence.

But Sociedad began their fightback 12 minutes into the second half when Nihat Kahveci drilled the ball into the net after good work from Darko Kovacevic.

Sunday?s game began to turn in the home side?s favour when Athletic goalkeeper Daniel Aranzubia was sent off for bringing down Kovacevic as he raced clear towards goal 10 metres outside the area just after the hour mark. Sociedad made the most of their numerical advantage with Nihat levelling the scores after another fine assist from Kovacevic and midfielder Igor Gabilondo clinching the win with a far-post header following a great cross from Valery Karpin. The result allowed Sociedad to haul themselves into 14th place but Athletic are now hovering just a point above the relegation zone.

Meanwhile, VfL Wolfsburg lost 1-3 at Hamburg SV on Sunday to leave Bayern Munich top of the Bundesliga for the first time in 18 months. Wolfsburg, needing a win to reclaim the league leadership following Bayern?s 3-1 victory over Kaiserslautern on Saturday, took the lead inside 30 seconds through a fine Thomas Brdaric finish.

Despite that excellent start, Wolfsburg were unable to settle and Hamburg hit back with goals from Daniel Van Buyten and Sergej Barbarez in the last five minutes of the first half. Substitute Bernardo Romeo grabbed a late third goal.

Inter Milan came from behind to beat Bologna 3-1 in an Italian Cup third round, first leg match at the San Siro stadium on Sunday.

Bologna took the lead in the 22nd minute when striker Claudio Bellucci caught Inter?s defence napping, latching on to a long pass before slotting the ball past keeper Alberto Fontana. Despite enjoying more possession, Inter struggled to break down the visitors? defence from open play and had to wait until the end of the half before Christian Vieri headed in the equaliser from a corner. Eleven minutes from time, when substitute Alvaro Recoba was scored with a close-range header following a corner. With Bologna pressing forward, striker Julio Cruz sealed the win with a late goal. (Agencies)