Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scored his first two goals for Barcelona in a convincing 4-1 win at Valencia on Sunday, lifting his side to fourth place in La Liga. It was the eighth and ninth goals of the season for the former Arsenal striker, who last found the net in October in the Gunners’ 3-1 win against Aston Villa. Frenkie de Jong scored the second goal for Barcelona, who looked much improved after struggling at the start of the campaign in the wake of the departure of talisman Lionel Messi. Initially the fourth goal was attributed to Pedri, but when the referee issued his match report after the game, he switched it to Aubameyang as Pedri’s strike was deflected off the striker’s back on its way in. Carlos Soler scored a consolation goal for the locals. The win lifted Barcelona into fourth place on 42 points from 24 games, tied with Atletico who are fifth on goal difference. Real Madrid top the table with 57 points. Barça were once again clinical up front, scoring four goals from only six shots on target. They have now netted 10 goals in their past three league games. “We are beginning to find that efficiency that we were lacking earlier in the season,” the captain, Sergio Busquets, said. “I hope Aubameyang is that one piece that we were missing up front. He is a great player that arrived hungry because he was not getting many opportunities at his last club. It is a luxury having him in our team.” It was also a busy afternoon for the video assistant referee, who had to intervene at two key points, disallowing a first-half goal for Valencia after spotting that the ball was inches out of play at the start of the move, and later overturning a penalty for Barca due to Aubameyang being very narrowly offside. Second-placed Sevilla’s title ambitions suffered another blow after they were held 1-1 at Espanyol, a fourth draw in their last five league matches. Julen Lopetegui’s side have 51 points from 25 games, six points behind the leaders Real Madrid. Sevilla went ahead in the 36th minute after Rafa Mir volleyed in from a Papu Gomez cross, but the locals found the equaliser when Sergi Darder headed in from close range five minutes after the break. Sevilla ended the game with 10 men after French defender Jules Kounde was sent off in the 76th minute when he lost his cool and hit Javi Puado while trying to break free from the Espanyol winger’s grip. Athletic Bilbao beat Real Sociedad 4-0 in Sunday evening’s Basque derby. La Real managed just two shot on goal during the 90 minutes. Bilbao’s first came in the 68th minute, when Dani Vivian was on the receiving end of Álex Berenguer’s corner. The second goal, from a Iker Muniain corner, was knocked in by Oihan Sancet. Ten minutes from the end Iñaki Williams scored his seventh league goal of the season, then Muniain scored a minute from time. Bilbao stayed eighth in La Liga, but are a single point behind La Real. In Serie A, Internazionale missed the chance to climb back to the top of table when they endured a shock 2-0 home defeat by Sassuolo. The hosts fell behind after eight minutes with Giacomo Raspadori drilling a shot through goalkeeper Samir Handanovic, before Gianluca Scamacca headed into the net when unmarked to double Sassuolo’s lead. Inter were all at sea, and could have gone into the break 3-0 down when Domenico Berardi’s effort hit the crossbar. After the break, the hosts piled on the pressure, with goalkeeper Andrea Consigli making several fine saves to keep the visitors in a commanding position. Sassuolo should have put the game to bed with late chances, but two goals were enough as Inter remained second on 54 points, two behind leaders Milan. Sassuolo climbed to 11th. In Ligue 1, Justin Kluivert, son of former Holland striker Patrick, continued his good form by scoring the only goal as Nice beat Angers 1-0, pressuring Marseille in the race for second place and an automatic Champions League spot. Third-place Nice moved one point point behind Marseille, who hosted struggling Clermont later on Sunday and lost 2-0 after goals from Mohamed Bayo and Jim Allevinah. Elsewhere in Ligue 1, Saint-Etienne held fourth-placed Strasbourg to a 2-2 home draw, with all the goals coming in a frantic first half. An early goal from the attacking midfielder Ryad Boudebouz put Pascal Dupraz’s Saint-Etienne ahead. The striker Habib Diallo equalized for Strasbourg in the 20th miinute and the defender Lucas Perrin made it 2-1 before the captain, Wahbi Khazri, equalised in the 33rd minute as Saint-Etienne moved to 16th. Rennes dispatched struggling Troyes 4-1 at home to climb into fifth place and two points behind Strasbourg for an automatic Europa League spot. Serhou Guirassy made the most of a rare start with two goals inside 20 minutes. Regular scorers Martin Terrier and Gaetan Laborde added late goals to reach 12 goals each. The midfilelder Teji Savanier scored in the second half as ninth-placed Montpellier won 1-0 at Lorient, while Reims drew 1-1 at home against Brest. Last-placed Bordeaux drew 1-1 with sixth-placed Monaco, who had the France midfielder Aurélien Tchouaméni sent off in the 34th minute.