European Weekend Football Review (8th October)
The weekend brought drama across Europe’s top leagues, with thrilling clashes, surprise results, and standout performances. Manchester United’s struggles continued, while Lewandowski and Saka shone for their sides. From Bayern's defensive woes to Inter’s attacking brilliance, there was no shortage of action. Here's a recap of the biggest moments and the key players who lit up the pitch.
Premier League - Aston Villa 0 v 0 Manchester United
The draw at Villa Park saw Manchester United make their worst start to a Premier League season, where they have earned a measly 7 points from a possible 21.
Both Aston Villa and United struggled for any real attacking fluency throughout the 90, with neither side managing to create a real big chance of note, though Bruno Fernandes did strike the crossbar from distance with a dipping free kick.
After a difficult start to his Old Trafford career, Erik Ten Hag dropped summer signing Matthijs de Ligt to the bench in favour of the aging, but reliable Jonny Evans and Harry Maguire, though the England international had to withdraw at half time.
Lacking any semblance of attacking patterns or cohesion, The Red Devils struggled to break Villa down; club co-owner Jim Ratcliffe was in attendance, surely his patience must be running thin with the Dutchman.
After an electrifying night on Wednesday, defeating European giants Bayern Munich, a match against such an underwhelming United team was always going to be potentially anticlimactic with both players and supporters depleted of energy, struggling to rouse themselves on Sunday.
In the end Unai Emery would have been satisfied enough to take a point as his side continued their upward trajectory, while watching a fallen giant’s slumber endure.
Other Results
Crystal Palace 0-1 Liverpool
Arsenal 3-1 Southampton
Brentford 5-3 Wolves
Leicester City 1-0 Bournemouth
Man City 3-2 Fulham
West Ham 4-1 Ipswich
Everton 0-0 Newcastle
Chelsea 1-1 Nottingham Forest
Brighton 3-2 Tottenham
Player Of The Weekend - Bukayo Saka
Saka continued his fine start to the season, inspiring Arsenal in their come-from-behind win at home to Southampton. Assisting 2, getting on the scoresheet, and creating 7 chances in the encounter, the winger was simply unplayable with the Saints incapable of stopping his brilliance.
League Table
La Liga - Girona 2 v 1 Athletic Bilbao
Ernesto Valerde must be wondering how his side failed to leave the Estadi Municipal de Montilivi without at least a point, as he watched his Bilbao side lose 2-1 to Girona, and miss 2 penalties.
Alex Berenguer was the first to miss, his spot kick easily saved by Paulo Gazzaniga, the former Spurs goalkeeper diving to his right to palm the ball away.
Yaser Asprilla opened the scoring for the home team, his cross from the right deceived goalkeeper Alex Padilla, bouncing into the goal to open the Colombian’s account for his new club.
The lead did not last long, the impressive Oihan Sancet helped Bilbao level the game, latching onto a delicious chip into the box from Berenguer, followed by a cool finish to score his 4th goal of the campaign.
Bilbao were awarded a 2nd penalty on 53 minutes as Inaki Williams drew a foul from Arnaut Danjuma, the forward though would miss with a poorly attempted Paneka. VAR though awarded a retake, with Ander Herrera stepping up this time, but the result was the same with Gazzaniga once again saving down the middle.
Sensationally Girona were awarded a penalty deep into stoppage time, which saw Aitor Paredes sent off for a 2nd booking. Club legend Cristhian Stuani stepped up and scored, despite it not being the best of penalties; it was the first 3 points for the Albirrojos in 7 attempts.
Other Results
Leganes 0-0 Valencia
Espanyol 2-1 Real Mallorca
Getafe 1-1 Osasuna
Las Palmas 0-1 Celta Vigo
Real Valladolid 1-2 Rayo Vallecano
Real Madrid 2-0 Villarreal
Alaves 0-3 Barcelona
Sevilla 1-0 Real Betis
Real Sociedad 1-1 Atlético Madrid
Player Of The Weekend - Robert Lewandowski
The 36 year old striker is a man reborn under his former Bayern manager Hansi Flick, his treble against Alaves took the Pole to 10 goals for the season, topping the goalscoring charts; impressively his goals were all scored in 32 first half minutes.
League Table
Bundesliga - Eintracht Frankfurt 3 v 3 Bayern Munich
There is no doubt that this was the game of the weekend, as the fans at Deutsche Bank Park were treated to a classic.
For Bayern it has been a forgettable 7 days, with no wins in their 3 matches in the Bundesliga and Champions League. Like their clash with Bayer Leverkusen, Die Roten (the reds) were utterly dominant having 24 shots to Frankfurt’s 6, missed 3 big chances, and had 74% possession, but once again defensive issues cost them dearly.
All looked rosy after 15 minutes when Min-Jae Kim opened the scoring for the Bavarians, only for goals from the inform Omar Marmoush and Hugo Ekitike to put the home side into the lead. Dayot Upamecano made it 2-apiece going into the halftime break.
8 minutes into the 2nd half, Michael Olise's smart finish from outside the box had Bayern back in front. It looked like they would go on to see the game out, and only for some excellent saves from stand-in goalkeeper Kaua their advantage could have been extended.
They would be made to pay for not being more clinical when Marmoush would once again break the Bayern high line to equalise with only minutes remaining.
With a 2 week break, Vincent Kompany has some thinking to do, as his backline’s recent performances will give him a few sleepless nights.
Other Results
Augsburg 2-1 Borussia Monchengladbach
Bayer Leverkusen 2-2 Holstein Kiel
Bochum 1-3 Wolfsburg
Union Berlin 2-1 Borussia Dortmund
Werder Bremen 0-1 Freiburg
St.Pauli 0-3 Mainz
FC Heidenheim 0-1 RB Leipzig
VFB Stuttgart 1-1 Hoffenheim
Player Of The Weekend - Omar Marmoush
Bayern failed to contain the Egyptian as time and time again he made a mockery of their high line, using his pace and power to cause Upamecano and Kim plenty of problems; came out of the game with 2 goals and an assist, taking his tally to 8 goals and 4 assists in the Bundesliga.
League Table
Serie A - Inter 3-2 Torino
Inter made it 3 wins a week, but one of the talking points will be that the Nerazzurri are conceding too many goals for a team looking to defend the Scudetto.
Marcus Thuram scored the 2nd hatrick of his career, with 2 of them coming from headers. The French international has been in superb form, scoring 7 goals in 7 appearances in Serie A.
The home side were dominant throughout the match, having 29 shots to Torino’s 7, but they would have been disappointed with the nature of the goals they let in due to lapses in concentration.
They also had a man extra for much of the game, with defender Maripan sent off after just 20 minutes for a dangerous tackle.
For the visitors, despite a commendable draw at the San Siro on the opening day against Milan, Inter were always going to be a more formidable opponent. For Il Toro, the loss makes it 3 matches without a win, bringing first early good form to a shuddering halt.
After the international break Roma will welcome Inter to the Stadio Olimpico in another big test for Simone Inzagi’s side.
Coach Paolo Vanoli will welcome the league hiatus to take stock and get some work done on the training ground; next up is an away trip to Cagliari in 2 weeks time.
Other Results
Napoli 3-1 Como
Verona 2-1 Venezia
Udinese 1-0 Lecce
Atalanta 5-1 Genoa
Juventus 1-1 Cagliari
Bologna 0-0 Parma
Lazio 2-1 Empoli
Monza 1-1 Roma
Fiorentina 2-1 Milan
Player Of The Weekend - David De Gea
De Gea is a man on a mission, aiming to make up for lost time after taking a year out after leaving Old Trafford in the summer of 2023. On Sunday night he led his new side Fiorentina to a 2-1 win over Milan, saving 2 penalties, first from Theo Hernandez, then Tammy Abraham.
League Table
Ligue 1 - Rennes 1-2 Monaco
Thanks to their win here over Rennes, and PSG dropping points away at Nice, Monaco head into the international break top of Ligue 1, 2 points over their Parisian rivals.
All the goals were scored in the first 25 minutes, with Monaco taking a 6th minute lead through Thilo Kehrer’s directed header from Eliesse Ben Seghir’s corner. Rennes early player of the season Ludovic Blas’s arrowing strike from distance levelled matters, only for Folarin Balogun to restore the away sides lead 11 minutes later, with the USA international deft chipping the ball over the oncoming goalkeeper Steve Mandanda.
Adi Hutter will have been pleased with the response to his side dropping points in the Champions League midweek away in Zagreb, despite clear fatigue being on show, his side showed mental toughness to grind out an impressive win; they along with Arsenal, Man City, Bayern Munich, Juventus, and PSG remain the only unbeaten sides in Europe in the the top 5 leagues.
It is also Monaco’s best start to a season since the 1960/61 campaign, a special season that marked the Principality side’s first ever title win.
For Rennes, that extends their winless run to 3, though in that time they have faced the top 2, and given good accounts of themselves.
Other Results
Marseille 1-1 Angers
St.Etienne 3-1 Auxerre
Lille 2-1 Toulouse
Lyon 2-0 Nantes
Brest 2-0 Le Havre
Reims 4-2 Montpellier
Strasbourg 2-2 Lens
Nice 1-1 PSG
Player Of The Weekend - Zuriko Davitashvili
The Georgian has been a key figure in helping St.Etienne bounce back from their 8-0 thumping at Nice a few weeks back. In that time Les Verts have picked up 4 points from a possible 6, with Davitashvili providing an assist in the 2-2 draw with Nantes, then following that up with a hatrick in Saturday's 3-1 home win over Auxerre.
League Table
