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Another entertaining weekend of European football action is in the books, with the main headlines going to Barcelona, sending a statement to Real Madrid with a 4-0 thrashing at the Santiago Bernabeu to remain top of LaLiga.
Meanwhile in the Premier League, Arsenal were unable to close the gap with league leaders Manchester City as they could only settle for a 2-2 draw against Arne Slot’s Liverpool. Meanwhile, Cole Palmer continues to create an instant impact for Chelsea as he was instrumental in the Blues beating Newcastle United 2-1.
In Germany, there was further disappointment for Borussia Dortmund as they lost 2-1 to FC Augsburg, while Bayern Munich continued to set the pace at the top of the Bundesliga. In France, Paris Saint-Germain made easy work against their rivals Marseille in Le Classique and in Italy, Internazionale and Juventus played out an eight-goal thriller that ended in a 4-4 draw.
What else happened around Europe this weekend? ESPN’s Weekend Review puts a bow on all the continental competition.
Top takeaway: Reds snatch crucial point away at the Emirates
Following the 2-2 draw between Manchester City and Arsenal last month, the second big clash between two title contenders this season in the Premier League offered another top game.
As we wait for Liverpool against Manchester City on Dec. 1, Arsenal against Liverpool didn’t disappoint on Sunday and also finished in a 2-2 draw. However, for the first time this season, Liverpool boss Slot admitted that his team, who had won 11 of their 12 games in all competitions, were second best.
The Gunners led twice but the Reds showed some character and great depth despite the absence of Diogo Jota. They never gave up while waiting for a mistake from their opponents. That mistake happened late and only after the North Londoners — who were already without Martin Ødegaard, Riccardo Calafiori and William Saliba — were further depleted by Gabriel’s injury and Jurriën Timber‘s cramps. Their back four for the last 20 minutes consisted of Thomas Partey, Ben White, Jakub Kiwior and Myles Lewis-Skelly.
Mohamed Salah subsequently punished Arsenal’s makeshift defence and the draw felt a bit fortunate for Liverpool, but hard to take for the hosts. Manchester City’s manager Pep Guardiola, was watching at home on his sofa and surely enjoyed both teams dropping points.
It meant that his City side was not only top of the table but one point clear of Liverpool and five of Arsenal.
Best match: Brentford 4-3 Ipswich Town
On paper, Brentford against Ipswich might not have appealing on a Saturday afternoon, but it should have been because it was epic. The visitors led 2-0 before Frenchmen Yoane Wissa and Bryan Mbeumo changed everything to put their team 3-2 up. There was still time for Ipswich to come back to 3-3 just minutes before the final whistle. However, Mbeumo’s late dramatic 4-3 winner was enough to cap off an incredible game at the Gtech Community Stadium.
Best goal: Mateta’s winner gives Palace their first win
Once again, this is more about the assist than the finish itself. Eberechi Eze‘s superb back-heel pass for Jean-Philippe Mateta for Crystal Palace against Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday was something else. And above all, it gave their team its first league win of the season.
MVP of the weekend: Chelsea‘s Cole Palmer
Another cold performance for the Chelsea star in their 2-1 win against Newcastle United. One goal, coming off a solo effort at the start of the second half which would prove to be the winner again and one wonderful through-ball for Pedro Neto who put it on a plate for Nicolas Jackson to score the opening goal. The England international might just be the best player in the Premier League at the moment.. — Julien Laurens
Top takeaway: Barcelona’s Clásico dominance dispels all doubts
There was a lot of talk ahead of Saturday’s Clásico about the potential weaknesses in Hansi Flick’s Barcelona, waiting to be exploited by Kylian Mbappé, Vinícius Júnior and company at the Santiago Bernabeu. Barça’s high defensive line was vulnerable to a pacey forward line. Iñaki Peña was a rookie liability in goal, and so was Marc Casadó in midfield. Also, none of the front three consisting of Robert Lewandowski, Lamine Yamal and Raphinha had ever scored against Real Madrid in LaLiga.
Instead, all of those projected weak points turned out to be Barcelona’s match-winning strengths in their 4-0 thrashing of their archrivals. Mbappé alone was caught offside a career-high eight times by Barça’s inch-perfect offside trap. Peña made four saves, keeping a clean sheet with an xG (expected goals) against of 1.48. Casadó, 21, excelled, playing a line-breaking pass from deep for Barça’s opening goal. And all of Lewandowski, Yamal and Raphinha were on target. Lewandowski scored twice and could have had a hat trick, hitting the post with a straightforward chance.
It was hard to pick a highlight, but Yamal’s top-corner finish — with his wrong foot — might have been it. “They [my teammates] said they didn’t know I had a right foot!,” he said afterwards. “I said I do, when I have to.” Yamal is 17. Six of Barça’s starters were 21 or under. No wonder Flick was doing somersaults on the touchline.
Best match: Real Madrid 0-4 Barcelona
Sorry. It’s El Clásico. Were you expecting something else? This was a thrilling, statement win from Barcelona, confirming Flick’s team as the best side in Spain, and one of the best in Europe. And it was also a chastening experience for the hosts, such a comprehensive defeat that it’s already causing soul-searching about this entire Real Madrid project. Four goals, 10 big chances between both teams and enough storylines and debates to keep the Spanish media busy for weeks to come. What more could you want? Unless you’re a Real Madrid fan, obviously…
Best goal: Lukebakio with a stunner
Both Yamal and Raphinha could easily have been awarded goal of the weekend, and probably should have — we spoke about Yamal’s finish above, and Raphinha’s late scoop over Andriy Lunin was a delight — but let’s move on from El Clásico and celebrate some other highlights from this weekend. On Friday, Dodi Lukebakio scored twice to give a Sevilla team in desperate need of points a 2-0 win at Espanyol, his first goal an effortless shot from distance. Sevilla fans haven’t had much to cheer about this season. Thanks to Lukebakio, they’re now safely in midtable.
MVP of the weekend: Villarreal‘s Álex Baena
Lewandowski or Lukebakio’s braces might have been recognized here, but let’s go for Baena, who created a season-high seven chances in Villarreal’s 2-1 win at Real Valladolid on Saturday. Villarreal are the third-best team in LaLiga this season, and Baena is a shoo-in for the best player outside the big two. It’s hard for any non-Madrid or Barça player to stand out on Clásico weekend, but Baena managed it. — Alex Kirkland
Top takeaway: Şahin under pressure following yet another loss
The top teams in the Bundesliga experienced a horrible week in European competition. Other than Stuttgart who beat Juventus, everyone else suffered some sort of disappointment in the UEFA Champions League. Coming off a 5-2 loss at Real Madrid in which Dortmund conceded five goals in the second half at the Santiago Bernabeu, the Schwarzgelben tried to bounce back against Augsburg on Saturday.
However, Augsburg had displayed strong results at home going into the game on Saturday, and Jess Thorup’s side proved to be more than just a stumbling block for Dortmund once again. After scoring an early goal, Dortmund became surprisingly ineffective offensively for most of the game, ultimately losing 2-1.
With that result, Dortmund manager Nuri Şahin finds himself under considerable pressure. The desired turnaround following the managerial change during the summer has not come to fruition thus far. While the likes of Julian Brandt, Jamie Gittens and Donyell Malen might form an impressive attacking force on paper, they are not living up to their potential because, to a degree, Dortmund lack the necessary fundamentals in possession and thereby also remain defensively vulnerable.
For now, Şahin has the backing of Dortmund’s higher-ups, as Sebastian Kehl, the sporting director, confirmed after the game.
“I see the coach and his staff work with the team every day,” he said. “Nuri prepares the team meticulously, and has worked out a matchplan for today as well. In the end, the team must execute it on the pitch.” Nothing really has changed at Dortmund compared to last season. Bayern Munich and RB Leipzig may have also had disappointing showings in the Champions League, but these two at least get the job done in the Bundesliga.
Best match: Werder Bremen 2-2 Bayer Leverkusen
Werder Bremen fans had to wait 161 days for their team to score at home again, and they did so twice against Bayer Leverkusen on Saturday evening. The 2-2 draw between these two teams also entailed a few dramatic twists, as Bremen’s Felix Agu scored an own goal only four minutes after Marvin Ducksch had finally caused the goal anthem to be played again in Weserstadion. Romano Schmid who turned the tables on Leverkusen — a side renowned for their late comebacks — by firing in an equalizer in the 90th minute, sending the home crowd into a frenzy.
Best goal: Impressive strike from Toure
Following Serhou Guirassy‘s departure during the summer, questions were raised about whether Stuttgart would be able to fill the void up front. They certainly did. Not only have starters Ermedin Demirovic and Deniz Undav impressed in many games thus far, but Stuttgart manager Sebastian Hoeneß can also seemingly count on his backups. El Bilal Toure scored the second goal for Stuttgart against Holstein Kiel after roughly an hour when Jeff Chabot intercepted a pass attempt by Marvin Schulz and then found Toure, a loanee from Atalanta, who needed no time to shoot the ball from 27 yards out into the upper right corner.
MVP of the weekend: Augsburg’s Alexis Claude-Maurice
Alexis Claude-Maurice is finally making a splash in the Bundesliga following his move from Nice to Augsburg in late August. He picked up his first minutes on matchday six against Borussia Monchengladbach and scored only eight minutes after being brought on. Against Dortmund, Claude-Maurice’s brace sent Dortmund home packing. That’s quite the impact for a player that came on a free transfer. — Constantin Eckner
What else you missed this weekend
Derby d’Italia serves up an all-time Serie A classic
We’re nine games into the Serie A season, and we’ve already got a strong contender for game of the season. Internazionale against Juventus might just be the biggest match in the league — it’s known as the Derby d’Italia, Italy’s Derby, for a reason — and Sunday’s 4-4 draw at San Siro lived up to its billing. Forget all the stereotypes about Italian football being defensive; this was anything but. Inter went ahead through Piotr Zielinski‘s penalty. Then Juve fought back, Dusan Vlahovic and Timothy Weah putting them in front.
Two goals in two minutes — from Henrikh Mkhitaryan, and another Zielinski penalty — had Inter back on top, in a five-goal first half. Inter thought they’d secured the three points when Denzel Dumfries gave them a two-goal lead, only for a late brace from superstar-in-waiting Kenan Yildiz, 19, to make it 4-4. The two teams couldn’t be separated, and that means there’s still just a point between them in the table, with Inter second, four points behind leaders Napoli, and Juve in third. — Kirkland
What. A. Match. 👏#InterJuve pic.twitter.com/JIJNQadXKU
— Lega Serie A (@SerieA_EN) October 27, 2024
Klose building coaching reputation
Remember Miroslav Klose? The all-time World Cup top scorer has transitioned into coaching in the past couple of years and is now in charge of 2. Bundesliga side Nuremberg. Last weekend, his team beat Greuther Furth 4-0 in the tradition-rich Franconian derby, causing Furth to sack both their head coach and sporting director.
On Friday, Klose’s side made headlines once again, beating Regensburg 8-3 in what turned out to be a game-of-the-year contender. Granted, Regensburg are last in the league table and have seemed overmatched in many games, but it was nevertheless impressive how Nuremberg swept across Regensburg in the second half after the guests had staged a comeback before the half-time break, as they scored two goals making it 2-2 at the interval.
Nuremberg don’t have the financial resources to compete with some of the powerhouses in the 2. Bundesliga, but they at least provide their fans with some excitement and goals — something Klose became famous for during his active playing career. — Eckner
Le Classique serves more controversy as PSG dominate
We will never know what would have happened if Amine Harit, the Paris-born and bred Marseille player, had not been sent off for a dangerous high foot on Marquinhos after just 20 minutes at the Stade Velodrome on Sunday night, but the red card did change everything.
Before that, PSG were very dominant and already 1-0 up but for a match being played 11 vs 10, there was no match. There was nothing that Adrien Rabiot, the former PSG midfielder and now playing in the south of France, and his teammates could do. In the end, they only lost 3-0 despite the Parisians creating many more chances. While Luis Enrique’s side were wasteful in front of goal, and they have continued their incredible unbeaten run in Ligue 1 in Marseille: in the league, PSG have not lost there since 2011 and haven’t there since 2017.
Hummels’ nightmare debut in Roma’s rout
Five months ago, Mats Hummels played in the Champions League final with Borussia Dortmund against Real Madrid. He hadn’t played an official game until Sunday night with his new club AS Roma, away at Fiorentina. And let’s say that the evening didn’t go well at all for the 2014 World Cup winner.
After coming on in the 67th minute, Hummels took just four minutes to score an own goal, adding further insult to what was already a humiliating 5-1 defeat. After only making the bench in the last few games, his very anticipated debut was an absolute nightmare. It will join a long list of terrible debuts with the likes of Jonathan Woodgate with Real Madrid or Chris Smalling more recently in the Saudi league. — Laurens