Over in Italy, defending Napoli returned to winning ways after last week’s loss at San Siro to reclaim top spot in Serie A from Massimiliano Allegri’s resurgent AC Milan, who were held to a 0-0 draw by Juventus – primarily because of a missed penalty from Christian Pulisic.
In France, Roberto De Zerbi’s wonderfully exciting Marseille moved to within a point of Paris Saint-Germain, meaning we might actually have something resembling a title race this season, while Real Madrid are back on top of LaLiga thanks to a hard-fought win over Villarreal – and Barcelona’s shocking loss at Sevilla.
As for Portugal, the big game of the weekend between Jose Mourinho’s Benfica and his former club, Porto, ended in a perhaps unsurprisingly dour 0-0 draw.
Below, BALLGM runs through all the big winners and losers of the latest round of action across Europe’s top leagues…
Over in Italy, defending Napoli returned to winning ways after last week’s loss at San Siro to reclaim top spot in Serie A from Massimiliano Allegri’s resurgent AC Milan, who were held to a 0-0 draw by Juventus – primarily because of a missed penalty from Christian Pulisic.
In France, Roberto De Zerbi’s wonderfully exciting Marseille moved to within a point of Paris Saint-Germain, meaning we might actually have something resembling a title race this season, while Real Madrid are back on top of LaLiga thanks to a hard-fought win over Villarreal – and Barcelona’s shocking loss at Sevilla.
As for Portugal, the big game of the weekend between Jose Mourinho’s Benfica and his former club, Porto, ended in a perhaps unsurprisingly dour 0-0 draw.
Below, BALLGM runs through all the big winners and losers of the latest round of action across Europe’s top leagues…
Vinicius Junior threw a pathetic hissy-fit after missing out on the 2024 Ballon d’Or and immediately vowed to win this year’s award. He didn’t get remotely close, of course, the Brazilian finishing 16th after an underwhelming campaign.
However, Vinicius has made a fine start to the new Liga season and his double in Real Madrid’s 3-1 win over Villarreal means he now has nine direct goal involvements in eight matches.
“I like it when I see him smiling and enjoying himself,” Blancos boss Xabi Alonso told his club’s official website.”He came close to scoring a hat-trick and rounding off his game.
“He also had a great game against Levante (on September 23). He’s a very important player for the team and the club because of his ability to create mismatches, what he generates and the difficulty he poses for the opposition.”
Pedri claimed ahead of last week’s Champions League clash with Paris Saint-Germain that Barcelona were the best team in Europe.It wasn’t true then and it’s certainly not true now.
The Blaugrana are a wonderfully entertaining team, but primarily because they’re almost as vulnerable defensively as they are outstanding offensively. Basically, their games guarantee goals because they have such an open style of play, as the past week has underlined.
After being beaten 2-1 at home by an under-strength PSG on Wednesday night, Barca were hammered 4-1 on Sunday afternoon by Sevilla in La Liga – a defeat that saw the Catalans displaced at the top of the table by hated rivals Real Madrid.
Robert Lewandowski missed a second-half penalty at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan that would have drawn the visitors level but midfielder Pedri admitted, “We shouldn’t pin the defeat on that alone. Throughout the match, we weren’t good enough.”
It was a similar story against PSG, which is why Flick’s high-risk tactics are now coming under serious scrutiny in Catalonia for the first time.
Marcus Thuram has been outstanding for Inter this season, winning man of the match in both of their Champions League matches so far, against Ajax and Slavia Prague.
So, the Frenchman’s injury-enforced absence from Sunday’s Serie A clash with Cremonese looked like a bit of a problem for Christian Chivu. However, Ange-Yoan Bonny did an absolutely sensational job filling in for Thuram.
As well as scoring his first goal for Inter following his summer switch from Parma, the 21-year-old attacker also racked up a hat-trick of assists, making new coach Chivu look like a bit of genius for bringing Bonny with him from Parma during the summer.
“The ‘mister’ gives me confidence every day,” Bonny told reporters after the Nerazzurri’s 4-1 win at San Siro. “I know he’ll give me my chances if I deserve them: it’s always been like this, even at Parma, and I thank him for that and I just want to continue on this path.”
It was a little surprising that none of Europe’s richest clubs made a move for Igor Paixao during the summer. The Brazilian was the best player in the Netherlands last season, scoring 16 goals and creating a further 10 for Feyenoord.
Credit to Marseille, then, for deciding to pay a club-record €35 million (£30m/$41m) for Paixao, who, after an injury-hindered start to his spell at the Stade Velodrome, struck twice in the 4-0 Champions League rout of Ajax in midweek before opening the scoring – and his Ligue 1 account – in the 3-0 win at Metz on Saturday afternoon.
“Sometimes, with certain players,” OM coach Roberto De Zerbi said in his post-match press conference,”you have to invest in their physical and mental condition beforehand.
“I try to play Paixao all the time, and when his performance drops, I replace him, but he is getting back to the level we know he’s capable of.”
Bayern Munich have played 10 games in all competitions this season. They’ve won all 10 of them. “We’re still wondering,” goalkeeper Manuel Neuer said, “what more we can do to improve.” Not much, based on what we’ve seen so far.
Bayern paid big money for Luis Diaz during the summer but the former Liverpool winger is proving excellent value for money, with five goals in the Bundesliga alone and four assists – all for Harry Kane.
Speaking of England’s all-time record goalscorer, he almost inevitably netted again in Saturday’s win at Eintracht Frankfurt, meaning he has a record-breaking 11 goals after just six rounds of action.
Kane said afterwards,”I think the team’s improving week on week.” Which is very ominous for Bayern’s Bundesliga rivals. The Bavarians are already four points clear having scored a record-breaking 25 goals so far – and conceded just three.
Rasmus Hojlund undeniably flopped at Manchester United but there was always the feeling that Antonio Conte could do just as good a job reviving the Dane as he did with another Old Trafford outcast, Romelu Lukaku – and it’s very much a case of so far, so good.
After netting twice in Napoli’s Champions League win over Sporting CP in week, Hojlund sent the Italian champions top of Serie A with a 75th-minute strike in Sunday’s 2-1 win over Genoa.
As a result, Hojlund now has many goals in six games for Napoli in all competitions as he managed in the entire 2024-25 Premier League campaign for United (four).
“I don’t think I’ve changed much,” Hojlund told DAZN Italia. “I’m just doing my job and working day by day to give my best and bring something to the team.” He’s certainly making a fine fist of that humble goal. At this rate, in fact, Lukaku might struggle to get back into Conte’s starting line-up.
