European Football Round-up: Biggies impress

Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool, Tottenham Hotspur, FC Barcelona, Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid, Borussia Dortmund, etc., made a winning start in the opening round of action in their respective domestic leagues. However, Manchester City suffered a defeat, while German giants FC Bayern Munich held to a draw.

We recap results from the weekend’s action in major European football leagues.

English Premier League

Manchester City’s English Premier League title defense got off to a rough start after a 0-1 defeat against Harry Kane-less Tottenham Hotspur. Son Heung-min’s strike in the second half made the difference in an exciting clash in London. Kane was left out of Spurs’ squad, while Jack Grealish made his English Premier League debut in Manchester City colors.

Bruno Fernandes and Paul Pogba combined to help Manchester United thrash Leeds United 5-1 at Old Trafford. The Portuguese struck a hat-trick, and Pogba grabbed record-equalling four assists in the match. Manchester United netted four goals in the second half, including strikes from Mason Greenwood and Fred.

Chelsea eased to a 3-0 win over Crystal Palace courtesy of goals from Marcos Alonso, Christian Pulisic, and debutant Trevoh Chalobah. They led by two goals at the break, and an excellent strike by defender Chalobah in the 58th minute completed the rout.

The 2019-20 league champions Liverpool blanked Norwich City 0-3. Diogo Jota opened the scoring in the 26th minute. Goals from Roberto Firmino and Mohamed Salah in the second half steered them to a comfortable win at Carrow Road.

Jamie Vardy was on target as Leicester City beat Wolves 1-0 at home. It was their second successive win in the new season as they defeated Manchester City to lift the FA Community Shield last week. Meanwhile, Arsenal suffered a 0-2 defeat at the hands of newly-promoted Brentford.

Spanish La Liga

Real Madrid and FC Barcelona struck four goals in the respective opening fixtures in the Spanish La Liga. Karim Benzema struck a brace, while Nacho and Vinicius, too, registered their name in the scoresheet in Real Madrid’s 4-1 victory over Deportivo Alaves.

FC Barcelona survived a late fightback to clinch three points in their first competitive match since Lionel Messi’s departure. Gerard Pique put Barcelona ahead against Real Sociedad in the 19th minute, while Martin Braithwaite netted twice to give them a 3-0 lead. The visitors, in the dying minutes, scored two goals in quick succession. But substitute Sergi Roberto put the game to bed in the added time.

Defending champions Atletico Madrid grabbed a narrow 1-2 win over Celta Vigo. Angel Correa scored twice for the Madrid outfit, while Iago Aspas converted a penalty for the home side. Both teams finished the game with ten men, as Celta’s Hugo Mallo and Atletico defender Mario Hermoso received marching orders in the added time.

German Bundesliga

FC Bayern Munich had to share points with Borussia Monchengladbach in their German Bundesliga season opener. Alassane Plea opened the scoring for hosts in the tenth minute, while Robert Lewandowski leveled the game three minutes before half-time to earn a draw for the Bavarians.

An inspirational performance from Erling Haaland saw Borussia Dortmund crush Eintracht Frankfurt 5-2 at Signal Iduna Park. The 21-year-old scored twice and set up the opening two goals in the match. Marco Reus, Thorgan Hazard, Giovanni Reyna were also on the scoresheet.

French Ligue 1

Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) grabbed their second consecutive win in the French Ligue 1 after clinching a six-goal thriller against RC Strasbourg. They led 3-0 half-time through Mauro Icardi, Kylian Mbappe, and Julian Draxler. In the second half, Strasbourg hit back with two goals in 11 minutes. However, Mbappe set up Pablo Sarabia in the 86th minute to seal all three points for the nine-time champions. Messi, who watched the game from the stands, could be on the PSG bench for their match against Stade Brestois on Saturday.