Liverpool piled misery on Manchester United at Old Trafford. Real Madrid grabbed the bragging rights in El Clasico. Meanwhile, AC Milan closed the gap on Napoli with a thrilling win away from home. We recap results from the weekend’s action in major European football leagues.
English Premier League
Mohamed Salah netted a hat-trick as Liverpool hammered Manchester United 0-5 on Sunday. The visitors went 2-0 ahead inside the opening 15 minutes, courtesy of goals from Naby Keita and Diogo Jota. The Egyptian winger struck twice in the space of 12 minutes to give his side a four-goal lead at half-time. Five minutes into the second half, Salah completed his hat-trick, while Cristiano Ronaldo had a goal ruled out for offside by the VAR. Adding insult to injury, Paul Pogba received a red card for a studs-up challenge on Keita. Six Manchester United players, including Ronaldo and Bruno Fernandes, went into the referee’s book.
Chelsea registered a third win in a row in the English Premier League after thrashing bottom-placed Norwich City 7-0. Mason Mount bagged his first hat-trick, scoring the opening goal and netting twice late in the match. Full-backs Reece James and Ben Chilwell and winger Callum Hudson-Odoi were the other goalscorers. Also, Norwich City defender Max Aarons scored an own goal. The Blues remain top of the table with 22 points from nine games.
A brace from Phil Foden and goals from Ilkay Gundogan and Riyad Mahrez helped Manchester City beat Brighton 1-4 at Amex Stadium. The 21-year-old struck twice in the first half and played a crucial role in setting up Mahrez’s goal. Arsenal and Leicester City, too, grabbed wins in the ninth gameweek of the English Premier League. Mikel Arteta’s men defeated Aston Villa 3-1, while James Maddison’s 74th-minute strike steered Leicester City to three points against Brentford.
Spanish La Liga
Real Madrid secured a 1-2 win over arch-rivals FC Barcelona in the first El Clasico of the 2021-22 season. At Nou Camp, David Alaba put Real Madrid ahead in the 32nd minute with an excellent left-footed strike. Gerard Pique came close to an equalizer after he headed wide from Memphis Depay’s corner. The visitors sealed the match when Lucas Vazquez tapped home a rebound in the second half added time. Meanwhile, Sergio Aguero scored a consolation goal for the Catalan side, who find themselves ninth in the Spanish La Liga points table with their second defeat.
Luis Suarez scored twice in the second half as Atletico Madrid salvaged a point against league leaders Real Sociedad. The Spanish La Liga champions conceded a goal in the seventh minute, and Alexander Isak made it 2-0 for Sociedad three minutes after the restart. Atletico Madrid pulled one back after Suarez nodded home Joao Felix’s cross. In the 77th minute, the Uruguayan converted a penalty to earn a draw for his team.
Italian Serie A
A 0-0 draw against AS Roma ended Napoli’s 100% start in the new Italian Serie A season. Napoli hit the woodwork twice, while Tammy Abraham and Gianluca Mancini saw their attempts narrowly missing the target. Two late goals helped AC Milan beat Bologna 2-4 and go level on points with league leaders Napoli. Milan had a two-goal cushion at the break. The home side leveled the game within seven minutes after the restart. However, Ismael Bennacer and Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored in the 84th and 90th minutes, respectively, to pick up a fifth successive win in the league.
Paulo Dybala came to Juventus’ rescue with a controversial penalty goal to snatch a 1-1 draw against Inter Milan in the Derby d’Italia. Edin Dzeko gave the home side the lead in the 17th minute. With three minutes left in the match, Denzel Dumfries fouled Alex Sandro on the edge of the box. Though the referee waved play on, VAR intervened. The referee went to the monitor and gave the spot-kick. Dybala made no mistake from the penalty spot.
German Bundesliga
Bayern Munich continued their scoring spree in the German Bundesliga with a 4-0 win over Hoffenheim at Allianz Arena. Serge Gnabry opened the account in the 16th minute. Poland striker Robert Lewandowski doubled the Bavarian outfit’s advantage at the half-hour mark. Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting and Kingsley Coman netted in the second half to round-off another impressive win. The German giants have scored 33 goals in the league this season.
A clinical performance in the first half powered Borussia Dortmund to a 3-1 victory over Arminia Bielefeld. Emre Can converted a penalty in the 31st minute, and defender Mats Hummels made it 0-2 on the stroke of half-time. A lovely individual goal from Jude Bellingham put the match beyond Arminia Bielefeld, who pulled a goal back through Fabian Klos in the 87th minute.
French Ligue 1
Ten-man PSG held Marseille to a 0-0 draw in the Le Classique clash at Stade Velodrome. Both teams had a goal disallowed for offside as VAR chalked off Neymar and Arkadiusz Milik’s strikes in the first half. A last-man challenge on Cengiz Under saw Achraf Hakimi receive a straight red card in the 57th minute. Valentin Rongier and Cengiz came close to scoring the winner, but PSG managed to eke out a draw.
Parameswaran Sankaranarayanan
Parameswaran Sankaranarayan is a sports enthusiast who has worked in print, website, and other digital platforms. He was part of the editorial team of first-ever Indian football-based website - IndianFootball.com (now defunct) - and passionately follows the latest happenings in world football. During his time as a journalist, he had the opportunity to interact with some of the iconic personalities in Indian sports and witness some memorable moments in Indian football.
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