European Football Round-up: Liverpool, Napoli, AC Milan march on

Liverpool and Bayern Munich registered five goals away from home, while Chelsea, Juventus, Milan, and Napoli claimed narrow wins in the first gameweek since the international break. We recap results from the weekend’s action in major European football leagues.

English Premier League

Three goals in 13 minutes sealed a thrilling 4-2 win for Leicester City over a rudderless Manchester United. Mason Greenwood drew the first blood in the 19th minute, but an error from Harry Maguire led to an equalizer at the half-hour mark. Leicester overpowered Manchester United in the midfield, and David De Gea came to Manchester United’s aid on plenty of occasions. Caglar Soyuncu put Leicester ahead from a corner in the 78th minute.

Marcus Rashford, making his first appearance this season, leveled the game four minutes later. However, Jamie Vardy regained the lead for Leicester immediately after the restart. Patson Daka piled the misery on the visitors with a fourth goal in stoppage time. The defeat ended Manchester United’s 29-game unbeaten record in away matches in the league.

Liverpool hit five past Watford to maintain their unbeaten start to the 2021-22 season. Goals from Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino helped the Reds take a two-goal lead at the break. The Brazilian scored his second early in the second half, while Salah netted Liverpool’s fourth in the 54th minute. In the first minute of the added time, Firmino tapped into the empty net to clinch his second hat-trick in a Liverpool jersey.

Edouard Mendy pulled off a string of saves to help Chelsea eke out a 0-1 win over Brentford. Ben Chilwell scored the all-important goal at the stroke of half-time. However, the newly-promoted side put the Chelsea backline under constant pressure in the second half and were unlucky not to pick up a point from the match. Bryan Mbeumo hit the woodwork twice, and Mendy made some stunning saves in the second half.

Bernardo Silva and Kevin De Bruyne were on the scoresheet as Manchester City blanked Burnley 2-0 at Etihad Stadium. A rebound was tapped into the net by Silva to give City the lead in the 12th minute. At the other end, Zack Steffen, the City goalkeeper, made an excellent save to deny Maxwel Cornet. De Bruyne wrapped up the game in the second half after scoring his second league goal in the season.

Spanish La Liga

Ansu Fati and Memphis Depay inspired FC Barcelona to a victory over Valencia. The La Liga giants trailed early in the fifth minute to a fantastic strike from Jose Gaya. But, eight minutes later, Fati’s pin-point strike from the edge of the box leveled the scores for Barcelona. In the 39th minute, the 18-year-old won a spot-kick, which Depay converted successfully to give his side a 2-1 lead at half-time. Philippe Coutinho scored his first goal of the season to clinch a convincing win for the Catalan side.

Italian Serie A

Napoli pipped Torino 1-0 courtesy of Victor Osimhen’s 81st-minute goal. The Nigerian forward latched on to a poor clearance and nodded home the winner. Earlier in the match, Napoli forward Lorenzo Insigne missed a penalty. It extended Napoli’s winning streak to eight games in Italian Serie A. Meanwhile, AC Milan produced a sensational second-half comeback to down Verona 3-2 at San Siro. They trailed 0-2 at the break, but goals from Olivier Giroud and Franck Kessie and an own goal steered Milan to all three points. With 22 points from seven matches, they are second in the table.

Inter Milan suffered their first defeat in the league after Lazio beat them 3-1 at home. Ivan Perisic converted a penalty in the 12th minute for Inter. However, Lazio put on a show in the second half. They leveled the game in the 64th minute and struck twice late on to pick up three points.

Moise Kean’s first-half strike made the difference in Juventus’ 1-0 win over AS Roma. The forward headed home from Rodrigo Bentancur’s cross in the 16th minute. Roma squandered a chance to level the game after Wojciech Szczesny saved Jordan Veretout’s penalty in the first half.

German Bundesliga

Bayern Munich bounced back from their defeat against Eintracht Frankfurt with a 1-5 hammering of Bayer Leverkusen on Sunday. Robert Lewandowski and Serge Gnabry registered a brace, while Thomas Muller scored one and set up Gnabry’s first. The Bundesliga champions, who went ahead in the third minute, added four goals during a frantic seven-minute period in the first half. Patrik Schick scored the lone consolation goal for Leverkusen.

Erling Haaland netted another brace as Borussia Dortmund beat Mainz 3-1. The Norwegian converted a penalty and scored Dortmund’s third in the second-half stoppage time. Marco Reus sent a bullet strike past the Mainz goalkeeper in the third minute. It was Dortmund’s fifth straight win at home this season. Haaland leads the German Bundesliga goalscorers chart with nine goals from six appearances.

French Ligue 1

PSG picked up maximum points against Angers thanks to Kylian Mbappe’s 87th-minute penalty. The Parisian club conceded a goal in the 36th minute. Danilo Pereira restored parity by heading Mbappe’s cross into the net in the second half. Angers midfielder Pierrick Capelle’s attempt to block Mauro Icardi’s header resulted in the midfielder handling the ball. Mbappe made no mistake from the spot and clinched PSG’s ninth win in 10 league games this season.