Jack Grealish, Romelu Lukaku were on target, as Manchester City and Chelsea grabbed comfortable wins in the English Premier League. Meanwhile, Real Madrid, FC Barcelona, Juventus, and Manchester United dropped points in their away travels.
We recap results from the weekend’s action in major European football leagues.
English Premier League
Manchester City hit five past Norwich City in their first home fixture of the season. An own goal put them ahead in the seventh minute of the match, and, a few minutes later, Grealish netted his maiden Manchester City goal. Aymeric Laporte and substitutes Raheem Sterling and Riyad Mahrez, too, were on the scoresheet in the second half to clinch a thumping win for the English Premier League champions.
Lukaku struck on his debut as Chelsea beat Arsenal 0-2 at Emirates Stadium. The forward fired home from six yards to give Blues an early lead, and right-back Reece James added a second after the half-hour mark. Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta is under immense pressure after losing a second consecutive game in the league.
Liverpool blanked Burnley 2-0 to make a winning start at Anfield in the new season. Diogo Jota and Sadio Mane struck for the Merseyside outfit, while full-back Konstantinos Tsimikas made his mark as the 25-year-old set up the opening goal for Jota.
After a stunning performance in the season opener, Manchester United had to settle for a 1-1 draw with Southampton. Fred’s own goal gave the Saints the lead at half-time. The visitors leveled the game through Mason Greenwood. However, Southampton came close to picking up all three points after Adam Armstrong forced a fine save off David De Gea in the final minutes.
Despite dropping points, Manchester United stretched their unbeaten away record to 27 games. Meanwhile, Tottenham Hotspur grabbed a hard-fought win over Wolves. Dele Alli converted a spot-kick in the tenth minute, and Spurs held onto the narrow lead till the final whistle. Harry Kane came on as a second-half substitute.
Spanish La Liga
Memphis Depay’s first goal in FC Barcelona colors helped the Catalan club grab a point against Athletic Bilbao. After a goalless first half, Bilbao defender Inigo Martinez broke the deadlock. But Dutch forward Depay equalized with 15 minutes left on the clock. Barcelona was down to ten men in the added time of the second half after defender Eric Garcia got a straight red card.
Vinicius Jr. came off the bench to hit a brace for Real Madrid, who came back from behind twice to earn a point against Levante. Gareth Bale drew the first blood in the fifth minute, while the home side scored two goals before the hour mark. Vinicius made it 2-2, but Levante took the lead for the second time in the match. With five minutes remaining, the Brazilian found the equalizer.
A first-half goal from Angel Correa was enough to clinch maximum points for Atletico Madrid against Elche on Saturday. It was the Argentine’s third goal and the Madrid outfit’s second win in the new campaign.
Italian Serie A
Inter Milan and Juventus made contrasting starts to their new Italian Serie A season. The defending champions eased past Genoa courtesy of goals from Milan Skriniar, Hakan Calhanoglu, Arturo Vidal, and Edin Dzeko. Meanwhile, Cristiano Ronaldo’s injury-time winner was chalked off by VAR as Juventus squandered a two-goal lead in the 2-2 draw with Udinese.
Goals from Paulo Dybala and Juan Cuadrado gave Juventus a two-goal lead at half-time. However, midfielders Roberto Pereyra and Gerard Deulofeu scored to level the match for Udinese. Ronaldo, who came off the bench, netted the winner in stoppage time. But VAR intervened and overturned the decision.
Former Chelsea forward Tammy Abraham set up two goals, while Jordan Veretout struck a brace as Jose Mourinho’s AS Roma collected three points in their Italian Serie A opener. Henrikh Mkhitaryan, too, registered his name in the goalscorers list.
German Bundesliga
Bayern Munich survived a second-half fightback from FC Koln to clinch their first win in the league in the new season. The German Bundesliga champions opened the scoring through Robert Lewandowski in the second half. Serge Gnabry doubled their lead in the 59th minute. However, Koln stunned Bayern by scoring two goals in the space of two minutes. In the 71st minute, Gnabry unleashed a powerful strike to seal all three points for his side.
A wasteful Borussia Dortmund suffered their first defeat after going down 2-1 against SC Freiburg. Despite dominating the possession and creating plenty of chances, they trailed by a solitary goal at the break. Roland Sallai extended Freiburg’s lead eight minutes into the second half. Dortmund pulled a goal back in the 59th minute but failed to find the equalizer.
French Ligue 1
Lionel Messi-less Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) netted four goals in a second consecutive French Ligue 1 fixture. They beat Stade Brestois 4-2. Ander Herrera and Kylian Mbappe struck in the first half, while Idrissa Gueye and substitute Angel Di Maria found the net after the break to clinch a third consecutive win. Mauricio Pochettino, the PSG manager, confirmed that Messi could make his French Ligue 1 debut against Stade de Reims on Sunday.
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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