In an exciting weekend in European football, Manchester City and AC Milan climbed to the top of the English Premier League and Italian Serie A, respectively. Meanwhile, Chelsea, Atletico Madrid, and FC Barcelona succumbed to narrow defeats.
We recap results from the weekend’s action in major European football leagues.
English Premier League
Manchester City jumped to the top of the table after a comfortable win over Watford FC at Vicarage Road. Bernardo Silva netted twice, while Raheem Sterling opened the scoring for City as early as in the fourth minute. It was their seventh win on the trot since the defeat against Crystal Palace in October.
Divock Origi struck an injury-time winner for Liverpool against Wolves on Saturday. The Belgian, who replaced Jordan Henderson in the 68th minute, slammed home from six yards. Virgil Van Dijk and Mohamed Salah played a crucial role in setting up the winner. Earlier in the week, Liverpool thrashed Everton in the Merseyside derby.
Arthur Masuaku scored a freak goal as West Ham United ended Chelsea's 12-game unbeaten run in all competitions. The Blues, who beat Watford 2-1 in the mid-week, took the lead twice in the match. But a resilient West Ham snatched the winner with three minutes left on the clock. Thiago Silva and Mason Mount netted for Chelsea, while Manuel Lanzini, Jarrod Bowen, Masuaku were on West Ham's scoresheet.
The Ralf Rangnick era at Old Trafford started with a win as Manchester United overcame Crystal Palace thanks to a stellar strike from Fred in the 77th minute. United, who clinched a thrilling 3-2 win over Arsenal on Friday, were the better side throughout the match. The Manchester outfit also kept their first clean sheet at home this season.
Spanish La Liga
Two second-half goals helped Real Madrid grab a comfortable win over Real Sociedad. Vinicius Jr broke the deadlock in the 47th minute. Serbia forward Luka Jovic doubled the advantage a few minutes later. Real Madrid, who hold an eight-point lead over second-placed Sevilla FC, have won ten of their last 11 fixtures in all competitions.
FC Barcelona suffered their first defeat under Xavi after Real Betis beat them by a solitary goal at Camp Nou. Fit-again Ousmane Dembele came close to taking the lead for the Catalan outfit on plenty of occasions in the second half. However, Juanmi finished a fine move in the 79th minute to pick up all three points for Betis.
RCD Mallorca stunned Atletico Madrid with two late goals in the Spanish La Liga clash on Saturday. After a goalless first half, Matheus Cunha grabbed the lead for Atletico in the 68th minute. Argentine defender Franco Russo leveled the scores in the 80th minute, and Takefusa Kubo calmly slotted the winner past the Atletico goalkeeper in stoppage time.
Italian Serie A
First-half goals from Franck Kessie and Alexis Saelemaekers saw AC Milan blank US Salernitana 2-0 and lift themselves to the top of the Italian Serie A table. Kessie drew the opening blood in the fifth minute, while winger Saelemaekers made it 2-0 in the 18th minute. The league leaders defeated Genoa CFC by three goals in the mid-week.
Inter Milan moved to second in the table courtesy of a crushing three-goal win over AS Roma. All three goals came in the first half itself. Hakan Calhanoglu struck the opener in the 15th minute. Former Manchester City striker Edin Dzeko made it 2-0 nine minutes later. Dutch defender Denzel Dumfries, too, added his name on the scoresheet. Inter, who beat Spezia Calcio on Wednesday, are unbeaten in their last eight league fixtures.
Napoli endured two dreadful gameweeks in Italian Serie A. US Sassuolo held them to a 2-2 draw in the mid-week fixture, while they lost a five-goal thriller against Atalanta BC yesterday. Against Sassuolo, Napoli threw away a two-goal advantage. They squandered a 2-1 lead to lose 2-3 against Atalanta. Dries Mertens managed to find the net in both games for Napoli.
Juan Cuadrado and Paulo Dybala powered Juventus to a 2-0 win over Genoa CFC. The Italian Serie A giants, who beat Salernitana in the mid-week, took the lead through Cuadrado in the ninth minute. The Argentine sealed three points in the 82nd minute. The back-to-back wins have helped Juventus climb fifth in the table, seven points behind fourth-placed Atalanta.
German Bundesliga
Bayern Munich capitalized on Borussia Dortmund's mistakes and grabbed the victory in the Der Klassiker on Saturday. Robert Lewandowski bagged a brace, while Kingsley Coman scored his third goal in German Bundesliga this season. Meanwhile, Julian Brandt and Erling Haaland were Dortmund's goalscorers. Bayern, who went behind early, led at half-time thanks to goals from Lewandowski and Coman. Though Haaland restored parity early in the second half, Bayern had the final laugh when the Polish forward slotted home a controversial penalty in the 77th minute.
French Ligue 1
Georginio Wijnaldum scored from a header in the added time to rescue a point for PSG against RC Lens. In the first half, both goalkeepers made some outstanding saves. However, a Keylor Navas mistake helped the home side take the lead in the 62nd minute. Mauricio Pochettino brought on Kylian Mbappe and Wijnaldum in the 70th minute. The Frenchman produced an excellent cross, which was nodded home by the former Liverpool midfielder in the second minute of the injury time.
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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