A ‘sub’lime cameo from Lautaro, and everything else in Europe this weekend

LA LIGA (Spain)

Barcelona is the place we begin this week. Sergio Ramos had a nightmare of a return to his old rivals, as his own goal was what separated the two sides at the final whistle. The Catalonian’s 1-0 win over Sevilla on Friday night was overshadowed by what was seen by Barcelona as pregame theatrics from Sevilla. If you missed it, last week Barcelona were charged with suspected bribery for payments worth over €7 million. These were paid to organisations which were linked to the former vice president of the Spanish refereeing committee, José María Enríquez Negreira. This has unsurprisingly left a bad taste in the mouths of clubs, players, and fans across not just Spain but Europe too. Leading to the situation which occurred on Friday night, Sevilla announcing its refusal to seat its executives in Barcelona’s director’s box. Whether this was the right decision from Sevilla is up to you to decide.

Taking it back to the actual game, this win took Barcelona top for the night, only for Real Madrid’s win over Girona to displace them into second. 3-0 was the score as Los Blancos ended Girona’s unbeaten start to the campaign in a game where Girona squandered chances which could have really changed the nature of the result. Jude Bellingham starred once again with a goal and an assist, making that six goals and two assists in seven games in La Liga… not to tempt fate but I don’t remember a player settling in at Real Madrid so well since a certain five-time Ballon d’Or winner. Napoli are the lucky team to face the wrath of the man from Birmingham next, let’s not forget he was the one who scored the decisive goal in Real’s last Champions League win over Union Berlin.

SERIE A (Italy)

On a more positive note we turn to Italy, where in my opinion the best performance of the weekend was. It was from none other than Lautaro Martínez, he started the match on the bench but a thirty-five-minute cameo from him was all that was needed as he scored all four of Inter’s goals in their 4-0 victory over Salernitana in a ‘sub’lime performance from the Argentine. Best of luck to Benfica who have the pleasure of defending against him this Tuesday. This win keeps Inter top of Serie A, however after a midweek loss to a confident Sassuolo side last Thursday they’re no longer unbeaten this campaign and only lead their rivals AC Milan on goal difference.

There weren’t too many stories to tell from this week’s games in Italy. The game many looked forward to was Atalanta vs Juventus, however despite a good game, it finished goalless leaving many fans rather disappointed. Elsewhere, another goal from Romelu Lukaku helped Roma to a much-needed win over Frosinone, José Mourinho’s men had only managed to win one game out of six prior to this weekend. They’ll be hoping they can carry this confidence into their Europa League game this week.

BUNDESLIGA (Germany)

Over in Germany the team at the top of the table is Xabi Alonso’s Bayer Leverkusen. A 3-0 win for them against Mainz ensured that their positive start to the campaign continued, they are one of four teams in the top five leagues to remain unbeaten in all competitions, along with Arsenal, Barcelona, and Nice. Leverkusen’s positive start is both down to smart managerial decisions and strong performances from players such as Exequiel Palacios, Granit Xhaka, and Victor Okoh Boniface.

Elsewhere, RB Leipzig and Bayern Munich couldn’t be separated in a 2-2 draw on Saturday evening. Goals from on form Lois Openda, Harry Kane, and Leroy Sane were the entertainment for fans in a game which Bayern had the more opportunities, but drawing away at Leipzig shouldn’t be sniffed at.  At the other end of the table Darmstadt bagged four goals against Werder Bremen to take home their first three points of the season in a 4-2 victory. As well as Alassane Pléa scoring two in a 3-1 win for Borussia Monchengladbach’s first win too. This leaves Bochum, FC Koln, and Mainz as the three teams left without a win in the Bundesliga now.

LIGUE 1 (France)

In Ligue 1 we saw Lyon continue their diabolical start to the season with a loss versus Reims. They now sit bottom of the table in the French first division, after only accumulating two points from seven games. They look to be in real danger, plus it shouldn’t be ignored that they’ve already changed manager this season and haven’t had that new manager bounce that often comes with that.

At the other end of the table AS Monaco sit top after a 3-2 victory over Marseille, this thanks to Maghnes Akliouche’s double and another goal for Folarin Balogun. The opportunity to go top arose as Nice and Brest drew 0-0 with one another, they were the two leading the pack prior to this weekend’s games. PSG were also held to a goalless draw as an outstanding performance from Mory Diaw in goal kept the Parisians efforts out.

ELSEWHERE

Over in Portugal Benfica and Porto faced up on Friday night, the home side coming out as 1-0 winners in the end thanks to yet another goal from the experienced Ángel Di María.

Ajax again had a game postponed this weekend, but this time for separate reasons to De Klassieker. Their opponent’s goalkeeper Etienne Vaessen suffered a nasty head injury meaning that game had to be stopped, at this point Ajax were leading 3-2 vs RKC Waalwijk. Presumably like the game vs Feyenoord, which Ajax lost 4-0 in the end, this game will be played out at a later date.

Looking to teams who feature in this week’s Champions League. Celtic remain undefeated in the Scottish Premiership ahead of their game this week vs Lazio, a game they need to win to have any chance in the competition. Galatasaray also remain undefeated in all competitions after another win this weekend, their actually undefeated in nineteen competitive games now. They’ll feel confident going into their game at Old Trafford tonight against a shaky Manchester United side, with players such as Wilfried Zaha, Mauro Icardi, and Dries Mertens in good form.