Palmer’s four-goal blitz, Barca’s unbeaten streak ends

Another entertaining weekend of European football action is in the books, with the main headlines going to Cole Palmer as he scored four goals in the first half to help Chelsea get a 4-2 win over Brighton & Hove Albion

Elsewhere in the Premier League, Arsenal were able to snatch two goals in stoppage time against Leicester City in their 4-2 win at the Emirates Stadium to continue firmly in the league title race.

LaLiga saw Osasuna stun Barcelona by winning 4-2 and giving the Blaugrana their first loss of the league season, whereas Real Madrid dropped points in a Madrid derby that ended in a 1-1 draw with Atletico Madrid’s Ángel Correa scoring a late equalizer. In Germany, Bayern Munich got a point against defending Bundesliga champions Bayer Leverkusen in a 1-1 draw, while in France, Folarin Balogun got on the scoresheet to help AS Monaco celebrate its centenary in a 2-1 win over Montpellier.

What else happened around Europe this weekend? ESPN’s Weekend Review puts a bow on all the continental competition.

Premier League

Top takeaway: Cold Palmer on fire

Chelsea’s Cole Palmer made history on Saturday by becoming the first player in Premier League history to score four goals in the first half of a game. His goals came in just 21 minutes against Brighton & Hove Albion at Stamford Bridge in a match where he could have easily added one or two more goals as well as one or two assists in the Blues’ 4-2 victory. He was just unplayable on the day, Brighton’s high line unable to cope with his movement and his technical ability. His direct free kick was an absolute beauty, straight in the top corner of goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen and he added a penalty, a tap-in, and a nice finish.

After a slow start of the campaign due to not having a preseason because of the Euros, Palmer has hit top form now. He has six goals and four assists in six Premier League matches and has taken Chelsea to fourth in the table, just two points behind the leaders Liverpool and one behind Manchester City and Arsenal. If people were wondering if Palmer could reproduce his heroics from last season (22 goals and 11 assists in the league), he is starting to show them.

Best match: Manchester United 0-3 Tottenham Hotspur

It should have been Chelsea vs. Brighton which was spectacular. Arsenal’s 4-2 win over Leicester City was epic as well but the best match goes to Tottenham Hotspur’s 3-0 win over Manchester United. It was quite incredible with Bruno Fernandes’ red card just before the break, a goal in the first three minutes of the first half, and two minutes of the second half for Spurs who totally destroyed a shambolic United side and a clueless Erik ten Hag.

Best goal: Justin’s wonder strike for Leicester

James Justin will never score a goal as sweetly hit and as beautiful as his volley against Arsenal on Saturday. The Leicester right-back’s strike was so pure and brought his team back to 2-2 after he reduced the scoring with a deflected header a few minutes earlier too. Unfortunately for him, the Foxes still lost the game 4-2 in the dying minutes. A belter for nothing from Justin.

Gets better with every watch 💫 💫 💫 pic.twitter.com/UU5p0e5xiU

— Leicester City (@LCFC) September 28, 2024

MVP of the weekend: Everton’s Dwight McNeil

Obviously, the only MVP of the whole weekend all leagues included is Cole Palmer. But he is already our main takeaway of the weekend so Dwight McNeil will be the Premier League MVP on matchday six. His brace against Crystal Palace on Saturday gifted Everton their first win of the season and released some pressure off manager Sean Dyche. — Julien Laurens

LaLiga

Top takeaway: Rotated Barça lose perfect start, but not the lead

Mallorca continued their impressive start to the season, climbing to fifth in LaLiga; Getafe registered their first win of the campaign, eight games in; Real Sociedad secured a much-needed victory against struggling Valencia, who drop into the relegation zone and then there was the Madrid derby. Right, now that’s out of the way, we can focus on a wild night in Pamplona on Saturday.

Barcelona’s perfect start in the league under new coach Hansi Flick — seven games, seven wins — was ended by Osasuna in a thrilling game at El Sadar which left questions regarding Flick’s rotations. The German made five changes, leaving Lamine Yamal and Raphinha, among others, on the bench as his side were beaten 4-2. An eighth successive win would have matched the club’s best-ever start to a LaLiga season, but it never looked on the cards once Ante Budimir gave Osasuna an 18th-minute lead.

Osasuna, led by the brilliant Bryan Zaragoza on the wing, were as good as Barça were bad. Flick insisted he had no choice but to rest so many players, but could he have managed his squad’s game time better in recent weeks? Did Yamal and Raphinha both need to start at home to Getafe in midweek? Could they not sit out Tuesday’s home UEFA Champions League fixture against Young Boys? Flick’s fine start has earned him the benefit of the doubt, with Barça still top of the league, but his team will need to respond against Young Boys and Alavés before the international break.

Best match: Osasuna 4-2 Barcelona

Osasuna were superb in the first half, deserving their 2-0 lead at the break, but there were some shaky moments in the second half after Pau Víctor’s first Barça goal got the away side back in the game. In the end, though, Vicente Moreno’s team fully deserved their win in a game that ended with belting goals from Abel Bretones and Yamal.

Best goal: Yamal with a stunner

It would be great if there had been a better goal in another game, for variety, but there wasn’t. Lamine Yamal’s strike from the edge of the box was only a consolation, but it was brilliant. Watch the trajectory of the ball from the camera behind the Barça forward, who already has five goals in nine games this season — two fewer than in 50 appearances last term.

MVP of the weekend: Osasuna’s Bryan Zaragoza

Zaragoza tormented Barça last season while playing for Granada and did the same for Osasuna, who he joined on loan from Bayern Munich in the summer. The Spain international produced a brilliant cross for Budimir’s opening goal and scored the second himself, skilfully rounding Iñaki Peña and rolling home. — Samuel Marsden

Bundesliga

Top takeaway: Kompany’s Bayern show grit against Leverkusen

Bayern Munich have made a complete 180 since manager Vincent Kompany took over the team during the summer. While theBavarian giants were not able to beat Bayer Leverkusen in what was the Bundesliga’s top matchup this weekend, the way the 1-1 draw came to be underlined how strong Bayern have become once again. Kompany’s side suffocated the defending champions for the majority of the 90 minutes, thanks to intense pressing and sophisticated build-up play.

It was night and day compared to Leverkusen’s 3-0 win over Bayern back in February when Thomas Tuchel was still at the helm. If Xabi Alonso’s side want to look positively at the game at Allianz Arena on Saturday, they can point towards the fact that Bayern did not manage to beat them. Still, it looks like Bayern are back in the pole position in the Bundesliga.

Best match: Bayern Munich Bundesliga. They recently sacked Karel Geraerts after a disappointing start to the season which left them close to the bottom of the table. On Saturday, Schalke managed to bounce back as they beat Preußen Münster 2-1. Jakob Fimpel had been chosen to coach the team as the interim manager.

The 35-year-old has done respectable work as Schalke’s reserve team coach in recent years and is seen as a coaching prospect. However, Schalke are still looking to bring in an established coach who could lead the club out of the current slump and back to the Bundesliga. That being said, many managers have failed to bring stability back to Schalke in the past couple of years, and it remains unclear who could be the one to turn this ship around. — Eckner

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