Another weekend of European football has come and gone. If you merely checked the box scores, you’d think there were few surprises as the weekend’s action got underway, but those full-time figures tell only half the story.

On Saturday in the Premier League, Manchester United won, although you wouldn’t know it if you walked out of Old Trafford in the 92nd minute, and so did Chelsea, they themselves coming from behind, too. Borussia Dortmund also overturned a deficit to seal a win whose scoreline belies the struggle last year’s Bundesliga runners-up faced. Elsewhere, the world was reminded of Jude Bellingham’s seemingly limitless potential as he kept Real Madrid on top of LaLiga.

On Sunday, Arsenal ended their losing streak against Man City with a late goal from Gabriel Martinelli, while Liverpool and Brighton shared the spoils in a 2-2 draw. In Germany, Bayern Munich won comfortably over Freiburg but sit in third place behind Stuttgart and Leverkusen. Meanwhile, Barcelona salvaged a draw against Granada after going 2-0 down, and PSG clinched a much-needed win against Rennes.

Here is your look back at all the fun from the weekend.

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SUNDAY REVIEW

The Sunday lead: Barça slip further behind Madrid in thrilling draw

Sergi Roberto’s late goal rescued Barcelona a point at Granada on Sunday as they came from two down to draw 2-2 at the Nuevo Los Cármenes in a game packed with incident.

Bryan Zaragoza, the league’s smallest player at 5-foot-3, opened the scoring after just 17 seconds (the quickest goal Barça have ever conceded in LaLiga). The diminutive forward then added a brilliant second, turning Jules Koundé inside out in the 29th minute to leave Xavi Hernandez’s side with a mountain to climb in the shadows of the Sierra Nevada.

The comeback began with a piece of history when Lamine Yamal turned home from close range to become the youngest goal scorer in LaLiga at 16 years and 87 days old. Roberto then came off the bench to equalise in the 85th minute, but the drama did not end there. There was still time for Zaragoza, on a hat-trick, to smash the post and Barça to have a stoppage-time goal ruled out. João Félix, who thought he had netted the winner, was not offside, but Ferran Torres, who had attempted to play the ball before him, was.

The draw leaves Granada in the relegation zone and sees Barça slip to third in the table, three points behind Real Madrid and one back from Girona. That gap will not worry Xavi at this stage of the season, but problems are mounting with the first clásico of the season on the horizon at the end of October.

Injuries are continuing to pile up. Kounde was withdrawn here in the first half. He joins Pedri, Frenkie de Jong, Raphinha and Robert Lewandowski on the treatment table. However, it’s Barça’s defensive issues which Xavi will look to fix during the international break. They have now conceded 10 goals in LaLiga this season through nine games — it took them 31 matches to concede that amount last season.

The ease with which they leak goals keeps leaving them in compromising positions. They recovered from 2-0 down to beat Celta Vigo 3-2 and twice came back to draw 2-2 at Mallorca recently. Granada can now be added to their list of comebacks, but opposition such as Athletic Bilbao and Madrid, their next two league games, may not be so forgiving. — Sam Marsden

Sunday talking points around the leagues

Arsenal finally get victory over Man City

Arsenal ended their 12-game losing streak against Manchester City and signalled their readiness to end a 20-year Premier League title drought after Nathan Aké’s late own goal sealed a deserved win for the Gunners.

Gabriel Martinelli’s shot from the edge of the penalty area, following a lay-off by Kai Havertz, beat City keeper Éderson after taking a heavy deflection off Ake’s head in the 86th minute to not only give Arsenal the major psychological boost of beating Pep Guardiola’s team but also inflict City’s second successive league defeat.

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Having been forced to face City without injured talisman Bukayo Saka, Arsenal then had to overcome the first-half failure of referee Michael Oliver to send off Mateo Kovacic following a late challenge on Martin Odegaard which, despite being reviewed by VAR, did not lead to a red card for the former Chelsea player. Kovacic was then spared a second yellow card — and dismissal — six minutes later when Oliver failed to take action following another bad tackle on Declan Rice.

But despite City avoiding the loss of a key player to a red card, Arsenal put the sense of injustice behind them and held firm in a mature and confident performance. Last season, City twice beat the Gunners convincingly before going on to win the title, but Mikel Arteta’s side avoided the same fate this time around and was able to make the breakthrough for a crucial win when Martinelli’s shot beat Ederson thanks to Ake’s deflection.

The victory moves Arsenal joint top with North London rivals Tottenham with the two clubs now the only unbeaten teams in the Premier League. — Mark Ogden

Liverpool and Brighton draw as VAR controversy strikes again

Conceding the game’s first goal is becoming less of a habit for this Liverpool team and more of an addiction. Liverpool. Indeed, a loss would have been their fourth straight, spanning back to last season, marking a new club record. The prospect was a tricky one, though, facing a team they had failed to beat in their past five meetings across both league and cup.

After Stina Blackstenius’s opener and Leah Galton’s equaliser — born of a look-away-now mis-kick from Arsenal bit-part goalkeeper Sabrina D’Angelo — the stage was set for a frantic finish. Melvine Malard’s deft strike — again, something of a gift from the Gunners’ regrettable defending — looked to have won it for the hosts, but just as stoppage time gave(th) to United last week, it took(eth) away on Friday night as Cloe Lacasse fired a rocket into the narrow gap between the apex of the woodwork and Mary Earps’s outstretched paw. The scoreline read 2-2 when the full-time whistle went.

It had been a game of errors from both sides, as well as flashes of quality from top to bottom, with the new attacking additions continuing to ink their names into the memory. Maybe not quite the game of margins many were expecting, Arsenal, for all their chances, again failing to really capitalise when they went forward — uncomfortable déjà vu for the Gunners. United still growing with a promise of the football to come, Brazilian international Geyse already making fans around the country take notice.

In his post-match comments, United boss Marc Skinner impressed the importance of time together for his players, of what is yet to come when everyone is up to speed and well-versed in his style. There is a similar sense among their opposition too, the visitors had their fair share of chances and Alessia Russo easily could have followed the narrative and scored against her former club on a night when her every touch brought about a chorus of boos from around the stadium.

As it is, less than 36 hours after announcing a new deal for manager Jonas Eidevall, the Arsenal coach has his first point of the season, even if it wasn’t the most convincing. — Lawson

News of the day

  • Erik ten Hag hit out at his Manchester United players after the dramatic 2-1 win over Brentford telling his squad “if you can’t handle the pressure, don’t play here.” United needed two stoppage-time goals from substitute Scott McTominay to avoid a third successive defeat at Old Trafford. Afterward, Ten Hag said his team had been “eaten” by Brentford in the first half and urged his players to be more “determined.”

  • Vinicius Junior praised Jude Bellingham as “incredible” and said the midfielder “was born to play for Real Madrid” after the England international scored twice in the club’s 4-0 LaLiga win over Osasuna on Saturday. “Bellingham is giving us a lot of possibilities up front,” coach Carlo Ancelotti said in his postmatch news conference. “He’s involved in the play, and not having a fixed position gives him an advantage. It’s been a surprising start to the season. Nobody expected this level in terms of goals.”

  • AS Roma coach José Mourinho said he fully expects to work in Saudi Arabia one day after his compatriot, Portugal captain Cristiano Ronaldo, led the way by joining Al Nassr, with a stream of players subsequently signing for Saudi Pro League teams. “I will go to Saudi Arabia in some free time, but I am convinced that I will work there. I don’t know when, but I am pretty sure of it,” said Mourinho, who is under pressure after a disappointing start to the season. “No one knows the future, but I will definitely [work in Saudi Arabia].”

And finally, on Saturday …

It was a crazy end to Genoa vs. AC Milan as the Rossoneri snatched a late 1-0 win thanks to Christian Pulisic’s strike after 87 minutes of a scoreless stalemate.

However, late into stoppage time, goalkeeper Mike Maignan was sent off after bringing down Caleb Ekuban due to serious foul play outside the edge of the box. With the visitors having used all of their substitutes at this point, Olivier Giroud slipped on the keeper’s gloves for the remaining last moments of the match.

Just as if you didn’t need any more chaos, Genoa goalkeeper Josep Martínez was also sent off following a collision with midfielder Yunus Musah, leaving both teams with 10 men.

It looked like Milan were in jeopardy of letting their win slip through their fingers, but the veteran France international came up clutch with a last-second one-on-one save with Romania forward George Puscas to give them all three points and sit atop of the Serie A table. — Roberto Rojas