This weekend offered some thrilling match-ups throughout Europe, including a Barcelona comeback on Sunday that will do little to allay fears about the team’s recent performances, plus a riveting back-and-forth 4-4 draw between Chelsea and Manchester City.
Also on Sunday, Bayer Leverkusen took the top of the Bundesliga as the freefall of Union Berlin continues.
On Saturday, Real Madrid were without mighty Jude Bellingham, but they still rocked Valencia. Even still, they can’t overtake high-flying underdogs Girona atop LaLiga.
Paris Saint-Germain are your new Ligue 1 leaders after beating Stade de Reims, with Kylian Mbappé netting his first hat trick of the season. Nevertheless, his coach still found nits to pick in his game after the match.
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Here’s everything you missed from this weekend’s action…
SUNDAY REVIEW
Barca scrape past Alaves as worries grow about underlying performances
Robert Lewandowski scored twice as Barcelona recovered from conceding within 17 seconds of the opening whistle to beat Alaves by 2-1 at the Olympic Stadium on Sunday — but this was far from the performance manager Xavi Hernández had demanded from his side. Barça were woeful in the first 45 minutes, were whistled off at the break by the home supporters and needed a brilliant header and a penalty from Lewandowski to eventually turn things around.
Speaking ahead of the game, Xavi insisted his team are not in crisis, but the pressure has risen in recent weeks. Defeat to Shakhtar Donetsk in midweek — Barça’s second loss in three games — led to the coach calling for a “reset” ahead of the visit of Alaves.
Xavi, who said his team needed to recover their identity, brought in Pedri, back from injury, for his first start since August, while João Cancelo was shifted to left-back. Any hopes of an easy afternoon went out of the window inside the first minute, though, when the visitors opened the scoring. Young striker Samu Omorodion, on loan from Atletico Madrid, turned home from close range with just 17 seconds on the clock.
There was no immediate reaction from Barça. In fact, they were lucky not to fall further behind. Samu hit the side netting, then fired wide when one-on-one with Marc-André ter Stegen and then smashed the crossbar after getting the better of Jules Koundé. He should have had a hat-trick inside 30 minutes. It prompted Xavi to switch around Kounde and Ronald Araújo, who was playing at right-back.
Araujo helped nullify Samu and the tactical tweak also had attacking consequences. It was from the right-back position that Kounde created Barça’s equaliser, crossing for Lewandowski to brilliantly head home after the break. Barça then won the game from the penalty spot in the 78th minute. Iñigo Martínez’s pass found substitute Ferran Torres, who was fouled, and Lewandowski converted his second goal from the spot.
The final minutes were far from comfortable, though, with Alaves pushing for an equaliser on another tricky afternoon for Barça. Three points was the minimum expected. The comeback meant the whistles that greeted the half-time whistle were not repeated at full-time, but a marked improvement will be needed after the international break. Alaves recorded a higher xG, or expected goals — 1.75 to Barça’s 1.5 — and their coach Luis García was left to lament the difference in individual quality.
“I leave here sad,” Garcia said. “The key is the first half. You have to be 2-0 or 3-0 up. The big difference is [Barça] can win games individually without being at their most fluid and, if you don’t take your chances, they can kill you.”
The good news for Barça is nothing is lost. They remain just four points behind surprise leaders Girona and two off Real Madrid. There are some big tests around the corner, mind. Rayo Vallecano, Porto, Atletico Madrid and Girona are up next. — Sam Marsden
Man City score four but concede four, missing opportunity to extend lead
Manchester City missed the chance to move three points clear of Manchester City should have won, but the recurring theme of the Citizens creating and carving is nothing new — indeed, City have been one of the most productive teams in the WSL for years. But there is another theme with the Citizens, one that was on show last season as it was last week, with City finding plenty of chances in front of goal but not converting.
In that sense, maybe it wasn’t so much of a surprise how Man City’s 1-0 loss to Brighton played out at the Joie Stadium on Sunday afternoon: City attacked, and Brighton defended, resolutely. Despite their best efforts, the hosts could simply not turn the ball home, even striking the woodwork twice and turning up the pressure in the second half as manager Gareth Taylor went to his bench for more attacking reinforcements.
As they have so far this season, Brighton picked their moments to go forward with aplomb and a smart counter nine minutes from fulltime brought about the only goal as Manchester United are sweating on the fitness of Bayer Leverkusen and Nice have fantastic starts to their league campaigns, it’s safe to say that the Girona bandwagon might begin to fill up very soon. — Roberto Rojas
