New Delhi: As the domestic league season suspends for a week for the upcoming International break, fans were treated to a whole lot of action over this past weekend. While the top spot across three of the four top leagues outside of England remained the same, a lot of the chasing pack made strides towards it. One such team were RB Leipzig, who moved level on points with leaders Bayern Munich after they dropped points for the second successive week.
Barcelona returned to their winning ways after a shock defeat last week. Robert Lewandowski’s heroics helped the Blaugrana seal a dominant win to remain in the top spot. The Catalan club are being kept on their toes by perennial rivals Real Madrid, whose victory over Villareal maintains the pressure on the leaders. Dive in to catch up on all the action from the other top leagues across Europe.
La Liga (Spain)
🤍❤️ The HERO of #ELGRANDERBI. pic.twitter.com/dp5GS5ig8Y
— LALIGA English (@LaLigaEN) October 6, 2024
Following a shocking defeat to Osasuna on the last matchday, Barcelona knew anything less than a win against Deportivo Alaves wouldn’t be treated kindly by the fans and media alike. And it was evident in their display. Barca’s in-form duo of Robert Lewandowski and Raphina led them to victory with the former scoring the hattrick in their 3-0 win and the latter providing two of the assists. Like Barcelona, their rivals also returned to winning ways with a comfortable 2-0 win over Villareal. After dropping points in the Madrid derby on the previous matchday, goals from Federico Valverde and Vinicius Jr. were enough to seal three points.
Villareal’s loss sees them drop to fourth in the table and they are replaced at third by Atletico Madrid, even though Diego Simeone’s men could only manage to get a 1-1 draw away at Real Sociedad, despite taking a lead in the first minute through Julian Alvarez. At the other end of the table, Las Palmas’ horrid start to the season continued as they lost 1-0 at home to 9-man Celta Vigo. They remain in the relegation zone with both Valencia and Real Valladolid as neither of them could manage a win. Meanwhile, penalties helped Sevilla and Girona continued their top towards the top half of the table as both escaped past their opponents with narrow wins.
Bundesliga (Germany)
Joint top heading into the international break 💪 pic.twitter.com/gO3R6gAXH1
— RB Leipzig English (@RBLeipzig_EN) October 7, 2024
The big news from Germany was that Harry Kane was starting for Bayern Munich after suffering an ankle injury in their draw with Leverkusen on the previous matchday. However, he wasn’t able to guide his side to a win despite assisting what seemed like the winner. It was a goal-fest between Eintracht Frankfurt and Bayern Munich as the game ended 3-3. Frankfurt’s Omar Marmoush stole the show with an assist and two goals, one of which was an injury time equalizer that denied Bayern the three points. However, they weren’t the only big German side to lose points as both Borussia Dortmund and Champions Bayer Leverkusen couldn’t take advantage of Bayern’s slip-up.
After hold Bayern to a draw in the previous matchday, this time it were Leverkusen who were held to a draw by Holstein Kiel. The Bundesliga champions went 2-0 up inside the first ten minutes thanks to early goals from Victor Boniface and Jonas Hoffman but were pegged back on level terms by Max Geschwill and a Jann-Fiete Arp penalty. The resulted lifted Kiel off the foot of the table but they remain in the relegation zone. Meanwhile Dortmund were defeated in Berlin, losing 2-1 to Union Berlin. As mentioned earlier, Leipzig were the only side that capitalized on Bayern’s draw and moved level on points at the top of the table. A slender 1-0 win over FC Heidenheim lifted them up to second, only behind on goal difference.
Serie A (Italy)
That had everything! 🔥
Fiorentina edge out Milan at the Franchi 👊#FiorentinaMilan pic.twitter.com/zakt0wViYr
— Lega Serie A (@SerieA_EN) October 6, 2024
Napoli kicked the weekend off with a comfortable 3-1 win over Como in a match where Cesc Fabregas was reunited with Antonio Conte. The former, who is now the manager at Como, worked under Conte during their time at Chelsea and they helped the club to a Premier League and an FA Cup title. Napoli blew away the Serie A newcomers with goals from new signings Romelu Lukaku, Scott McTominay and David Neres. Europa League holders Atalanta battered Genoa 5-1, powered by a Matteo Retegui hattrick, alongside goals from Martin De Roon and Ederson while AS Roma’s inconsistent form continued with a disappointing 1-1 draw away to AC Monza.
David De Gea’s penalty heroics handed AC Milan their second loss of the season in a game which saw three penalties being saved. The former Manchester United goalie kept out two two of them, one each from Theo Hernandez and Tammy Abraham, with Mike Maignan denying Moise Kean from the spot early on in the game. De Gea made 7 saves to ensure his side came away with a 2-1 win over Milan. Their rivals, Inter, scrapped through to a 3-2 win over Torino thanks to a Marcus Thuram hattrick while his brother, Khéphren Thuram’s side could only manage a draw as Juventus were held at home to a 1-1 draw by Cagliari.
Ligue 1 (France)
Ligue 1’s leader at the moment: AS MONACO 📈 pic.twitter.com/2tZUp1HAjZ
— Ligue 1 English (@Ligue1_ENG) October 5, 2024
French Champions PSG’s second draw of the season saw them lose the top spot this past weekend as they were held 1-1 away from home to OGC Nice. Despite dominating much of the game, they went behind to a Ali Abdi strike in the first half before a goal from Nuno Mendes brought them back level. Luis Enrique’s side tried hard to find a winner but came up short ultimately. AS Monaco took full advantage of PSG’s slip up and won their game at Rennes by a slender margin of 2-1. After going up through Thilo Kehrer, Rennes responded within five minutes through Ludovic Blass but a 22nd minute strike from Folarin Balogun was enough to seal the victory and send Monaco to the top of the table.
Roberto De Zerbi’s Marseille kicked off the weekend in France and shared that honour with Angers, so they decided on sharing everything. The game ended as both sides ultimately shared the goals amongst themselves, along with red cards and the points. The game ended 1-1 with goals from Jonathan Rowe and Farid El Melali in a game which had both Neal Maupay and Lillian Rao-Lisoa sent off. Chelsea’s sister club RC Strasbourg continued their rise up the table with a 2-2 draw at home to RC Lens and so did Olympique Lyon. They finished their game with a comfortable 2-0 win over Nantes. Toulouse’s 2-1 loss away at Lille sees them drop to the playoff spot following Saint Etienne’s resounding 3-1 win over Auxerre.
Dive in to catch up on all the action from the other top leagues across Europe as David De Gea’s heroics helped Fiorentina beat Milan and RB Leipzig reach level on points with Bayern Munich. Football Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
