Football officially resumed across Europe’s top leagues this weekend after the summer break. We bring you a round up of the opening weekend of the return of football.
Yay! Ah! Ooh! No! Yes! Pass! ….Goal!!!!!!.
These were the emotions of football fans around Europe because of the return of League football. It’s always a major event when the league begins again.
It’s nice when fans come together to support their country in international outings, but part of the beauty of top flight league football is the criticism, the joy, the passion and most especially, the banter.
If you missed any football game, here’s a choice pick of games around Europe’s major leagues on opening weekend:
Premier League
Brentford 2-0 Arsenal
To start off the weekend of football, the Gunners were humbled on Friday night away to newly promoted Brentford in the opening match of the new Premier League season.
Goals by Canos and Norgaard in each half of the game, ensured that Mikel Arteta’s side were promptly sent to the bottom of the league table.
It was quite the memorable night for the Bumblebees in what was their first ever Premier League game.
Manchester United 5 – 1 Leeds
Saturday’s football began with last season’s runner-ups hosting Leeds at the Theatre of dreams. New signing, Raphael Varane was presented to the United fans before the game.
The referee blew the whistle, and it was non-stop entertainment after that.
Paul Pogba set up Bruno Fernandes for his first goal in what would turn out to be the first of a hattrick. Fernandes controlled the ball well and slotted it past Meslier.
Leeds would not bow easily, and just three minutes after the beginning of the second half, Luke Ayling fired a beautiful shot past De Gea in what would certainly be a goal of the month contender.
Pogba was at his creative best, and he set up Mason Greenwood to restore United’s lead in the 52nd minute.
Two minutes later, Pogba and Bruno combined once again, with the latter scoring his second goal and United’s third.
In the 60th minute, Lindelof played a beautiful through ball that split the Leeds defence and found Fernandes again, and the Portuguese midfielder produced a finish worthy of the exquisite pass, hitting the ball with one touch to the roof of Meslier’s net.
Pogba was not done however, and he produced yet another assist for Fred to score United’s fifth of the game, in the process joining an elite group of players to have assisted four goals in the same game.
Chelsea 3-0 Crystal Palace
The Blues hosted the Eagles in what would be the second London derby in as many days. This time however, the favourites won.
The Blues cruised to a routine win with a clean sheet that has come to be identified with Thomas Tuchel’s Chelsea.
Alonso seems determined to give Ben Chilwell a run for his money as he had a stellar display in the London derby. The Spaniard scored a direct Free kick in the 27th minute
Christian Pulisic capitalised on a spill a few minutes before halftime after the Eagles failed to clear their lines and netted Chelsea’s second.
Perhaps, the best goal came from Academy graduate, Trevor Chalobah. Chalobah was a surprise starter in Chelsea’s Super Cup final win over Villarreal but given his performance, was handed his league debut as well.
Chalobah was rewarded with a spot in the starting lineup in Chelsea’s first game of the season and the defender did not dissapoint.
Apart from helping Chelsea record a clean sheet over their local neighbours, he went on to score from 25 yards out.
Norwich 0-3 Liverpool
The Canaries hosted the Reds in their first Premier League game back in the top flight. Curiously, the last time the Championship winners were in the Premier League, their first game was against the then Champions League holders, Liverpool. They lost 4-3 to the Reds on that occasion.
On this occasion however, Liverpool decided to be as stingy as possible and decided to keep a clean sheet especially since they were boosted by the return of Virgil van dijk.
Arnold played a characteristic through ball that deflected off Salah before falling to Diego Jota who calmly slotted the ball past Tim Krul in the 26th minute.
Tim Krul had a great game and he ensured his team only trailed by a goal at halftime. However, Liverpool had other plans. A blocked Sadio Mane shot fell to Mohammed Salah who gave a neat pass to substitute, Roberto Firmino to score from close range in the 64th minute.
Salah himself turned from provider to goalscorer, pouncing on a loose ball after a Liverpool corner to score the third goal and put the game well beyond Norwich’s reach.
Tottenham 1-0 Manchester City
Perhaps one of the major shocks of the opening weekend of football was City’s defeat to Spurs.
The London side were missing their star man Harry Kane who was left out of the squad due to transfer speculation surrounding the player.
In contrast however, Pep Guardiola rolled out the most expensive starting eleven in Premier League history with latest signing Jack Grealish making his Premier League debut.
It was a scoreless first half but Nuno Espirito Santo’s side tightened the screw in the second half. Their efforts finally paid off courtesy of a Son Heung-Min strike mid-way into the half.
The champions couldn’t find an equaliser despite their attacking arsenal and were hence handed their first defeat of the season.
Also Read:
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- Premier League Contenders For The 2021/2022 Season
- Chalobah Reflects On His League Debut Goal With Chelsea
- Ossie Ardiles: “Pochettino Must Win Everything With Messi”
Spanish La Liga
Alaves 1 – 4 Real Madrid
Madrid began their La Liga season with an away win against Alaves. They were looking forward to go a step further than their second place finish last season.
After a goalless first half, a rejuvenated Madrid came back looking goal-hungry. Barely three minutes after the restart, Benzema opened the scoring after Eden Hazard made a superb flick.
Nacho dived into Modric’s cross in the 56th minute to score Madrid’s second of the game and give them some breathing space.
Benzema scored his second goal and Madrid’s third, showing doggedness as he scored from a second attempt after Valverde had created the chance.
Joselu pounced on a poor back pass from Militao and forced Belgian goalkeeper, Thibaut Courtois to make a rash tackle and earn Alaves a penalty. He also scored the penalty after sending Courtois the wrong way.
Vinicius Jnr. wrapped up proceedings in stoppage time after heading home a cross from new signing, David Alaba to complete a 4-1 victory over Alaves.
Barcelona 4-2 Real Sociedad
Barca started their life without Messi with a win on football opening weekend.
An early goal by Piqué, a brace by Martin Braithwaite and a late goal by Sergi Roberto led the Blaugrana to victory at the Camp Nou.
Jon and Oyarzabal were the goalscorers for the away side with both goals coming in the second half.
Bundesliga
Monchengladbach 1-1 Bayern Munich
The champions began their campaign under new manager Julian Nagelsmann with a draw.
An early goal by Alassane Plea had the visitors trailing for most of the half. However, Bayern levelled things up courtesy of their star striker Robert Lewandowski just before the stroke of halftime.
Neither side could find a winner in the second half so the spoils were eventually shared.
Dortmund 5-2 Frankfurt
Dortmund seemed to have adapted quickly to life without Jadon Sancho as they cruised to a 5-2 win over Frankfurt. It may have been a different squad, but the headlines were the same; Erling Braut Haaland.
The Norwegian scored two goals and provided two assists against Frankfurt.
First, he set up Marco Reus for the first goal in the 25th minute following his characteristic run towards the Frankfurt box.
A Felix Passlack own goal threw a spanner in the wheel of Dortmund. The defender’s plot to take the ball away from the opposition backfired as he kicked the ball beyond the reach of his goalkeeper into the back of the net in the 27th minute.
Thorgan Hazard was the beneficiary of Haaland’s creative abilities, as he managed to score to restore Dortmund’s lead four minutes later.
Haaland stepped up in the 34th minute to increase Dortmund’s lead by two goals. Reyna scored again in the 58th minute to take the score to 4-1.
Haaland and Reus combined for the same combo that scored the first goal, only this time they swapped roles, with Reus turning provider and Haaland completing his brace.
An 86th minute goal by Jens Peter only diminished Dortmund’s goal difference as the game ended 5-2.
Ligue 1
Lille 0-4 Nice
Ligue 1 Champions, Lille began their title defence in the worst possible way after losing 4-0 to Nice. The game went south for them from the blow of the whistle, as Kasper Dolberg put Nice in front in the 1st minute.
Nice did not ease up on the pedestal, as Hichem Boudaoui scored in the 5th minute to double Nice’s lead.
Lille thought the agony of the first half was over, but they were shocked as Amine Gouiri scored in the 4th minute of added time of the first half to make the score 3-0.
Kasper Dolberg put the icing on the cake as he scored his second and Nice’s fourth to condemn the Champions to a 4-0 defeat at home.
PSG 4 – 2 Strasbourg
The team of the moment. Last season’s runner ups were looking to improve on their second place finish and regain their crown as they hosted Strasbourg.
Although newssignings Lionel Messi, Sergio Ramos and Donnarumma did not feature, PSG wasted no time to show Strasbourg who had the home advantage.
Abdou Diallo turned provider to Icardi as the Argentinian put PSG in front in the 3rd minute.
French Sensation, Kylian Mbappe doubled PSG’s lead as he received Draxler’s pass to score in the 25th minute.
Draxler himself turned from provider to goalscorer, finding a goal for himself two minutes later to put the score at 3-0 by halftime.
A rejuvenated Strasbourg fought back after the restart and scored two goals in the 53rd and 64th minutes to put the score at 3-2.
Kevin Gameiro and Ludovic scored both goals as Strasbourg were hopeful for a comeback, but Mbappe turned provider to ensure Sarabia put the game to bed in the 86th minute and the game ended 4-2.
One thing is certain though, this season promises to be action-packed. What did you make of the opening weekend of football? Let us know in the comments section.
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