As we enter September, the summer transfer window has officially slammed shut across most parts of the world and we can really start to get into the thick of things in terms of the on-pitch action. Apart from an international break later this month, club football will effectively take up a chunk of our schedule almost every day until the World Cup in November, so we will never be short of things to talk about. That certainly was the case this weekend, as there were some big matches and results across Europe.
By Neel Shelat
🇮🇹 Italy: Milan 3-2 Inter
Saturday was a day of fierce derbies across Europe. The action began with the Merseyside derby and the Old Firm kicking off simultaneously, and later in the evening, we had the Derby della Madonnina in Italy.
We wrote about Inter’s loss to Lazio last weekend, but in spite of that, they were above their local rivals in the table going into this fixture after Milan were held to a goalless draw by Sassuolo in midweek. They looked set to widen that gap when Marcelo Brozović opened the scoring in the 21st minute. That turned out to be the cue for the Rafael Leão show, as the Portuguese international put in an inspired performance to pour cold water over Inter’s plans.
First, he equalised before the half-hour mark with a brilliant first-time finish, with his weaker foot, from a tight angle. Then, in the second half, he assisted Olivier Giroud’s goal by squeezing in a cross from the left while surrounded by opposition defenders. The pièce de résistance came at the hour, when Leão dribbled past two defenders before finding the far corner with his finish to put Milan 3-1 up.
Substitute Edin Džeko pulled one back for Inter soon thereafter, but they could not score again, so Milan was painted red at the end of the derby.
🏴 England: Manchester United 3-1 Arsenal
Just two weeks into the new season, Manchester United were already breaking records under Erik ten Hag. Unfortunately for them, they were the wrong kind of records, as they sat at the foot of the table after suffering a heavy 0-4 defeat against Brentford.
They have really turned a corner since then, though, winning each of their next four league matches and conceding just two goals in the process. Additionally, they made a couple of big-name signings, as Casemiro and Antony were brought to Old Trafford for close to €170 million.
The latter was making his Premier League debut on Sunday against league-leaders Arsenal, who had a perfect record of five wins from five going into this game. The Brazilian international marked the occasion in some style, scoring the opening goal of the match in the 35th minute to become the first man from his country to score in his first appearance for Manchester United.
Arsenal did equalise in the second half through their own left-footed right winger Bukayo Saka, but a brace from a seemingly rejuvenated Marcus Rashford ensured that all three points stayed in Manchester. This was far from a dominant performance from Manchester United as the stats suggest, but the main thing for them is that they got the job done.
It should be said, though, that Manchester United have looked better in the big matches during recent times. It’s against lesser opposition that they’ve tended to struggle, so their next league matches against Crystal Palace and Leeds United should be a good barometer of their improving form.
🇪🇸 Spain: Villarreal 4-0 Elche
Over in Spain, former Arsenal manager Unai Emery is enjoying a very good start to the season as well. His Villarreal side are level on points with second-placed Barcelona after four matches, and even more impressively, are yet to concede a single goal in the league.
That makes them just the third side in the last two decades to keep clean sheets in each of their first four games of the LaLiga season. It is not just their defence that has been impressive; their attack is on fire. With nine goals, they have scored more frequently than any other side in the division apart from Real Madrid and Barcelona, and have the third-highest xG tally too.
They really turned up the style against Elche, scoring some wonderful team goals in a dominant four-goal win courtesy of strikes from Gerard Moreno, Giovani Lo Celso, Francis Coquelin and José Luis Morales.
Villarreal had a very impressive run in the Champions League last season as they got as far as the semi-finals, but that perhaps ended up impacting their league campaign because they were only just able to hold on to seventh place. That has led to them booking a berth in the Europa Conference League this season, but the relatively weaker opposition in that tournament should allow them to fare better in LaLiga too, so a top-four finish may well be on the cards.
🇩🇪 Germany: Bayer Leverkusen 2-3 Freiburg
A couple of weeks ago, we talked about Bayer Leverkusen’s poor start to the season, but they seemed to take that personally as they put three past Mainz in the first half of their match last Saturday. They faced a much tougher test this week, though, as they were visited by the high-flying Freiburg.
On the back of their European qualification last season, Christian Streich’s side picked up where they left off early this season. They did lose to Borussia Dortmund on the second matchday, but aside from that, they had kept clean sheets in their wins over Augsburg, Stuttgart and Bochum.
That record came to an end just over a quarter of an hour into this match, as Kerem Demirbay opened the scoring for Leverkusen. After half-time, a quickfire double fired Freiburg in front, and even after Callum Hudson-Odoi got an assist on his Bundesliga debut to help the hosts equalise, the away side quickly retook the lead and saw out an entertaining victory.
Freiburg’s attacking performance in this match was far from their best, but they were very efficient as they scored from half of their six shots and profited from two set-pieces, so that proved to be the difference between the two teams.
Meanwhile, over in Berlin, Sheraldo Becker scored again to help Union hold Bayern Munich to a draw, meaning Freiburg end the round at the very top of the standings, something they have never done before after multiple matchdays in a season.
🇧🇪 Belgium: Royal Antwerp 3-0 Westerlo
The convoluted championship format in the Belgian Pro League means that fast starters are not always justly rewarded, as Union Saint-Gilloise found out the hard way last season. Next in line to challenge Club Brugge’s recent stronghold on the title seem to be Royal Antwerp, who are enjoying their best start to a league campaign since 1930.
They have a 100% record after seven league matches, already forging a five-point lead at the top of the early table ahead of Genk and the aforementioned Club Brugge. Their comfortable win over newly-promoted Westerlo this weekend thanks to goals from former Tottenham Hotspur striker Vincent Janssen, Japanese international Koji Miyoshi and Ecuadorian teenager Anthony Valencia helped maintain that gap.
It is safe to say that new manager Mark van Bommel is having a much better time in Belgium than he was having at Wolfsburg, and the underlying xG numbers highlight just that. Royal Antwerp have one of the best defences in the league as well as the fourth-best attack, but Genk, the dot in the top right corner, stand out the most in this scattergram. Undoubtedly, Antwerp will face challenges from multiple opponents in their quest for a first league title in 65 years.
Royal Antwerp’s encouraging start to the season is not without controversy, though. The appointment of new Sporting Director Marc Overmars seems to be going well on the pitch, but there was a lot of displeasure surrounding his arrival because he resigned from Ajax after admitting to sending inappropriate messages and pictures to female colleagues. His presence led to a number of sponsors backing out and has also left a sour taste in the mouths of some fans as well as many neutrals.
🇳🇴 Norway: Bodø/Glimt 1-4 Molde
Back in FotMob’s home league – the Norwegian Eliteserien – there were some major results in the title race this weekend. The only fixture on Saturday saw the two main contenders square off at the Aspmyra Stadium in Glimt. This was effectively a must-win fixture for the hosts as Molde held a seven-point lead at the top of the table prior to kick-off.
Erling Moe once again set his side up in a 3-5-2 formation, and his style of play was a perfect fit for the needs and context of this fixture. Bodø/Glimt were allowed to dominate possession and kept 65% of the ball, as the visitors were happy to sit compactly in their defensive shape, and then spring forward on the counterattack whenever such an opportunity presented itself.
That plan worked an absolute treat as Molde made the most of relatively limited opportunities and put four past their rivals. Our man of the match was left wing-back Kristoffer Haugen, who was not only solid in defence as he made 4/5 successful tackles and 5 recoveries, but also played a key role going forward by assisting two of the goals.
Consequently, Molde did extend their advantage at the top of the table to 10 points on Saturday night, but they knew it could go back down to seven if Lillestrøm, the league’s early pace-setters, beat local rivals Vålerenga in an Oslo derby on Sunday night. There was yet more good news in store for them, as Dag-Eilev Fagermo’s side did them a big favour.
With a greater lead at the top of the table (10) than the number of matches left this season (9), Molde surely are overwhelming favourites to lift their fifth-ever Eliteserien title and become the joint fourth-most successful side in the competition’s history alongside the two aforementioned Oslo clubs.
Cover Image from IMAGO