Lautaro Martínez's first hat-trick for Inter Milan helped his side crush Crotone 6-2, earning their eighth successive Serie A win on Sunday and sending Antonio Conte's team top of the standings above AC Milan.
Bayer Leverkusen missed a chance to go to the top of the Bundesliga table on Saturday, but it wasn’t from lack of trying from the team’s No. 11. Eintracht Frankfurt rallied for a 2-1 victory through an Amin Younes strike and an unfortunate Edmond Tapsoba own goal. Neither will be remembered as long as the Nadiem Amiri goal vs Frankfurt.
Coming into the latest edition of the Basque Derby, both Athletic Bilbao and Real Sociedad had endured a dry spell of form.
After winning eight of nine games through late November, Sociedad drew six consecutive games before losing its next three. Having spent time at the top of the table this season, La Real's poor run saw it drop down to third. Athletic, on the other hand, has experienced inconsistency all season. Traditionally the more successful of the Basque giants, it now sits 12th in the table.
The mercurial Mario Balotelli needed just four minutes to get off the mark for new club Monza against Salernitana on Wednesday in Italy's Serie B.
Balotelli had been without a club since the summer, when his contract with Brescia was terminated as a result of several missed training sessions. Serie B side Monza swept in to offer the forward a deal until the end of the season in early December. Monza is owned by Silvio Berlusconi, who previously owned AC Milan where Balotelli enjoyed some of the strongest spells of his up-and-down career.
As the year draws to a close, Steven Gerrard's Rangers side is well-placed to end its 10-year run without a Premier League championship.
The Gers sit in first place with a 16-point lead over second-placed Celtic, although the Parkhead side has three games in hand. Rangers' rear guard has deservedly earned plaudits this season, having kept a remarkable 17 clean sheets in 21 games and conceded just five goals.
Ten-man Granada defeated nine-man Valencia on Wednesday in one of the most ridiculously officiated games you’ll ever see at the highest level of professional sport. Adrián Cordero Vega was the man in the middle, and his performance included a questionable decision at the monitor followed by three red cards in six minutes.
There’s no shame in being excited by the collection of USMNT talent in LaLiga. The trio of Sergiño Dest, Konrad de la Fuente and Yunus Musah already represents a golden age of Americans in Spain’s top flight, although there’s something incredibly U.S. Soccer about the fact that they currently boast almost as many international caps as they do LaLiga appearances.
Every generation has a handful of goals that seem to captivate every fan and live on in footballing lore for years to come. Goals that define an era.
Lionel Messi could only watch from the Camp Nou stands — dressed like an arctic explorer in 50°F weather — as Barcelona stumbled to a 1-1 draw with an Eibar side that entered the match in 17th place on Tuesday.
It was a night to forget for center back Ronald Araújo, who was at fault for Eibar’s goal, and striker Martin Braithwaite, who missed a penalty in the eighth minute.
As we approach the New Year and the halfway point of domestic seasons, it’s become evident that the resources and depth boasted by Europe’s top clubs should be enough to weather the wildest of campaigns. Bayern Munich and Liverpool are favorites to defend their respective titles, while Real Madrid’s only genuine challenger appears to be Atlético.