For Real Madrid supporters, the new season had been worryingly labored, bordering on wasteful. It began with a 0-0 draw against Real Sociedad, continued with a narrow win over 10-man Real Betis that required a late Sergio Ramos penalty and reached a crescendo at mid-week after Vinícius Júnior’s scuffed effort was the only difference in a home victory over Valladolid.
Arsenal scored two goals in four minutes to grab a 2-1 Premier League home win over struggling Sheffield United, with Bukayo Saka and Nicolas Pepe getting on the scoresheet in the second half as the Gunners' misfiring attack finally found its rhythm.
The visitors frustrated Arsenal for the first hour, but Saka broke the deadlock by heading home following a snappy passing move in the 61st minute, and substitute Nicolas Pepe added a second three minutes later.
England call up:
Opening goal:
Irrepressible Atalanta kept up their record of scoring at least four goals in every game this season as they despatched Cagliari 5-2 on Sunday to maintain their 100 percent record in Serie A.
Luis Muriel, Alejandro Gómez, Mario Pašalić, Duván Zapata and Sam Lammers shared the goals in another hugely entertaining Atalanta performance while Diego Godín and João Pedro replied for the Sardinians, whose goalkeeper Alessio Cragno spared them further damage.
LIVERPOOL, England — James Rodriguez netted twice and Dominic Calvert-Lewin became the first Everton player to score in the opening four matches of a Premier League season as they beat Brighton & Hove Albion 4-2 on Saturday to stay top of the table with a maximum 12 points.
The hosts produced another classy performance with Rodriguez's fellow Colombian Yerry Mina also on the scoresheet for Carlo Ancelotti's high-flying side who next face champions Liverpool in the Merseyside derby after the international break.
In a way, it can be a bit exhausting following all the young American stars in Europe these days. As soon as we get used to Weston McKennie playing for Italy’s most famous club, Sergiño Dest moves to Barcelona. As soon as we finish gushing over a performance from Tyler Adams, Giovanni Reyna does something like he did on Saturday. It might just be a golden age for Americans abroad, and we’re not going to complain, nor are we going to stop celebrating these Americans, because everyone who grew up in the 90s or earlier can really appreciate just how special this moment in time is.
This week has been, to put it mildly, a shitshow. From the U.S. presidential debate in which the incumbent was incapable of following simple rules of decorum to that same candidate contracting Covid-19 after flouting simple mask regulations, it’s probably a sign of things to come just two days into October.
So how about a brief reprieve from the crazy, replaced with some crazy good football? How about some highlights of Kylian Mbappé and Neymar doing mean things to PSG’s poor opponent in Ligue 1?
Having spent much of my sports writing career covering Texas high school football, which at most levels draws more fans than USL matches, I found that more than anything Texas high school football coaches care about effort. And by that barometer, Joshua Kimmich’s game-winner against Borussia Dortmund in the German Supercup on Wednesday was among the greatest goals of all time.
Daniel Thioune's Hamburg completed a successful comeback late on to secure a 4-3 victory over Paderborn in the 2. Bundesliga on Monday.
After narrowly missing out on promotion back to the top flight last season following a late collapse, Hamburg has won its first two games of the new campaign. It had gone up 2-0 after 24 minutes thanks to goals from Manuel Wintzheimer and Simone Terrode, but Hamburg squandered the lead and found itself down 3-2 all before halftime.
Premier League champions Liverpool maintained their 100% start to the season with a 3-1 win against Arsenal at Anfield on Monday leaving them level on nine points with pacesetters Everton and Leicester City.
Liverpool created the early openings with Trent Alexander Arnold causing the visitors problems down their left. His cross was headed towards goal by Virgil van Dijk but Arsenal's David Luiz cleared off the line and then another ball from the full-back was volleyed straight at goalkeeper Bernd Leno by Sadio Mane.
Lionel Messi might have grabbed the headlines this summer for all the wrong reasons as he attempted to leave Barcelona, but on Monday morning they finally belonged to someone else.
Despite being just 17, a lot is expected of Ansu Fati and he did not disappoint, putting in a magical display as Barça thrashed Villarreal 4-0 on Sunday.
Many have pondered what life is going to be like at the Nou Camp once Messi finally leaves, and with the Argentine apparently seeing out the final year of his deal before moving on next year, Fati gave a glimpse of what that might be like.