Defending

The rise of Sergiño Dest has been meteoric. After all, it’s only been 459 days since he made his league debut with Ajax and 380 since he committed his international future to the USMNT. 

But this is a 20-year-old who forced his way into the starting 11 of a title-winning Ajax side before convincing Barcelona to part with $25 million. And early returns in Catalonia have been good — Dest was arguably Barça’s best player in El Clásico. 

With Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Luke Shaw playing the roles of marauding fullbacks, Axel Tuanzebe the false center back, Bruno Fernandes the floating No. 10, Donny van de Beek the floating No. 8 and Juan Mata and Nemanja Matić the taxidermied zebras, Manchester United produced the sort of display that makes you wonder why Mauricio Pochettino is still out of a job on Wednesday.

After a long spell in the purgatory that is the Spanish third division, Cadiz CF is flourishing in LaLiga.

The Yellow Submarine is hoping to avoid a repeat of its last spell in the top division, which ended in immediate relegation. Eight games into the 2020-21 campaign, the club has laid itself a solid foundation to prolong its stay this time around. As the Friday games of round eight come to a close, Cadiz sits in second place on 14 points, which would have surprised even the most optimistic of supporters heading into the season. 

Liverpool and Jurgen Klopp were dealt a massive blow after Jordan Pickford's reckless challenge on Virgil van Dijk saw the towering defender suffer ligament damage which will likely rule him out for the rest of the season.

Liverpool center back Virgil van Dijk has damaged knee ligaments and is set to undergo surgery after he was injured in Saturday's Merseyside derby draw against Everton, the Premier League club confirmed on Sunday.

The Dutch defender was substituted early in the game when Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford made a reckless challenge in the box, which left Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp fuming.

Liverpool defender Andy Robertson has said their embarrassing 7-2 thrashing at Aston Villa in the Premier League on Sunday was unacceptable and vowed that the players will react positively after the international break.

Bayern Munich's Robert Lewandowski scored four goals including a stoppage-time penalty to give the German champions a 4-3 home win over Hertha Berlin in a pulsating Bundesliga clash at the Allianz Arena on Sunday.

The result left Bayern fourth in the standings on six points from three games, one behind the top three led by Leipzig on goal difference, while Hertha slipped to 13th on four points.

Lewandowski fired Bayern into a 2-0 lead with two trademark goals before the visitors hit back through Jhon Cordoba and Matheus Cunha to set up a frantic climax.