European soccer round-up: Robert Lewandowski hat-trick keeps Barcelona top of La Liga

By CNN Newsource

Published October 7, 2024 6:32 am

By Sam Joseph, CNN

(CNN) — With European soccer heading into its second international break of the season, league tables are starting to take shape.

Some clubs have started fast and established themselves as teams to watch throughout the campaign, while others have stumbled out of the blocks with results that could prove costly at the end of the season.

Here’s what you need to know about what happened over the weekend across Europe’s top leagues.

Spain’s La Liga: Barcelona ease to victory, injury woes for Real Madrid

Robert Lewandowski is a man in form.

The Polish striker scored a first-half hat-trick in a vintage performance on Sunday to give Barcelona a 3-0 win over Alavés and allow the Catalan club to remain in top spot in La Liga.

Lewandowski met a whipped cross from winger Raphinha with a header to open the scoring seven minutes in before the pair combined again to give the striker a tap-in 15 minutes later.

It only took Lewandowski just over half an hour to complete his hat-trick, rolling the ball past Antonio Sivera in the Alavés net on the 32nd minute mark to take his tally to 10 league goals in nine games.

Per the team, this is the 36-year-old’s third hat-trick for Barcelona and the 27th time he has achieved the feat at club level.

Barça manager Hansi Flick – who also coached Lewandowski at Bayern Munich – praised his star striker after the game and lauded his side’s attacking prowess.

“Everyone supports Lewy and he knows what to do in the box – in front of the goal he’s the best player for me,” Flick said after the match. “He’s been amazing over such a (long) period, to score so many goals, it’s very good. I am very happy with him. You can see he’s 100% fit and the other teammates are supporting him really well.

“Every training and when you have meetings, you show them from the tactical side and also positions are very important. They are doing great and the dynamic from these players is unbelievable and helps us a lot.

“At the end, we score so many goals which is good for us and helps us also for the next matches to have this confidence in our game, in our idea to play football,” he added.

Elsewhere, Barcelona’s fierce rival Real Madrid picked up a 2-0 win over Villarreal on Saturday thanks to goals from Federico Valverde and Vinícius Júnior. However, the victory was marred by a serious injury to starting right-back and longtime club servant Dani Carvajal.

Carvajal was stretchered off the pitch during the game, with the club later announcing that he had suffered a “ruptured anterior cruciate ligament, a ruptured external collateral ligament and a ruptured popliteus tendon in his right leg.” The 32-year-old will undergo surgery and is expected to remain sidelined for a considerable amount of time.

Madrid remains in second place, three points behind league-leading Barça.

England’s Premier League: Early-season title contenders win, Tottenham collapses

Though Manchester City and Arsenal are expected to do battle for the title for a third straight year, it is Liverpool that currently tops the Premier League after seven games.

Led by manager Arne Slot – in his first season at the club after taking over for Jürgen Klopp – Liverpool defeated Crystal Palace 1-0 on Saturday to earn its sixth win of the season.

Portuguese forward Diogo Jota scored the only goal of the game as the Reds continue to stake their claim to being a legitimate title contender.

City and Arsenal remained unbeaten and also picked up victories but things were slightly less straightforward for both teams. City went 1-0 down at home to Fulham in the first half, but a brace from midfielder Mateo Kovačić gave the reigning champion the lead. Jérémy Doku added another 82 minutes in and City was able to hold on, despite a late goal from Rodrigo Muniz making it 3-2.

The Gunners were also forced to come from behind against Southampton after summer signing Cameron Archer gave the Saints the lead in the second half. Their advantage was short-lived, however, as Kai Havertz continued his fine goalscoring form to level things up only three minutes after going behind. Goals from Gabriel Martinelli and Bukayo Saka sealed the win for Arsenal, which remains level on 17 points with City, one point behind Liverpool.

Manchester United drew 0-0 with Aston Villa to increase pressure on manager Erik ten Hag, but arguably the most notable result of the weekend came from Brighton’s American Express Stadium on Sunday.

Tottenham was the visiting side and arrived in good form, having won five matches in a row in all competitions. Winger Brennan Johnson scored for the sixth straight game to give Spurs the lead before James Maddison doubled the advantage as Tottenham appeared to be on the way to a comfortable win.

Brighton had other ideas, though, and produced a remarkable second-half turnaround via goals from Yankuba Minteh, Georginio Rutter and Danny Welbeck to steal an improbable 3-2 victory.

“Frustrated and absolutely gutted with that,” Spurs manager Ange Postecoglou told Sky Sports after the game. “Worst defeat since I’ve been here. Unacceptable second half. We weren’t anywhere near where we should be. We got carried away with how we were going.

“We kind of accepted our fate and it is a bit hard to understand as we’ve not done that while I’ve been here. We’ve usually fought for everything, but when you don’t, you pay the price.

“The problem is we are traveling along too smoothly, football and life will trip you up if you get too far ahead of yourself.”

Germany’s Bundesliga: Bayern and Leverkusen both held to high-scoring draws

Bayern Munich is still undefeated and remains top of the Bundesliga after six games, but it missed the chance to maintain the gap to RB Leipzig in second place as it played out an entertaining 3-3 draw with Eintracht Frankfurt.

After a pulsating first half that ended 2-2 and saw both of Bayern’s center-backs get on the scoresheet, summer signing Michael Olise gave the Bavarian club the lead with a strike from the edge of the box in the 53rd minute.

It looked as though the Frenchman’s goal would be enough to secure the win, but Omar Marmoush broke through the Bayern backline in the fourth minute of additional time and slotted past Manuel Neuer to tie the game at 3-3.

Reigning German champion Bayer Leverkusen failed to close ground on Bayern over the weekend, as it was held to a 2-2 draw by newly promoted Holstein Kiel. Goals from Victor Boniface and Jonas Hofmann inside the opening 10 minutes suggested that Xabi Alonso’s side could cruise to victory, but strikes from Max Geschwill and Jann-Fiete Arp gave Holstein Kiel a share of the spoils in its debut Bundesliga campaign.

Italy’s Serie A: De Gea to the rescue for Fiorentina

Goalkeeper David de Gea saved the day for Fiorentina against AC Milan, saving two penalties in a 2-1 home victory on Sunday.

De Gea joined the team in the summer after spending a year without a club after leaving Manchester United following the 2022/23 campaign.

Fiorentina striker Moise Kean missed a penalty of his own in the first half before Yacine Adli – on loan at Fiorentina from Milan – gave I Viola the lead. Milan had a chance to equalize from the spot, but Theo Hernández saw his effort tipped past the post by De Gea just before halftime.

When Matteo Gabbia was brough down in the box after the break, Tammy Abraham assumed spot-kick duties, but De Gea denied Milan yet again.

American national team captain Christian Pulisic eventually leveled the game shortly after but Albert Guðmundsson restored Fiorentina’s advantage.

Fiorentina head coach Raffaele Palladino received a red card late on, as did Hernández, but the home side held on to clinch its second win of the season.

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