European League games took place across the weekend, and as usual it was excitement all the way. We roundup the weekend matches from England, Germany, Italy and France.
ENGLAND
Manchester City were in total cruise control in a 5-0 home win against Crystal Palace at the Etihad Stadium. Leroy Sane, Sergio Aguero, Fabian Delph and Raheem Sterling’s brace were the goal scorers on the day. The Citizens became the first team in Premier League history to score five or more goals in three successive matches, while Crystal Palace have failed to net a league goal after six games.
Chelsea aided by Alvaro Morata’s master-class hat-trick secured a 4-0 away victory at Stoke City to maintain third-place on the log. Pedro was the other goal scorer for the Blues; on a day the Spaniards dominated and grabbed the headlines for Chelsea.
Liverpool secured a hard-fought 3-2 away victory at Leicester City on Saturday evening thanks largely to Jamie Vardy’s missed penalty. Mohamed Salah and Philippe Coutinho gave the Reds an early two-goal lead, before Shinji Okazaki pulled a goal back for the Foxes just before half-time. Jordan Henderson increased Liverpool’s lead but Vardy struck moments later, before missing a spot-kick which failed to complete the comeback.
GERMANY
Bayern Munich were completely disappointing at home, throwing away a two-goal lead in an eventual 2-2 draw at home to Wolfsburg. This latest setback could lead to the departure of Coach Carlo Ancelotti sooner-rather-than-later from the Bayern hot seat.
Borussia Dortmund were unruffled in a 6-1 home success against Borussia Monchengladbach on Saturday evening at Signal Iduna Park. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was the standout player, netting a hat-trick for the league leaders who remain unbeaten this season.
ITALY
League leaders Napoli secured a 3-2 away victory at newly promoted SPAL 2013, who impressively made life difficult for their more illustrious opponents. Lorenzo Insigne, Jose Marie Callejon and Faud Ghoulam netted for the leaders in a tense victory.
Juventus defeated 10-man Torino 4-0 in the Turin derby to maintain the pressure on the leaders. The champions won the bragging rights thanks to goals from Paolo Dybala-brace, Miralem Pjanic and Alex Sandro to keep up in second-place.
AC Milan’s title bid suffered yet another setback as the Rossoneri lost 2-0 away at Sampdoria on Sunday afternoon, defeat leaving under-fire manager Vincenzo Montella’s position uncertain at the helm of affairs.
FRANCE
Monaco were in ruthless form as they secured a 4-0 win away at Lille on Friday night. Radamel Falcao netted a brace to continue his impressive goal scoring form this season.
Neymar-less PSG were held to a 0-0 draw at 13th-place Montpellier. It was a disappointing result for the leaders who maintain a one-point lead over their closet challengers, as they struggled to break down the home team in the absence of world record signing, Neymar.
