Another weekend of European football provided plenty of drama, excitement and goals. If you checked the box scores, you’d think there were few surprises as the weekend’s action got underway, but those full-time figures tell only half the story.
On Saturday, Harry Kane starred for Bayern Munich in his first Bundesliga Der Klassiker, Chelsea women dominated Aston Villa in the Women’s Super League before news broke that their manager Emma Hayes will depart at the end of the season, and Paris Saint-Germain‘s Warren Zaïre-Emery continues to shine in Ligue 1. Finally, Barcelona left it until late to clinch a winner against a tough Real Sociedad side.
Here is your look back at all the fun from Saturday.
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SATURDAY REVIEW
The Saturday lead: Kane shines for Bayern Munich against supposed rivals Borussia Dortmund
The expectations going into another edition of the Der Klassiker were that Borussia Dortmund had a realistic chance of beating Bayern Munich for the first time in a league game since 2018. Munich had just suffered an embarrassing defeat against third-division side Saarbrücken in the German Cup a few days prior and manager Thomas Tuchel was dealing with significant injury woes in his squad. But even a somewhat diminished Bayern side were able to deliver a demonstration of strength by beating Dortmund 4-0 at the Signal Iduna Park.
After scoring three goals against Darmstadt the previous weekend, Kane once again bagged a hat trick, as he is the first player in the history of the Bundesliga who has scored 15 goals in the first 10 games of the season. The England captain was one of several Bayern players who displayed a sharp performance against an at times overwhelmed Dortmund team. Particularly, the first 10 minutes went catastrophic for the home team, with Kane and Dayot Upamecano scoring for an early 2-0 Bayern lead, which put even more pressure on Dortmund who needed some time to regain confidence and produce anything offensively.
Of all the Dortmund players, Marco Reus looked like the one that was on eye level with the guests, but as so often in his long career, Reus could not prevent a defeat in the Klassiker. In a way, his missed chance in the early stage of the second half, as he was denied by Manuel Neuer, seemed like a déjà vu moment for the Dortmund captain. Reus and Neuer have had so many battles over the years which usually ended in favour of the Bayern goalkeeper who finished his second league game after his return from injury with another clean sheet.
Dortmund were able to show glimpses of offensive firepower after the halftime break but their effort was not enough to make this game a close affair. During the second half, Tuchel had the audacity to employ Leon Goretzka as a centre-back. Granted, he felt forced to use the midfielder in this unfamiliar role because Upamecano did not have enough in the tank to play the full 90 minutes after his recent injury. It nevertheless is astonishing that Bayern finished the final 30 minutes of their game at Dortmund with Goretzka in defence and 19-year-old rookie Aleksandar Pavlovic in midfield and still were able to score two more goals.
While Dortmund remain in the title race after this upsetting loss, they cannot simply move on from this game as nothing has happened. Bayern were there for the taking but Dortmund still looked somehow overmatched during stretches of the game in front of a disappointed home crowd inside the Signal Iduna Park. At this rate, the Klassiker will lose its allure quite fast. — Constantin Eckner
Saturday talking points around the leagues
Barça strike late at Real Sociedad to return to winning ways
Ronald Araújo scored a dramatic 92nd-minute winner as Barcelona bounced back from last weekend’s El Clásico defeat by beating Real Sociedad 1-0, although the scoreline does not tell the full story.
La Real bossed a lackluster Barça for large parts of the match, notably in the first half, but a combination of wasteful finishing and good goalkeeping from Marc-André ter Stegen kept the home side out. Take Kubo, playing against his former side, was especially bright, but as the minutes passed and the game remained goalless, Barça sensed there could be a late winner in the match for them.