England: the podium moves away a little for Chelsea and Aston Villa
Chelsea and Aston Villa lost points at home against Nottingham Forest (1-1) and Manchester United (0-0) on Sunday, and see the podium slip away slightly before the international break in October.
This is a setback especially for Chelsea after five consecutive victories in all competitions. The series ended in the face of the pugnacity of Forest, although they were reduced to ten men at the end of the match. THE Blues of Enzo Maresca, fourth, will spend the break three points behind Manchester City and Arsenal, and four behind leader Liverpool, who they will face at the restart on October 20 at Anfield Road.
The west London club is ahead of Aston Villa on goal difference (5th, 14 pts), held back by a Manchester United team still in fourteenth place (8 pts), but with renewed defensive solidity. THE Villa’s by Unai Emery, less bubbly than usual, perhaps had a little heavy legs, four days after their major performance against Bayern Munich (1-0) in the Champions League.
The draw at Villa Park looks like a small victory for Erik ten Hag, the coach of the Red Devilsunder great pressure after a rout against Tottenham (3-0 defeat) at Old Trafford and a chaotic 3-3 draw at Porto in the Europa League.
At the end of this 7th day, Tottenham wasted a two-goal lead and lost 3-2 at Brighton, a setback which sent Ange Postecoglou’s team back to ninth place.
Germany: Leipzig maintains its invincibility, Bayern slowed down
Leipzig, still undefeated, won 1-0 on Sunday at Heidenheim (8th), taking advantage of Bayern’s draw (1-1) against Frankfurt to return to their height at the top of the Bundesliga, ahead only on goal difference . Without being brilliant, Leipzig ended its week on a good note, four days after an epic match lost at home to Juventus in the Champions League (3-2). Deliverance came from Loïs Openda. Perfectly launched from deep by Antonio Nusa, the former Lens player scored his fourth goal in the league (59th).
Bayern Munich was joined in added time in Frankfurt (3-3) during this day’s shock, which kept all its promises. The Bavarians, hung by Leverkusen (1-1) in the Bundesliga then beaten by Aston Villa in the Champions League (1-0), thought they would end the week on a good note, but a goal from the Egyptian Omar Marmoush (90th +4 ) deprived them of a success. In this spectacular match between Eintracht and Bayern, the French players shone by scoring half of the six goals: Ekitike scored for Frankfurt, as did Upamecano and Olise, again, for Bayern.
Spain: Barça revives with a hat-trick from Lewandowski
Author of a hat-trick in just over 30 minutes, Polish striker Robert Lewandowski allowed FC Barcelona to win without trembling (3-0) at Alavés on Sunday and regain a three-point lead at the top of La Liga . With this away card, Barça (1st, 24 points) resumes its march forward after its first setback of the season against Osasuna (4-2) last weekend, and is guaranteed to make it through the international break in first place with eight victories in nine days.
The Catalan club once again relied on its star striker Robert Lewandowski, who consolidated his status as top scorer in La Liga with three goals in just over half an hour of play (7th, 22nd, 32nd) . The 36-year-old Pole now has ten goals in nine days of the championship, and twelve in eleven matches in all competitions.
Earlier, Girona returned to success against Athletic Bilbao (2-1), after six consecutive games without a victory, at the end of a crazy match which saw the Basques miss three penalties. The small Catalan club, which pushed at the end of the second half to win, saw its efforts rewarded at the end of added time with a penalty converted by veteran Cristhian Stuani, 37 years old (90th + 9).
Italy: Juventus spoils again
For the third time in four matches played at home this season, Juventus Turin had to settle for a draw (1-1) against poorly ranked Cagliari. Four days after overthrowing Leipzig by being reduced to ten in the Champions League (3-2), Juve lacked breath and inspiration, but thought they had secured the essentials when Dusan Vlahovic opened the scoring (15th) on a penalty whistled for a handball in his area by a Cagliari player. Vlahovic had the opportunity to double the lead in the 65th minute, but, alone in front of the goalkeeper, he inexplicably missed the target.
This failure was going to cost Juve dearly in a final which completely escaped them. In the 88th minute, Cagliari equalized on a penalty from Razvan Marin whistled after a gross foul by Douglas Luiz on Roberto Piccoli for the first goal conceded in the league by Juve. In added time, Juve were reduced to ten men after the exclusion of Francisco Conceiçao for a second warning and could have lost everything on a shot from Adam Obert, repelled by the right post of Michele Di Gregorio’s goal, beaten.
Before the international break, Juve has still not lost in the league (three wins, four draws), but with its 13 points it is three points behind Naples (16 pts), the leader who won Friday against promoted Como (3 -1).
The other Roman club, AS Roma, is doing much less well: beaten in the Europa League, it only brought home one point (1-1) from Monza, bottom at the start of the day. Roma, 9th (10 pts), would even consider parting ways with Ivan Juric after less than a month to recall Daniele De Rossi whom he had succeeded to the greatest anger of the “Romanist” fans.
