A review of weekend’s actions in top European leagues from the angle of Germany players and former Bundesliga stars.
| Leon Goretzka | Ian MacNicol/Getty Images |
From Leon Goretzka’s first Premier League appearance to Julian Brandt’s scoring exploits in Eredivisie, we look back at the headline stories involving Germany players in Europe’s top leagues.
Manzambi shines in Goretzka’s debut, Wirtz adds another assist
The long wait is over for Leon Goretzka as the former Germany international made his Premier League debut in Aston Villa’s narrow win at Newcastle United. The Champions League winner with FC Bayern came off the bench for the reigning Europa League champions in their impressive away wins against Fenerbahçe and Newcastle United.
Ex-Freiburg star Johan Manzambi scored in both games as he continued his excellent start in English football. Germany international Malik Thiaw handed the captain’s armband to Joelinton, who previously had a stint at TSG Hoffenheim, as the Newcastle midfielder made his first start. The German coach Matthias Jaissle is under huge pressure as the Magpies lost three of their last four Premier League duels.
Meanwhile, Marco Rose celebrated his first Premier League victory as Bournemouth beat ten-man Sunderland at Vitality Stadium. The 50-year-old German had to face three of the Big Six clubs in his first six league games in charge of the Cherries.
Staying with the updates for German coaches in England’s top-flight, Fabian Hürzeler’s Brighton extended their winning streak to six matches in all competitions. The early season surprise packages beat fierce rivals Crystal Palace 5-0 as Diego Gomez scored from halfway line for the league’s best scoring team.
The matchday 7 action starts with Xabi Alonso’s Chelsea keeping their first clean sheet of the season in a 2-0 win at Everton. Alonso’s main weapon in Leverkusen, Florian Wirtz, followed his Champions League assist with another in the Premier League as former Borussia Dortmund youngster Alexander Isak led Liverpool to another victory against Brentford. The hosts finished the game with nine players as the new Germany international Vitaly Janelt saw a career-first red card.
At the top of the standings, Manchester City and Arsenal narrowly beat Ipswich Town and Nottingham Forest, respectively. Erling Haaland scored another brace to maintain Manchester City’s perfect record as the former Bundesliga star reached 100 non-penalty goals in Premier League. Kai Havertz started Arsenal’s hard-fought win at City Ground with their only shot on target.
Diomandé and Olmo on target before El Clasico
A week before El Clasico, FC Barcelona and Real Madrid continued their respective winning streaks. Hansi Flick’s side are yet to drop points as former RB Leipzig attacker Dani Olmo scored the last goal in the 5-2 win at fellow Champions League participants Real Betis.
Barcelona scored 48 goals in their first 11 games of the season ahead of mouth-watering clashes with Champions League holders PSG and historic rivals Real Madrid this week. Jose Mourinho’s side are six points behind the LaLiga leaders as they saw off Sevilla 4-1 at Santiago Bernabéu.
Yan Diomandè, who became Real Madrid’s second most expensive signing after his breakthrough in Leipzig, has now five direct goal involvements in his last four appearances for Los Blancos. The 19-year-old will face his former teammates in Champions League on Wednesday before his first El Clasico experience.
Tough weekend for Woltemade and Juve
Once again, Nick Woltemade came off the bench in Juventus’ 3-0 home defeat to Lazio. The 24-year-old striker is yet to start a game in Serie A as the result saw his club dropped to seventh place. Meanwhile, Lazio are level on points with holders and leaders Inter, who recorded a comeback win at Bologna with the help of former Gladbach striker Marcus Thuram.
At the other half of the standings, Germany defender Jamil Siebert scored his second Serie A goal to help Leece to a massive 3-0 win over Udinese.
Over in France, former Borussia Dortmund stars Gio Reyna and Ousmane Dembélé scored as PSG came from behind to beat Strasbourg 3-1. The back-to-back Champions League winners are now level on points with Lyon, Lille, Paris FC and Monaco, who missed out on a chance to go top as they lost to Lorient in a game they played without the suspended Paris Brunner.
Brandt joins top of Eredivisie scoring chart
Julian Brandt is now among the six players who leads the top-scorer list in Eredivisie with six goals. The former Germany international scored his first brace in Ajax colors in their 5-2 win at Groningen.
The Amsterdam club sit in fourth place behind Feyenoord, AZ Alkmaar and PSV. Former Borussia Dortmund and Bayer Leverkusen coach Peter Bosz won the last three titles with PSV, but their loss to RB Leipzig in the Champions League followed by a shocking defeat to newly-promoted Den Haag.
Meanwhile, Mika Baur played the entire 90 minutes as Celtic beat Hearts 7-1 in Scottish Premiership. The two sides were involved in a memorable title race until the head-to-head clash in the final day of last season, in which a late Celtic victory crushed Hearts’ dream of ending a 66-year wait for a league trophy.
Earlier on Saturday, Stuttgart loanee Badredine Bouanani scored his first goal for Rangers in their 2-2 draw at Dundee FC.
