The Euro roundup: Real falter, Dortmund fire
Real Madrid falter, Barcelona fine without Messi, Dortmund may be the best team in the Bundesliga and Juventus hang onto their slim Serie A lead.
La Liga
Real Madrid were perfect through their first four La Liga matches, but have come back down to earth, drawing in their last two outings. Understandably, frustration and tension have accompanied these latest results, even though Madrid are still top of the league. For instance, Cristiano Ronaldo was all kinds of upset about being subbed off in the 72nd minute this Saturday against Las Palmas. That link details some not nice things he said to his manager; if there’s any manager you do not want to say not nice things to it’s Zinedine Zidane. We all know how he can react to being insulted.
Ronaldo better watch his bac-, er, chest.
Barcelona are in for a challenging three weeks after the injury to Lionel Messi. If their first match without their super-duper star is any indication, however, they will be just fine. Barca dismantled Sporting Gijon — and put them back together just to dismantle them again — and won 5-0. Luis Suarez, Rafinha, and Arda Turan got a goal apiece and Neymar added a brace, because of course he did.
Even so, a tougher schedule during the Messi absence could have made Barca supporters a bit nervous. Instead, they take on Monchengladbach in the Champions League this week, and face Celta Vigo and Deportivo La Coruna in their next two La Liga fixtures, both of which sit in the bottom half of the league table. If all goes well, Messi could potentially be back in the lineup versus Manchester City in their third Champions League group match on Wednesday, Oct. 19. Until then, it looks like the abundance of fire power still available will be plenty.
Bundesliga
Let’s get this out of the way: Bayern Munich are 5-for-5 in Bundesliga matches, sitting at the top of the league table with 15 points. This is expected; big deal.
Now, for a mild hot take: Borussia Dortmund are playing better soccer than their Sith Lord counterparts. OK, fine – BVB are playing at least as well as Munich at the moment.
Munich needed an 88th minute goal to escape with all three points at Hamburg. Their three previous results — 5-0 in the Champions League vs. Rostov, 3-1 and 3-0 in their last two Bundesliga matches against Inglostadt and Hertha Berlin, respectively — appear fairly impressive until you take a look at Dortmund’s run over the same period of time.
BVB completed a relatively close 3-1 victory against Freiburg on the weekend, but just take a look at there three matches preceding that: 5-1 over Woflsburg and 6-0 over Darmstadt in the Bundesliga; 6-0 against Warsaw in the Champions League. For those keeping score at home that’s 20 goals scored in their last four matches. Their club logo should just be three flame emojis.
Dortmund are exciting and young. Both monikers apply directly to their American wunderkind, Christian Pulisic. The just-turned 18-year-old has enjoyed a record-breaking 2016: youngest non-German to score in the Bundesliga, youngest player to score two goals in the Bundesliga, youngest American to play in a World Cup Qualifier, youngest American to score a brace in a WCQ, youngest American to start a WCQ, youngest player in BVB history to play in Champions League … you get the idea.
Most recently, he scored and assisted on two more against Darmstadt in the midst of Dortmund’s hot streak. I’m not sure what more of an incentive Americans need to watch the Bundesliga than the budding star from Hershey, PA. Also, lest you think this is a nationalistic obsession on my part, here is a Pulisic promo video showcased on the official Bundesliga YouTube channel:
Dortmund take on Real Madrid in the Champions League this week.
Serie A
Juventus (15 points) and Napoli (14 points) continue to pace the Serie A field, both winning on the weekend. The leaders escaped with a win away at Palermo thanks to an own goal in what was a fairly ugly match. Still, a win is a win, and sitting atop the table is sitting atop the table, and other cliches.
Second place Napoli are undefeated on the season in Serie A, settling for a draw on two occasions. Led by Marek Hamsik (two goals, one assist in league play), Napoli seem poised to challenge Juventus for the title. They defeated Chievo Verona 2-0 on Saturday with Hamsik notching his 100th goal for the club.
Bonus Coverage: In Ligue 1 off-the-field news, Paris Saint-Germain defender Serge Aurier has been sentenced to two months in jail. The right-back was found guilty of abusing police, which … not great. Like most athletes on high profile teams, he’s unlikely to actually spend any time in prison; his sentence will most likely be commuted to community service.