European Football Roundup: Ronaldo’s debut had all the theatrics we wanted
By Matt Addison
With Ligue 1 already having had two rounds of matches, Spain and France’s top flight teams kicked off the new season this weekend.
Three out of the four major European leagues – Spain, Germany, Italy and France – are underway, with only the Bundesliga yet to restart for the new season.
Germany’s matches begin next weekend, with only 18 teams in the top division meaning they can have an extended summer break and still complete the season on time.
Across Europe, though, normal service has largely resumed, with Barcelona, Real Madrid, PSG and Juventus all winning this weekend.
Spanish big boys avoid slip-ups
The La Liga season began in disappointing fashion with a goalless draw between Girona and Real Valladolid on Friday night, before Real Betis surprisingly went down 3-0 at home to Levante later the same day.
On Saturday, Barcelona kicked off with a comfortable 3-0 home victory over Alaves. Lionel Messi opened the scoring shortly after the hour mark and from then on the result was never in doubt.
Philippe Coutinho added a second goal late on before Messi grabbed his second of the evening in injury time.
Sunday saw Sevilla get off to a flyer as they won 4-1 away at Rayo Vallecano. Franco Vasquez got their first goal of the day before Andre Silva scored a hat-trick on his debut having signed on loan from AC Milan.
Real Madrid also won 2-0 at the Bernabeu against Getafe with Dani Carvajal and Gareth Bale scoring the goals as Los Blancos played their first league match without Cristiano Ronaldo.
Valencia face Atletico Madrid on Monday night and Athletic Bilbao host Leganes to conclude the first round of La Liga fixtures.
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Juve and Napoli off the mark
Cristiano Ronaldo’s Juventus debut was the main attraction on the opening weekend in Italy, but the Portuguese did not get on the scoresheet as the reigning champions won 3-2 at Chievo.
Sami Khedira scored after just three minutes to put Juve in front, but substitute Federico Bernardeschi was required to score a 93rd-minute winner with the sides level going into added time.
The only other game on Saturday was Napoli’s 2-1 win at Lazio, where Ciro Immobile put the Rome side in the lead, but Arkaduisz Milik equalised and then Lorenzo Insigne scored the winning goal just before the hour mark.
On Sunday, Roma beat Torino 0-1 with Edin Dzeko scoring a last-gasp winner, assisted by new signing Justin Kluivert, and Sassuolo shocked Inter by beating them 1-0 thanks to a goal from the penalty spot by Domenico Berardi.
Parma drew 2-2 with Udinese on their return to the top flight and Empoli currently top the table on goal difference having won 2-0 at home to Cagliari.
The final game of matchweek one is Atalanta against Frosinone on Monday evening.
Normal service resumed in Ligue 1
Ligue 1, like the Premier League, is into its second week having kicked off last weekend, and PSG are predictably top already.
In week one, the French champions won 3-0 against Caen, while in week two, Neymar scored once and Kylian Mbappe twice as they dispatched Guincamp 3-1.
Lyon won 2-0 against Amiens on matchday one but fell to a 1-0 defeat at Reims over the weekend, while Monaco drew 0-0 with Lille on Saturday having beaten Nantes 3-1 last time out.
The surprise result of the weekend was Marseille losing 3-1 to Nimes for the first time in a quarter of a century. Florian Thauvin notched his second goal of the league season but the Occitanie side came out on top.
After two matches in France, five teams are yet to register a single point: Angers, Guincamp, Ameins, Bordeaux and Nantes.
Bordeaux, in particular, have had a disastrous start to the season, with manager Gus Poyet suspended by the club for criticising the owners over the sale of key striker Gaetan Laborde to Montpellier.