The first weekend of action after the international break certainly delivered across the continent.
But who were the standout stars?
GK: Emiliano Martínez (Aston Villa)
During Villa’s impressive 2-1 win at Spurs, the man between the posts put in the kind of performance that showed why he won the Yashin Trophy. When his side’s back was against the wall in the second half in particular, he came up with two incredible saves within seconds of each other to keep the visitors on top.
RB: Tiago Santos (Lille)
The 21-year-old is worthy of his inclusion alone for finally netting his first senior goal, doing it in style with a thumping drive from the edge of the box at Lyon, putting the cherry on top of a 2-0 win in a game that he earned Man of the Match honours in.
CB: Alberto Dossena (Cagliari)
Dossena’s goalscoring run continued as he netted in successive games to become just the third Isolani defender to achieve the feat in the three points for a win era (after Giuseppe Pancaro and Danilo Avelar) and given that duo’s exploits, it is fine company to be in.
CB: Pau Torres (Aston Villa)
Like team-mate Martínez, the performance of the former Villarreal defender was exceptional in north London on Sunday evening and in addition to his standout rearguard action where he oozed confidence, Torres also kickstarted the comeback with an emphatic first half header.
LB: Maximilian Mittelstädt (Stuttgart)
The reported €500,000 summer fee that Stuttgart paid Hertha BSC for the 26-year-old’s services is looking like a steal. Against Eintracht Frankfurt, he was involved in both goals (including an assist) and was a force of nature on the left flank throughout their victory.
RM: Domenico Berardi (Sassuolo)
Two more goals for the season, including an injury-time winner, for Mimmo in Sassuolo’s 4-3 victory away to Empoli took his tally for the campaign to seven (in addition to three assists), which puts him second in Serie A’s scoring charts. As has been the case for a decade, the Neroverdi can always rely on their main man.
CM: Pascal Groß (Brighton)
Brighton’s 3-2 win at Nottingham Forest was full of twists and turns but throughout an engaging and at times chaotic 90 minutes, the Germany international always kept a calm head amid the madness, providing two assists and then expertly guiding them through some choppy late waters.
CM: Morgan Sanson (Nice)
Sanson put in an archetypal engine room showing in Nice’s narrow win over Toulouse. He provided the pass for the only goal of the game but aside from that, won six direct duels, completed more dribbles than any other player on the park, enjoyed a 93% pass competition rate and was awarded his side’s Man of the Match.
LM: Jamie Bynoe-Gittens (Borussia Dortmund)
With Karim Adeyemi struggling for an impact, the English teenager may now have usurped him with the kind of performance in the comeback 4-2 win at home to Gladbach that will make him a tough man to leave out. His directness, pace and fearlessness ensured the visitors’ defence never had a moment to relax and he was a key figure in turning the contest back in BVB’s favour.
ST: José Luis Morales (Villarreal)
LaLiga’s latest late bloomer was at it again against Osasuna. He waited until he was 27 before even appearing in Spain’s top flight and almost a decade on at the age of 37 years and 126 days, became the third oldest player in the league this century to score a hat-trick, something he took just 23 second half minutes to pull off.
ST: Rodrygo (Real Madrid)
Much of Los Blancos; season has centred around a certain young Englishman. In the 3-0 win at Cádiz, one of their other top young talents claimed some well deserved headlines for himself. Rodrygo netted two superb individual goals before teeing up Jude Bellingham for the third, making him only the third Real Madrid player this century to be directly involved in three goals in two straight games (after Cristiano Ronaldo and Gonzalo Higuaín).
