European football news: Barca still successful without transfers

We were back last week, but now we are Actually return. German Football Championship back this weekend — join in Premier League, La Liga, Championship A And French National Championship 1All returned last weekend — and it looks like the German league is back on track as scheduled.

Bayer LeverkusenThe surprise winners of the previous campaign, returned, winning the match in spectacular fashion. Meanwhile in England, the reigning champions Manchester City looks more dangerous than ever. In Spain, that doesn’t matter. Barcelona still lacking a number of transfer targets. And in Italy, Christian Pulisic achieved a new milestone for United States Men’s National Team player

The season has only just begun, but it’s not too early to pick favourites and least favourites, so let’s take a look back at what happened on Saturday in Europe.

Leading: Despite lack of reinforcements, Barcelona are still playing well

There is a lot of focus on the players. Barcelona Are not available for a 2-1 win last Saturday Sports club that it’s easy to forget the players they do Have.

New Signing Dani Olmo was a late omission from the squad, he The registration has not yet been processed with LaLiga. despite money being released from Ilkay Gündogan’s wage bill Manchester City return. Meanwhile, Nico Williams was on another team when at one point he seemed set to join Barça this summer following his exploits at the European Championship with Spain.

So no Olmo, Gündogan or Williams, but Barça can still play Lamine Yamalperhaps the best young player in the game right now, and Robert Lewandowskiwho started the season in good scoring form.

Yamal opened the scoring at the Olympic Stadium, dribbling past international team-mate Williams before curling the ball into the corner. Lewandowski scored the winner, his third in two games, after Ohhan Sancet leveled the score from the penalty spot.

After opening with a win at Valencia Last weekend, new coach Hansi Flick stuck with a young team — three 17-year-olds starting once again, Yamal, Pau Cubarsí and Marc Bernal — and the early signs under the German are encouraging. Barça look organised and press strongly. Bernal excels at midfield, left-back Alejandro Balde seems to be regaining his pre-injury form, Rapinha has been everywhere and Foot looked formidable in the second half as he took control of the game.

However, Yamal was the player the fans came to see. There were large crowds of fans inside and outside the stadium wearing shirts with his name on the back. He did not disappoint, putting in another performance that belied his age.

But once again it was veteran Lewandowski, who turns 36 this week, who sealed all three points. The Polish striker was denied twice by the woodwork and once by a brilliant save from Álex Padilla before finally scoring the winner in the 75th minute.

Things could still be chaotic off the pitch — and Barça will now move quickly to get Olmo, who has been watching his new teammates from the stands, signed up for next Tuesday’s trip. Rayo Vallecano — but things are going pretty well under Flick so far. — Sam Marsden

Saturday talking points around the tournaments

Pulisic reaches USMNT milestone with season-opening goal

Christian Pulisic’s opening goal in the 2024-25 season Championship A The campaign won’t be considered pretty — it’s more of a “right place, right time” move — but it has helped the Americans reach a milestone. Pulisic is now the first player on the U.S. men’s national team to score in 10 seasons in Europe’s top five leagues.

His goal came in the 66th minute when he AC Milan The side unexpectedly fell behind the newly promoted team. Parma. Rafael Leo low cross in front of goal and Pulisic, standing at the edge of the penalty area, simply put the ball into the net.

Ultimately, Pulisic’s equalizer wasn’t enough as a substitute. Matteo Cancellieri restored Parma’s lead 11 minutes later, adding Dennis the Man‘s opening goal came in the 84th second of the match.

It’s been a difficult start to the season for AC Milan, who drew their opening game of the season last weekend. After two games, they sit 16th in the Serie A table. — Caitlin Murray

Man City look more dangerous than ever as they beat Ipswich

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Man City show they are still as hungry as ever after victory over Ipswich

Janusz Michallik believes Manchester City are more determined than ever to win a fifth successive Premier League title after their 4-1 win over Ipswich Town.

There was a moment in his weekly press conference on Friday when Pep Guardiola felt the need to remind everyone in the room that last season had been “pretty good” for Manchester City.

It wasn’t a repeat of the treble, but a record fourth successive Premier League title made this campaign a success. One of the remarkable things about last season’s title was that it was achieved without Ilkay Gundoganand with both Kevin De Bruyne And Erling Haaland have to sit out for a long time due to injury. Concern for challengers like arsenal And Liverpool All three are back this season.

Newly promoted Ipswich briefly took the lead at the Etihad Stadium but were beaten for the rest of the afternoon. By halftime, the score was 3-1 — it could easily have been five to City — and when the final whistle blew, Ipswich manager Kieran McKenna was relieved that City had only added one more goal as Haaland, who scored twice in four first-half minutes, completed his 10th hat-trick in just over two years at the club.

The question that has haunted City all summer is whether they are stronger than last season. Julian Alvarez is gone and we will miss him, but Gundogan is back and De Bruyne and Haaland are fighting hard. Haaland in particular has never been in better form.

Throw in SavinoOne of Spain’s best players last season and superb on his home debut against Ipswich, Guardiola seems to have all the ingredients to win another trophy. It’s possible this season could be even better than decent. — Rob Dawson

Leverkusen claim last-minute win to open Bundesliga season

The Bundesliga opens its season with a Rhineland derby on Friday, as defending champions Bayer Leverkusen traveled to Borussia Monchengladbach.

While Gladbach are enduring another poor season and searching for a new identity, the same cannot be said of Xabi Alonso’s Leverkusen side, who know exactly who they are. A week after beating Stuttgart in dramatic fashion in the German Super Cup, Leverkusen showed their dominance on the pitch, dominating possession and opponents from the opening whistle.

Granit XhakaLeverkusen’s ever-present midfielder scored his first goal of the season from outside the box, before Florian Wirtz added another goal to the scoreboard before the break. Gladbach mainly looked dangerous in attack when the striker Tim Kleindienst found in the last third.

But the home team’s first goal came from defender Nico Elvedi in the 59th minute. While Leverkusen remained dominant in the second half, Gladbach equalised five minutes before the end of normal time, with Kleindienst finally rewarded for his efforts. The former Heidenheim striker found the net after an assist from Kevin Stögeranother important addition to Gladbach’s attack.

But Leverkusen would not be the Leverkusen of today if they did not find a way to stage a late comeback, thanks to a controversial VAR decision in stoppage time that determined Ko Itakura had committed a foul. Amine Adli Inside the box, Leverkusen were awarded a penalty. And it was even more dramatic when Wirtz’s first effort was denied by Jonas OmlinBut the German player received the rebound and eventually scored.

Leverkusen celebrated another dramatic victory while Gladbach and the home crowd were left fuming after the final whistle. While Leverkusen’s spirit may have been impressive, given that they also won a number of games in the final minutes of last season, it is difficult to believe that Alonso’s men can continue to win like this. — Constantin Eckner

News of the day

• While Liverpool fans may still be eager to see what new manager Arne Slot brings to the squad, Jurgen Klopp likes what he sees. Klopp stepped down at the end of last season and told ESPN he’s been impressed so far. “I like it, no matter what — you can see he’s a very good coach…” You can Read Klopp’s full speech here.

• Vinícius Júnior will stay Real Madrid until the end of the season before considering a move to Saudi Arabia, ESPN reportedHis contract has a €1 billion release clause, an amount that wealthy Saudi Arabian clubs can certainly afford.

• Manchester United Manager Erik ten Hag said he was “very disappointed” by Manchester United’s 2-1 defeat to Brighton on Saturday. He went on to say that individual players cannot shoulder the blame for it belongs to the whole team.

And finally, on Saturday…

Erik ten Hag blamed his players for Manchester United’s defeat to Brighton on Saturday, but one could argue that the common thread was him.

Man United conceded in the fifth minute of stoppage time to lose to Brighton, and since Ten Hag took over as manager in 2022-23, United have conceded 12 goals in the 90th minute or later.

According to ESPN Stats & Information, that’s on par with Tottenham and Crystal Palace for the most players in the Premier League during that time. For a club that still considers itself one of the biggest and best in the world, that’s probably not the kind of company United would want to keep. –Murray