Four talking points in European football this weekend

Paris (AFP) – Bayern Munich went from boom to bust after crushing Tottenham in the Champions League, while, Spain’s big guns may be misfiring but top La Liga anyway. 

In Italy Antonio Conte’s rebuilding of Inter is still a work in progress following defeat to dominant Juventus and Paris Saint-Germain have no real domestic rival.

AFP Sport looks at the four main talking points from the weekend on the continent:

– Spain’s crisis clubs top La Liga –

Zinedine Zidane was said to be facing the sack with Real Madrid lining up Jose Mourinho in his place, while two weeks ago Ernesto Valverde was taking similar flack at Barcelona.

However Real are top of La Liga on 18 points with champions Barcelona two points behind in second after both roared to big wins over Granada and Sevilla.

“It has been a strange start to the season and we have not gained all the points we would have wanted,” Valverde said after their 4-0 home thumping of the Andalusians, which saw injury-plagued Lionel Messi score his first goal of the season.

Real also scored four as another man under-pressure, Eden Hazard, netted for the first time since his 100-million euro ($109 million) move from Chelsea during a 4-2 win over Granada that also took some of the heat off Zidane.

The pair will face each other on October 26 at the Camp Nou, a match that will no doubt show which of the big two is in the best shape to take the title.

– Sublime to ridiculous –

Did over-exertion in Tuesday’s 7-2 Champions League rout of Tottenham Hotspur eventually lead to Bayern Munich dropping three precious points in the Bundesliga?

Four days after thrashing Spurs, the Bavarians appeared to take their foot off the gas when they lost 2-1 at home to Hoffenheim, surrendering top spot in the league to Borussia Moenchengladbach and dropping back to third behind Wolfsburg.

It was Bayern’s first home league defeat for almost a year and their captain Manuel Neuer said the defeat served as “a warning you get nothing for free”.

– Conte says mind the gap –

Antonio Conte admitted Inter Milan have a large gap to close after his new side lost top spot in Serie A with a 2-1 defeat to defending champions Juventus.

Inter had been flying high with a perfect run of six wins before losing Sunday’s ‘Derby d’Italia’ with fierce rivals Juve.

from World Soccer Talk https://ift.tt/2nuaNbG