“I was there, in the number, when the reds go marching in !” Finally, the fans are back and the stadia are full 😎 After a long time in my reckoning, various leagues across Europe are beginning their seasons on the same weekend. The Premier League, Bundesliga and La Liga kicked off this past weekend while Ligue 1 a week prior. You know what this means ? We have a ton of action and yes, a few upsets to pop our eyes at !😱
Upset ALERT : Brentford beat Arsenal 2-0; Borussia Monchengladbach 1-1 Bayern Munich
The Premier League opening weekend was to be headlined by Tottenham facing Manchester City and Leeds United traveling to their old foes, Manchester United. But the Brentford Bees were having none of it ! They made their own statement with a 2-0 win over Arsenal who looked lacklustre, inexperienced and really all over the place in this opening fixture. There were fireworks elsewhere with Manchester United thrashing Leeds United 5-1 with Bruno scoring a hattrick and Paul Pogba became the first Man United player to have 4 assists in a single game. Chelsea opened their season with a 3-0 win over south Londoners Crystal Palace while Liverpool scored three past Norwich with Mo Salah opening his account for this season. Mo Salah now holds the record for scoring goals in 5 consecutive opening week fixtures. Incredible !
A thriller at St James’ Park saw Newcastle United jump to 2-1 lead against West Ham before the Hammers (West Ham) struck three blows to end the game 2-4. Familiar ‘boos’ at the end of the game (aimed at Steve Bruce ? ). And then, the showstopper event, Tottenham taking on Manchester City in front of 62,000 fans was a proper ‘Premier League is back’ moment ! It was end-to-end stuff with Spurs’ (Tottenham) brand new manager Nuno Espirito Santo’s trade mark high energy counter, from his days at Wolves, was clearly visible. Man City showcased their club record (100 million pounds man) Jack Grealish in the starting line up but were clearly lacking a center forward as their attacks seemed to be dissipated by the likes of Dier and Tanganga in the Spurs defence. At the end it was a world class strike, cutting in from the right and taking a shot from the D-line (reminds us of a certain ? Bale ?😋 ) by Heung-min Son that separated the sides and gave Tottenham a 1-0 victory to begin their campaign. Only three clubs in Premier League history have lost opening day fixtures as defending champions !
Elsewhere, in La Liga the Big 3 got off to a winning start with Real Madrid beating Alaves 4-1 away from home, Barcelona beating Real Sociedad 4-2 and Atletico Madrid beating tough Iago Aspas lead Celta Vigo, 1-2.
The Bundesliga got off to flyer as well with Borussia Monchengladbach holding champions Bayern Munich 1-1 while Borussia Dortmund thrashed Eintracht Frankfurt 5-2. A rocky start for Munich’s new manager Julian Nagelsmann who came from Red Bull Leipzig, who themselves lost 1-0 to Mainz !
PSG maintain their strong start to the season with a 4-2 win over Strasbourg without Messi in the team. Defending champions Lille are on to a disastrous start with a 4-0 home defeat to Nice. Table toppers Angers beat Lyon 3-0 to maintain their awesome start to this season!
That’s a wrap from the opening weekend ! Do check back next week when we have another London derby when Arsenal face Chelsea and more from the Italian Serie A. I’ll leave you with my Fantasy Premier League team for this weekend and would love your suggestions 😜.
Adios !
Fun Zone: No game in the opening day of this 2021- 22 Premier League season was a draw. When did this happen last time ? 🧐
Ball in the Net 