This Philippe Coutinho wonder goal from outside the box, the 17th of his Premier League career, was canceled out by a fortunate Joselu goal as Liverpool and Newcastle United played to a 1-1 draw on Sunday at Saint James’ Park. Liverpool now find themselves trailing the Manchester clubs by seven points after seven matches following their third draw of the season.
First things first before we move on to lesser talking points: there was no penalty awarded to PSG on Wednesday, but Neymar and Edinson Cavani took turns on direct free kicks. They also shared moments of slightly frigid tenderness, Cavani comforting Neymar after a terrible miss and Neymar belatedly arriving to congratulate Cavani on his superbly taken goal.
Atletico Madrid and Chelsea were supposed to draw. It was written in the stars. This match was predestined to end 0-0 or 1-1, with no other acceptable scores.
And it really should have ended in a draw. The match was at 1-1 with neither team looking very interesting going forward, but then Chelsea backup striker Michy Batshuayi, he who scored the goal that sealed the Premier League for Chelsea last season, spat in the face of God and preconceived #narrative and scored the winner in the 94th minute with the last kick of the game.
Newly promoted Lobos BUAP continued their impressive form in the Apertura with a 2-1 victory over Guadalajara at the Estadio Chivas on Tuesday night. Luis Advincula gave the visitors the lead before Rodolfo Pizarro equalized for Chivas early in the second half. The home side dominated possession but the match-winner arrived in the 85th minute in spectacular fashion courtesy of Lobos attacker Amaury Escoto.
Liverpool visited Spartak Moscow on Tuesday in what promised to be a special Champions League night for Jürgen Klopp’s side. However, in the 22nd minute Fernando gave the Russian side a shock lead with an impressive free kick.
Borussia Dortmund may be just about perfect in the Bundesliga, but the Champions League has been a different story. Real Madrid may be struggling in La Liga, but it’s business as usual in the Champions League. Real Madrid walloped Dortmund 3-1 on Wednesday at Signal Iduna Park, leaving the German side in danger of missing out on the knockout rounds.
Valencia maintained their unbeaten start to La Liga play with an impressive 3-2 victory over Real Sociedad at the Anoeta on Sunday. With the score level at 2-2 and both sides down to 10-men, Italian striker Simone Zaza hit the game-winner in the 85th minute with the assist provided by 20-year-old Portuguese attacker Goncalo Guedes.
Real Sociedad have quietly gone about assembling one of the strongest squads in all of La Liga, but their promising start to the season was brought to a halt by Levante center half Chema Rodriguez last night. Levante would ultimately win 3-0, but it was Chema’s wonder goal on the stroke of halftime that put his side ahead for good.
Real Madrid came into their match against Real Betis Wednesday four points behind Barcelona in La Liga, needing a win.
Fortunately, they got Cristiano Ronaldo back from suspension, and he showed during the Champions League last week that he hadn't accumulated any rust during his break.