Bundesliga and Serie A Kickoff: Football Sunday Paper - Vol.3
Last week saw the commencement of the 2023/24 football league seasons in the English Premier League, Spanish LaLiga and the French Ligue 1 and this week, the German Bundesliga and Italian Serie A make their return.
Premier League Drama
Arguably the biggest EPL game this weekend was between Spurs and Manchester United. The Red Devils couldn't deliver on Saturday night as Spurs pulled off a 2-0 win with goals from Pape Mataro Sarr and an own goal from Lisandro Martinez.
📷 Tottenham Hotspur (Twitter)
Get the new Tottenham kit here.
10-man Liverpool secured a 3-1 win against Bournemouth, Man City with a slender 1-0 victory over Newcastle and Brighton continued their bright start to the season after a consecutive 4-1 win against 10-man wolves. Not a good weekend for Chelsea after losing 3-1 to West Ham in a game Moises Caicedo made his Chelsea debut, a debut he'd rather forget. Chelsea's loss to West Ham now means the Blues just have 5 Premier League wins in their last 31 games.
Elsewhere in La Liga, Real Madrid came out victorious against Almeria with Jude Bellingham netting twice in a 3-1 win, Barca with their first win of the season against Cadiz 2-0.
Bayern Munich kicked off the new Bundesliga season in a 4-0 thrashing of Werder Bremen with Harry Kane on the score sheet in his Bundesliga debut and rivals Borussia Dortmund with a hard fought 1-0 win against Koln.
Not forgetting the Serie A, Napoli were in action against Frosinone and came out with a 3-1 win, Victor Osimhen with a brace. Mourinho's Roma settled for a 2-2 draw against Salernitana and Juventus beat Udinese 3-0.
PSG clinched a 1-1 draw against Toulouse in the French Ligue 1, Mbappe marking his return to the club with a goal.
Manchester City Dominating Europe Once Again
Manchester City came out on top in their UEFA Super Cup clash against Sevilla. The Cityzens clinched the title in a 5-4 penalty shootout win after it ended 1-1 after 120 minutes.
📷 Manchester City (Twitter)
Get the Manchester City kits here.This is Pep's 13th major trophy with Man City and his 36th trophy in his managerial career.
Lionel Messi And Inter Miami Make History
Inter Miami finally won their first silverware in the club's five years of existence. This came in a 10-9 penalty shootout win against Nashville in the Leagues Cup final after a 1-1 draw at full time. The club had been in a sensational form since signing Lionel Messi who scored in every stage of the competition to win the trophy. In just 7 games, Messi was able to find the back of the net 10 times.
Messi also made history after winning the Leagues Cup by becoming the most decorated player in world football with a total of 44 trophies from 2004 to 2023, surpassing 43 of former teammate Dani Alves.
📷 Inter Miami (Twitter)
After an impressive run of games, the Argentine was awarded both the top scorer and the best player of the tournament.
Inter Miami's Leagues Cup triumph also means that the club will receive a bye straight into the last 16 of the CONCACAF Champions Cup.
Nominees For The UEFA Men's Player Of The Year
The nominees for the 2022/23 UEFA Men's Player Of The Year include Lionel Messi, Erling Haaland and Kevin de Bruyne.
📷 UEFA Champions League (Twitter)
All three players with an outstanding 2022/23 season. Haaland with 52 goals in 53 games and a treble for Manchester City, de Bruyne's involvement 10 goals and 31 assists in City's treble winning season as well and Messi's involvement in Argentina's World Cup winning campaign in Qatar 2022.
The winner of the award will be announced at the UCL draw on 31st August 2023.
Spain Are Crowned World Champions
The FIFA Women's World Cup which started on 20th of July has come to an end with Spain crowned the champions.
The final was down between Spain and England in which Spain came out victorious thanks to an Olga Carmona first half goal which turned out to be the match winner.
📷 FIFA Women's World Cup (Twitter)
Meanwhile, Sweden defeated co-host Australia to win 3rd place in the tournament.
The Golden Ball Award for the best player was awarded to Aitana Bonmati while Salma Paralulluelo won the FIFA Best Young Player Award.
Japan's Hinata Miyazawa won the Golden Boot as the top scorer of the tournament with 5 goals and Mary Earps was given the Adidas Golden Glove Award.
Spalletti Becomes National Team Coach
Roberto Mancini resigned as Italy's head coach, describing it as a personal choice.
📷 Official SSC Napoli (Twitter)
Without wasting much time, former Napoli manager Luciano Spalletti was appointed as the new head coach in a 3-year deal.
Roberto Mancini guided the Italian national team to the Euros 2020 victory but failed to qualify for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.
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Transfer News
Joao Cancelo remains a priority for Barcelona this summer. The summer transfer window closes in about 11 days and Barca will be wishing they get his signature before then.
Neymar's move to Al Hilal had been completed on a two year deal with a salary of $300m.
Hakim Ziyech completed his move to Galatasaray on a temporary transfer with a free purchase option.
Manchester United are now searching for a second choice goalkeeper incase Dean Henderson leaves and are looking to get Odisseas Vlachodimos from Benfica.
Manchester City's Aymeric Laporte have completed a €30m deal to Al Nassr on a 3-year contract.