Friday, 13.06.2025
La Liga champions Barcelona made the short trip to the Basque country to take on Athletic Bilbao on Sunday evening. In what is one of the more eagerly anticipated clashes on the La Liga calendar, Bilbao’s intense and energetic pressing was pitched against Barcelona’s commitment to passing out from defence. What followed was a thrilling encounter where only poor finishing from both sides meant the game finished with one goal.
Gladbach hosted Leverkusen in their opening fixture of the new Bundesliga campaign on Saturday afternoon. The game was a repeat of the fixture last may where Gladbach all but secured their top 4 spot and Champions League qualification. Although no such prize was on offer for victory in this game, both sides will be fighting to secure similar positions again this season.
It is rare to see a team lose its three most crucial players all within the same transfer window. Yet over the course of 2016’s off-season, Borussia Dortmund have surrendered Mats Hummels, Ilkay Gündogan and Henrikh Mkhitaryan to Bayern and Premier League. Despite such big losses, Tuchel and the management have replaced well and the squad is looking promising for the coming season. Reinforced by the signing of numerous young players alongside Schürrle and the return of Götze, Dortmund have a squad with great potential with the next few seasons in mind. However, their most important player may have already been at the club.
In perhaps their best performance to date under Pep, Manchester City looked excellent against an albeit weak West Ham United. From the first minute, they controlled the game with a strong display in possession matched by intelligent pressing both in and out of transitional moments.
Dortmund started the new Bundesliga campaign in less spectacular manner than that of the season just gone. They showed particular struggles in possession as they adjust to life without Hummels, Gündogan and Mkhitaryan. Although Tuchel’s men were able to overcome Mainz, it wasn’t the most comfortable of performances against what was an effective defensive strategy from the away team.
Southampton travelled to Manchester as they faced Mourinho’s United in the second game of the new Premier League season. Despite being given a considerable share of the possession, they were unable to create against a resolute and compact home defence.
The Champions League qualifying match with Steaua Bucharest was only the second competitive match of the Pep Guardiola era at Manchester City. Whilst it is true that it is still too early to come to any real judgements in terms of systems or players there were fascinating signs of progress.
Rostov return from Amsterdam with what could be a crucial away goal in the first leg of the Champions League Qualification Round. Despite having the ball for the vast majority of the contest, Ajax hosts were unable to turn their dominance of possession into a victory, thanks in no small part to Rostov’s defence.
After a weekend of many Premier League debuts, Antonio Conte’s first match in English football was reserved for Monday night, as Chelsea hosted West Ham who started with Dimitri Payet on the bench.
The European football season has finally started, my fellow football aficionados. Well, technically it started when some fairly unknown teams competed in the first qualifying round of the Champions League – which was back in late June. But let’s be honest, the big leagues set the rhythm.
