Just as fate would have it, this weekend’s European football calendar threw together three of its most historic derbies — El Clasico, Le Classique and the Derby d’Italia. There was also Arsenal vs Liverpool, a meeting of two of the Premier League’s three leading title contenders.
As The Athletic noted in last week’s piece teeing up the weekend, each game featured one new coach who was arguably facing the greatest test of his short managerial reign until now. All four pitted closely matched sides together, with not one of them more than a handful of league places away from their opponents at this relatively early stage of the season.
Of course, just because there was no easy way to split these match-ups before kick-off does not mean the same was true at full time. Two ended in draws, two in decisive victories, but each turned one way or the other on a handful of key moments.
Here, The Athletic looks at where each game was decided after a European weekend that did not disappoint…
Sometimes, the most eagerly anticipated of games play out exactly the way everyone eagerly anticipates.
It was not the most original of questions to pose pre-match but it was the one that was likely to decide this 258th competitive Clasico: how would the hyper-aggressive out-of-possession approach that Barcelona have adopted this season under Hansi Flick — particularly their dangerously high defensive lines — contend with the speed of a Kylian Mbappe desperate to impress, or a Vinicius Junior potentially on the verge of winning the Ballon d’Or at the gala tonight (Monday) in Paris?
Flick spent the early part of the week being probed on the same issue, before Tuesday’s demolition of Bayern Munich in the Champions League. But he didn’t compromise that night against his former club and Barca ran out 4-1 winners. Why would he do so only a few days later?
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Especially when it works this well. Barcelona have caught their opponents offside seven times per game this season — on pace for an all-time La Liga record — and foiled Madrid’s attacks that way a dozen times in all at the Bernabeu on Saturday night. Mbappe was responsible for eight of those, the first in only the second minute. It would be wrong to say that set the tone — he and Vinicius Jr needed to get lucky once, after all, and almost did.
But when Mbappe thought he had scored the opening goal on the half-hour mark, only for the semi-automated VAR to confirm he had strayed slightly past Barcelona defender Inigo Martinez, you sensed that he might not have timed a run correctly had he played on until Sunday morning.
Mbappe did get his bearings, on the odd rare occasions, but still struggled to get the better of Barca’s defence. And by that stage, Robert Lewandowski had already taken the game away from Madrid and Flick’s high-wire act had struck the perfect balance.
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You knew the narrative coming into this one. Liverpool’s visit to the Emirates was billed as the first real test of new coach Arne Slot’s tenure. You know, a bit like last Sunday’s meeting with Chelsea at Anfield. Or the trip to play Manchester United at Old Trafford in his third official game in charge almost two months ago now.
In fairness, this was Slot’s first test against a team widely recognised as title challengers. And up until the early part of the second half, it was one Liverpool were struggling to pass.
Arsenal’s first-half performance was one of — if not, their most — impressive of the season to date, demonstrating that they can dominate even opponents of a similar calibre to them, provided they keep their full complement of players on the pitch.
Yet which players are on the pitch matters almost as much as how many, and that dominance noticeably waned after the break, particularly once two of their starting back four were forced off.
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Gabriel’s substitution nine minutes after the break left Mikel Arteta without both his first-choice centre-backs, with William Saliba also unavailable yesterday through suspension, and a side who have generally trended as one of the best defensive units in European football over the past 18 months appeared increasingly vulnerable.
But the dam did not burst until the loss of Jurrien Timber, who had impressively shut down Mohamed Salah for the most part, with 14 minutes of the 90 to go.
(Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)
Without Timber around, Salah was free to drift inside a makeshift back line and put away a composed square pass from Darwin Nunez to level things at 2-2.
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Arteta’s side ended with the same number of shots (nine) and less possession (45 per cent) than opponents they initially had dominated, and it was hard not to see the enforced exits of Gabriel and Timer as pivotal.
The story of Thiago Motta’s start to life at Juventus has been one of safe possession, defensive solidity and — in all honesty — not a lot of excitement. Thankfully, the Derby d’Italia could hardly have diverged any further from that script.
Juventus’ defence was previously the best in Europe’s major five leagues. Yet they conceded four. Their attack had previously delivered fewer goals this season than Wolverhampton Wanderers, Las Palmas and Heidenheim. But they scored four. And of those eight goals in all, five were on the board after 37 minutes.
The problem for Motta was that, at that stage, it was 3-2 to Inter. But if his early days in Turin have been marked by a rather rigid, dogmatic approach, then there were signs that the man hired away from Bologna in the summer is capable of fixing things on the fly.
Just past the hour-mark, with Juventus now 4-2 down, Motta replaced first-half goalscorer Tim Weah with winger Kenan Yildiz. He also swapped Nicolo Fagioli, a midfielder, for right-back Nicolo Savona, so allowing Andrea Cambiaso to move into midfield alongside Manuel Locatelli.
Yildiz soon repaid Motta’s faith quickly, using his direct ball-carrying skills to lead a counter-attack, dumbfound Inter’s Denzel Dumfries and fire low across Yann Sommer. Four-three.
Then, despite desperately seeking an equaliser with 13 minutes of the 90 to go, Motta brought on Samuel Mbangula, a winger, for front man Dusan Vlahovic. Yildiz moved centrally, becoming Juventus’ closest thing to a striker, but effectively in a strikerless system that left Inter without much of a reference point to defend against.
(Francesco Scaccianoce/Getty Images)
Eleven minutes after his first goal, who was unmarked as a Juventus attack threatened to peter out at the far post? Yildiz, again.
It was a game, and a performance, so far removed from Motta’s principles that you can hardly say things went to plan, but a Juventus side who have sometimes looked short of ideas in the opening months of this season got creative to rescue a point.
Marseille 0-3 Paris Saint-Germain
With only one Le Classique win to their team’s name in 13 years, Marseille’s support inside the Stade Velodrome perhaps knew, deep down, which way this one was likely to go.
Can Amine Harit’s sending-off after 20 minutes really be described as much of a turning point when weighed against that history? Especially as, by that point, Marseille were already a goal down, following Joao Neves’ seventh-minute breakthrough.
Harit’s dismissal ensured Paris Saint-Germain’s dominance, though, and although it is debatable whether it was deserving of a straight red card, it was also avoidable.
As in true Roberto De Zerbi style, after their patient build-up baited PSG’s press, Marseille played a long ball up into midfield to exploit the gaps left by their visitors. Harit jumped into a 50-50 challenge with Marquinhos and came out the better of the two, reaching the ball with his outstretched left boot, but also slammed that same boot into the PSG captain’s torso on the rebound.
(Christophe Simon/AFP via Getty Images)
It was not intentional but it was arguably reckless. Or at least, reckless in the opinion of referee Francois Letexier. Marseille’s attack was not the most physically imposing, though, and so the wisdom of relying on them to win long, direct balls forward could also be questioned.
Luis Enrique’s more balanced attack were three up at half-time through a Leonardo Balerdi own goal and Bradley Barcola, and comfortable enough that they could afford to spurn several good second-half chances.
Once down a man, Marseille were not coming back.
(Top photos: Getty Images)