With the majority of the football leagues underway, we take a look at the five talking points from this past weekend, 18 – 19 August.
1. Ronaldo’s Juve career off to a winning start
Cristiano Ronaldo made his competitive debut against Chievo at the Stadio Marc’Antonio Bentegodi. Juventus needed an injury-time goal from Federico Bernardeschi to secure a come-from-behind victory.
Although Ronaldo did not score he did come close on numerous occasions, showing intent on attack. Next week Juventus will host Lazio in a tougher fixture and for Ronaldo, one in which he’ll want to get on the scoresheet to boost his confidence going into the rest of the season.
Cristiano Ronaldo’s match stats against Chievo:
- 90 Mins
- 8 Shots (4 On target)
- 30 Passes
- 2 Key passes
- 90% PA%
- 2 Crosses
- 3 Aerials won
- 57 Touches
2. City dedicate 6-1 win to David Silva’s son, Mateo.
Manchester City returned to the summit of the Premier League with a 6-1 hammering of Huddersfield Town.
The Cityzens scored three in the first half before Huddersfield pulled one back. Sergio Aguero took his tally of Premier League hat tricks to nine when he netted in the 75th minute, he now needs three more hat-tricks to surpass the record of 11 held by Alan Shearer.
Shortly after the match tributes poured in for David Silvas son, Mateo, who was in hospital for five months after he was born prematurely. But now with his health clearing up, Silva was seen holding his boy at the start of the match and dedicated his goal to his son.
yes 6-1.. yeah 1 or more assist for me (certainly more 😝😅) .. yeah Kun 3 goals and all that… but our MOTM today its him 😍 (and Im no talking about his dad) 💙 #mateo pic.twitter.com/cjisMtFCWa— Benjamin Mendy (@benmendy23) August 19, 2018
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3. Pirates fall to ninth spot on the PSL table.
Orlando Pirates lost their second match in a row as they went down to Bloem Celtic 1-0. An early goal from Bongani Sam was enough to secure the points for Siwelele. Pirates pressed on and created more of the attacking chances but were all wasted much to the dismay of coach Milutin Sredojevic.
Bloem Celtic are joined on 9 points at the top of the table by Bidvest Wits but have a game in hand. Pirates will now travel to face Black Leopards in next week.
4. Brighton Punish Red Devils
Brighton scored three goals in the first half to set up what would be a memorable win for the South Coast outfit. Two goals in a space of two minutes saw Glenn Murray and Shane Duffy rattle the Manchester defence. Romelu Lukaku pulled a goal back in the 34th but when Eric Bailly committed a foul in the box a penalty was awarded to Brighton which Pascal Gross scored. The second half only saw a goal in injury time when Paul Pogba scored form the penalty spot to add a touch of respectability to the scoreline.
5. Mbappe comes on to score brace against Guingamp
Guingamp opened the scoring in front of their home fans but that would be the only goal of the half before Neymar won and converted a penalty kick shortly after the break.
Mbappe came on in the 46th minute to score two late goals to secure PSG’s second win of the season.
