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REVIEW: 5 talking points from around Europe as club football returned

Damien Kayat looks back at 5 talking points from the past weekend’s European football action as Ole got the sack, Messi found his groove and the Bundesliga threw up some shock results.

Ole Gunnar Solkjaer - Football
Image Copyright - Steve Haag Sports

Damien Kayat looks back at 5 talking points from the past weekend's European football action as Ole got the sack, Messi found his groove and the Bundesliga threw up some shock results.

Two women looking excitedly at cellphone

Ole Out

It doesn’t matter which side of the Solskjaer divide you fell on, whether you are Gary Neville or Jamie Carragher. The abiding memory of his reign will be a consoling high-five. He chose to comfort United captain Harry Maguire after he was given his marching orders, letting him know that everything was alright.

But it wasn’t. Maguire probably did more than any other United player to ensure that the Norwegian lost his job. Why console him? That moment summed up the Ole regime in a nutshell. He never had the stomach to stand up to his catalogue of ‘stars’.

But I blame the Glazers. They had the opportunity to pull the trigger weeks ago and acquire Antonio Conte. Can you imagine Conte displaying such casual camaraderie with Maguire after that incident? He is exactly the type of personality that dressing room needs.

Forget Robin Williams from Dead Poets Society. They need JK Simmons from Whiplash. Now they are going to have to pay a fortune to wrangle Pochettino out of his contract. Unless they decide to go down the interim manager avenue and turn towards ten Hag at the end of the season. But look how well that turned out last time.

Three’s Company

I wonder if English football has ever contained three sides of this calibre concurrently. Yes, there were three English semi-finalists in both the 2007/2008 and 2008/2009 Champions Leagues. But it never really felt like those sides were playing the elite brand of football on the European continent.

This current crop of English excellence looks like it could dominate European football for some time to come. Liverpool may not have the depth of squad of their counterparts, but they still have a first eleven capable of beating any side in world football.

They rolled past a resurgent Arsenal side with consummate ease. Chelsea frankly embarrassed Leicester at the King Power (and that without the likes of Lukaku, Werner and Kovacic). Perhaps not quite as swaggering as Liverpool, Chelsea have a ruthless pragmatism that allows them to win both pretty and ugly football matches.

And then you have the defending champions. City tore apart Everton with one of the most one-sided 3-0 victories you are ever likely to see. Rodri’s rocket could well have put Pickford into an early grave had he collided with it. But it was Cancello’s exquisite through-ball to Sterling that truly epitomizes this City side. This is set to be a title race for the ages.

Italian Soap Opera continues

Things have opened up beautifully in Italy this weekend. Defeat for both Napoli and Milan has brought Italian juggernauts Juventus and Inter back into the picture. Milan’s 4-3 defeat to Fiorentina really epitomized their season thus far.

You had to feel sorry for youngster Matteo Gabbia. Making only his 2nd appearance of the season, the 22-year-old truly has a night to remember. His attempt to shield that one spilt corner from goalkeeper Ciprian Tatarusanu was like slapstick comedy (Ibra went absolutely mental at the poor youngster). But they are without a doubt the team to watch for entertainment this year.

Inter Milan also ended Napoli’s status as the last unbeaten side in Europe’s top five leagues. Lautaro Martinez increased his growing cache after scoring the winner in an epic five-goal thriller.

And then you have the Juventus machine starting to gain traction, as the Old Lady of Italian football won 2-0 at Lazio. Amazingly, that was courtesy of two Leonardo Bonucci penalty kicks (imagine he was in your Serie A fantasy league team).

Bundesliga Shock

I don’t think that anyone saw that coming. Relegation-threatened Augsburg somehow managed to withstand a proper Bayern assault this week. Sure, Munich were missing three players through positive Covid tests (including the highly influential Joshua Kimmich).

But they utterly dominated the match with 79% possession. That’s a stat you struggle to find in Manchester City strangleholds. They had 18 shots to Augsburg’s five. But Munich could only manage four shots on target.

Borussia Dortmund managed to take full advantage courtesy of their slip, with Marco Reus sealing victory with a late strike. It is all tantalizingly positioned for the Klassiker in two weeks.

Dortmund really have to stay within touching distance of Bayern whilst Erling Haaland is side-lined due to injury. There is some speculation that he may return earlier than initially expected.

Finally for Messi

It’s an interesting time to be a PSG fan. If newspaper speculation is to believed (and come on, why shouldn’t it?), Mauricio Pochettino is desperately keen on the vacant United job. Kylian Mbappe is also seemingly winding down his contract ahead of a dream move to Real Madrid.

And then you have Lionel Messi making vague allusions to returning to Barcelona. PSG are the gigantic club that nobody really wants to be at. That’s probably down to the fact that everything at PSG hinges on Champions League success. But at least Messi has broken his Ligue 1 goal drought.

He converted a trademark left-foot curler that helped them see off a committed Nantes 3-1. But it’s just impossible to get excited about this project when all these icons seem to be going through the motions. It’s like watching the 4th sequel of a big movie franchise. It has all the stars but none of the passion.

Player of the Week- Sergio Aguero

I know I’m cheating this week. But with all three LaLiga giants winning this weekend, I’ve instead decided to focus on some more depressing news coming out of Spain.

I felt it necessary to comment on the devastating news that Aguero has been forced to retire due to heart complications. It’s really the culmination of a nightmare year for Aguero. He joined Barcelona under the impression that he was going to play alongside his good mate Leo Messi.

That never turned out so great. And now he has to pay heed to the medical professionals and hang up his boots for good. It’s a bit of a pity that his time at City ended so ignominiously.

Guardiola had brand new shiny toys in the form of Foden and Mahrez. There just wasn’t a place for Aguero in that side. But he was one of the deadliest strikers in Europe for a decade, scoring arguably the most iconic goal in English Premier League and ensuring that Martin Tyler had his own slice of Premier League history. Aguerooooooooooooo! Bone-chilling stuff.

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