Weekend Football Review

Football is back! The Absa Premiership, La Liga, Serie A and Bundesliga kicked off in fine style this weekend with some interesting results and top-drawer goals.

There was joy for PL champions Chelsea, Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich and pain for Absa Premiership defending champions Bidvest Wits.

Neymar continued to mesmerise defenders in France, powering PSG to a massive win, while in Spain Barcelona recovered from the pain of losing the Brazilian with a morale-boosting win.

CHELSEA BOUNCE BACK, ARSENAL TRIP

Champions Chelsea returned to winning ways at the weekend after a false start, beating rivals Tottenham Hotspur 2-1 in a tightly contested London derby, which was full of shock and drama.

The Blues suffered a shock 3-2 defeat to Burnley in their season opener, in which two of their key players, Cesc Fabregas and skipper Gary Cahill, were given marching orders.

Arsenal’s title aspirations suffered an early blow as they went down 1-0 to Stoke City and left them three points behind early pace-setters Manchester United, who won 4-0 for the second game running at Swansea City.

Elsewhere, Liverpool bounced back from their 3-3 draw in the season opener against Watford with a narrow 1-0 win against Crystal Palace, who are yet to win a match so far, having lost to new boys Huddersfield Town.

Huddersfield made it two wins from two and became only the third promoted side to ever win their opening two games, beating a disappointing Newcastle United side 1-0 with impressive Australian Aaron Mooy scoring the solitary goal.

WINS FOR NEW COACHES IN PSL

There was joy for new coaches in the opening round of the 2017/18 Absa Premiership, Benni McCarthy, Fadlu Davids and Milutin Sredojevic.

McCarthy, who began his PSL coaching career with a top eight win over Polokwane City, led his Cape Town City team to an impressive 1-0 win over champions Bidvest Wits at the Bidvest Stadium on Friday.

Davids, who began the season in style by eliminating heavyweights Mamelodi Sundowns from the top eight, continued with his good run as his Maritzburg United team recorded an impressive 2-0 win over Platinum Stars.

Sredojevic seems to have gotten the Pirates playing the same notes, as they looked like a totally different team from last season, beating Chippa United 1-0 courtesy of a Thamsanqa Gabuza goal to reinstate smiles on the Ghosts’ faces.

Cape Town City and Maritzburg United claimed impressive victories, while Kaizer Chiefs suffered disappointment for the second successive weekend

Steve Komphela’s woes continued as his Kaizer Chiefs team, who were eliminated from the MTN8, were held to a draw by Bloemfontein Celtic, while Mamelodi Sundowns bounced back from cup elimination pain with an impressive 2-0 win in the Tshwane derby against SuperSport United.

AmaZulu also made headlines with a 1-0 home win over Free State Stars in their first game back in the Absa Premiership, while the Limpopo derby between Polokwane City and Baroka FC ended in a goalless stalemate.

WINS FOR REAL, BARCA ON OPENING DAY

Barcelona got off to a winning start in La Liga on Sunday, beating Real Betis 2-0 in a subdued atmosphere at the Nou Camp in the first game since the deadly attacks in the Catalan capital and the town of Cambrils.

Rivals Real Madrid began their pursuit of winning back-to-back league titles for the first time since 2008, with a 3-0 win at Deportivo La Coruna, with captain Sergio Ramos sent off in the dying seconds.

On Saturday, Atletico Madrid demonstrated their remarkable team spirit to come roaring back from two goals and a man down to draw 2-2 at Liga debutants Girona, after Antoine Griezmann had been sent off for the first time in his career.

Elsewhere on Saturday, Real Sociedad twice came from behind to win 3-2 at Celta Vigo, snatching three points with a late penalty from Willian Jose after Uruguayan Maxi Gomez had scored twice on his debut for Celta.

NEYMAR AT DOUBLES FOR PSG

Neymar starred from beginning to end on his home debut for Paris Saint-Germain, scoring twice in a 6-2 thumping of Toulouse in Ligue 1 on Sunday.

The Brazilian superstar had a hand in everything else his new side did at the Parc des Princes as they recovered from the shock of falling behind early on to a Max Gradel goal.

Elsewhere on Sunday, Marcelo Bielsa suffered a second straight loss as Lille coach, as his side crashed to a disappointing 2-0 home defeat against Caen.

Marseille extended their unbeaten league run to 14 matches but were frustrated by Angers in a 1-1 draw at the Stade Velodrome.

Radamel Falcao struck his fifth goal in three games on Friday to guide Monaco to a 1-0 win at Metz, while Saint-Etienne brushed aside newcomers Amiens 3-0 on Saturday.

BVB, BAYERN MAKE GOOD START

Borussia Dortmund overcame hosts VfL Wolfsburg 3-0 on Saturday to make a flawless start to their Bundesliga season as last season’s runners-up RB Leipzig suffered a shock loss at Schalke 04.

New Dortmund coach Peter Bosz had promised attractive, attacking football and his team, who finished third last season, delivered on his Bundesliga debut.

Champions Bayern Munich are also on three points after Friday’s 3-1 victory over Bayer Leverkusen. An 84th-minute deflected effort from Andrej Kramaric gave Hoffenheim, who face Liverpool next week for a spot in the Champions League group stage, a 1-0 win over Werder Bremen.

Australian Mathew Leckie struck twice for new club Hertha Berlin as they beat promoted VfB Stuttgart, back after a season in the second division, 2-0.

Schalke, with 31-year-old coach Domenico Tedesco making his Bundesliga debut, scored once in either half to beat Leipzig 2-0 with the visitors’ sensational league run last season already a distant memory.

Nabil Bentaleb put them ahead with a 43rd minute penalty before Yevhen Konoplyanka, who had scored twice in the German Cup on Monday, struck to finish Leipzig off.

Nicolai Mueller’s goal gave Hamburg, who suffered a shock first-round exit in the German Cup last week, a 1-0 win over Augsburg for their first victory at the start of the season in seven years.

Promoted Hanover 96 won by the same scoreline, with Austrian Martin Harnik on target against Mainz 05.

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