Europe Weekend Football Roundup

For football lovers, weekends are the best part of the week and could it get any truer with the enthralling matches on display over Europe during the past weekend.

From Liverpool's continual dominance in England to the fierce double race in Spain and the triple battle in Italy, the beautiful game of football keeps getting more tantalizing.

In England, Arsenal continued their impressive albeit lacking displays under Mikel Arteta. For all the stability and structure the Spanish coach has brought to the club, the forward line, which had once been their sole area of solace keeps withering and Sunday's match at Turf Moor only continued this lugubrious trend.

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Although excuse could be made for the 0-0 draw seeing as Burnley have the second most clean sheets in the division, only bettered by Liverpool, still, this was a game many will expect the Gunners to have won and while a 0-0 draw isn't ultimately disastrous, progress must be made going forward if Arsenal are going to experience anything of a success this season.

Leicester and Chelsea, playing in the first of two top weekend fixtures in England, ahead of the match between Tottenham and Manchester City, also was a fire cracker. The two teams, who are ranked third and fourth respectively, had adopted a tepid approach to the match, seeking to avoid mistakes and this resulted in the first half petering to a 0-0 stalemate 

In the second half, however, both teams came out of the blocks, eventually scoring two goals each to ensure no team left happier at the expense of the other, although Leicester City might feel hard done by seeing as Chelsea came back from a 2-1 deficit with less than 18 minutes left in the encounter.

Manchester City, meanwhile, will be leaving for the two weeks' winter break really disappointed following their 2-0 loss to Jose Mourinho's Tottenham side at White Hart Lane.

The match which had featured first half VAR controversies where the technology had retrospectively given City a spot-kick which was duly saved by Hugo Lloris and also saw Sterling receive a booking for a cynical challenge before another two-minute hiatus saw Alderwereld and Zichenko booked for an altercation, will go a long way in restoring confidence to the North London outfit who have been having an erratic season so far.

Liverpool showed no sign of relinquishing their hold on the premier league top position, seeing off Southampton by four goals to nil. The match which saw Firmino grab a hat-trick of assists was their 24th win in 25 matches this season with their only draw coming against Manchester United in October last year.

And in the last of the English top guns, Manchester United could only manage a 0-0 draw at home to Wolves. Ole Solskjaer handed a start in central midfield to new signing Bruno Fernandes but the Portuguese playmaker could do little to inspire his new side to a win.

In Spain, Real Madrid continued their impressive season under Zinedine Zidane in what is the French man's second spell as a coach at the club, defeating Atletico Madrid 1-0 in a hotly-contested derby at the Santiago Bernabeu.

The previous three games between these sides had ended in stalemates but Karim Benzema ensured we won't be seeing a repeat, scoring the only goal to send Madrid top of the Spanish standings.

Barcelona, arguably the only competition to Madrid for the Spanish crown, ensured the race remains close with a 2-1 victory against Levante at home. Teenage attacker, Ansu Fati, scored both goals while Lionel Messi provided both assists to give Quique Setien a much-needed win.

Juventus continued their lead at the summit of the Italian Serie A with a morale-boosting 3-0 victory over Florentina, after Napoli had momentarily halted their stride with a 2-1 defeat two weeks back. Cristiano Ronaldo scored a pair of penalties while summer recruit, De Ligt added more gloss to the scoreline. 

Of course, the three-team race wouldn't be possible if the other teams involved had failed to deliver which none did as Lazio continued their eviscerating run of form, grabbing a 5-1 victory over Spal while Lukaku scored both goals for Inter Milan in their 2-0 defeat of Udinese.

Finally, Germany witnessed a splurge of goals over the weekend with Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich both grabbing huge victories, Dortmund pummeling Union Berlin 5-0 courtesy of a brace from prodigious signing Erling Haaland. Bayern Munich also defeated Mainz 3-1 while the other member of the top three, Leipzig played out a 2-2 draw against Borussia Monchengladbach to keep the top position of the German league particularly tight.

The next round of matches in Germany will be the DFB Pokal which sees Dortmund visit Werder Bremen, Leipzig travel to Frankfurt and Bayern play host to Hoffenheim.