The tradition continued in Europe during the weekend despite certain teams now becoming more focused on their European journeys, some others are looking to earn one for themselves ahead of next season.

Already crowned champions in the Ligue 1, PSG Paris Saint-Germain had the weekend off as their trip to Nantes is postponed to latter in the month. Liverpool close in on the Premier League title with a win over West Ham United after Arsenal was held at home by Brentford.

In the LaLiga, both Barcelona and Real Madrid secured narrow wins while Atletico plays later on Monday. Inter extended their lead in the Serie A, Atalanta returned to winning ways, ending Bologna's impressive run, while Napoli plays on Monday.

In the Bundesliga, Der Klassiker ended in a two all draw. Unfortunately, Bayer Leverkusen could not capitalize as they were held at home by Union Berlin. RB Leipzig returned to the top four for the first time in a while.

Amidst the shows, the standout players in each of this leagues, from Kevin De Bruyne's farewell takeoff to Azor Matusiwa's masterclass in Le Havre, below are the artists and the narration of their actions.

Azor Matusiwa and stars of the weekend in T5 Leagues 

Premier League: Kevin De Bruyne of Manchester City 

The Manchester City midfielder kicked off his farewell journey against the same team he debuted for the club around a decade ago with a player of the match display to secure a come from behind win.

The Etihad was silenced 21 minutes into the encounter as early goals from Eberechi Eze and Chris Richards gave the visitors a 2-0 lead, achieving multiple goals in the home of the Premier League champions for the sixth time in seven visits.

The brilliant Belgian scored via a direct free-kick to halve the deficit at a very crucial time, using his wall to deceive Dean Henderson three minutes past the half hour, after Daichi Kamada was penalized for a foul on Nico Gonzalez.

It was De Bruyne's third free-kick goal in the Premier League, as well as his 70th goal in the competition, taking him level with Manchester United legend, Eric Cantona in the all-time list.

Omar Marmoush leveled matters two minutes later as both sides went to the halftime break with parity. De Bruyne however, set up Mateo Kovacic for City's third as they go ahead for the first time in the afternoon.

The goal came less than two minutes after the restart. De Bruyne received the ball from O'Reilly and on the turn, spotted and laid the pass for Kovacic for the former Chelsea man to hammer home for his ninth goal for the club.

There was time for two more, with Academy graduates, James McAtee and Nico O'Reilly scoring to complete a 5-2 win, with Ederson assisting the former with his fourth of the season, extending his record as the goalkeeper with the most assists in Premier League history with seven.

Kevin De Bruyne, who had a hand in the two most decisive goals of the game takes his goal contributions in the league this season to ten, three goals and seven assists, despite being in and out of the team due to injury.

He continues to shine for the club as he approaches the end of his stay at the club, and with that performance, he is our pick as the best player from the most prophesied league in the world during the weekend.

LaLiga: Oihan Sancet of Athletic Club 

In a fixture they've not lost since September 2021, Athletic Club were given a run for their on Sunday evening by Rayo Vallecano as the decision of Ernesto Valverde to rest players due to European commitment almost backfired.

Fortunately, they had their different makers on the bench and cometh the hour cometh the man, Oihan Sancet, not for the first time this season, came to the rescue with a brace in a 3-1 comeback win.

The visitors took the lead from a penalty rebound scored by Pathe Ciss, after Pedro Diaz had been denied by a brilliant save from Unai Simon in the 37th minute.

Sancet, whose brace sealed a 2-1 comeback win for Bilbao in the reverse fixture earlier in the season was introduced at the interval, alongside striker Maroan Sannadi.

The latter ended up winning a penalty converted by Sancet two minutes before the hour mark to restore parity on the night, as Sancet moves to outright fourth in the LaLiga scoring chart this season with his 40th goal for the club.

Nico Williams came off the bench to complete the comeback with a sensationally curled strike with his weaker left foot ten minutes from the end of normal time before Sancet completed his brace deep into added time.

Athletic won possession in the final third and the ball was passed to Sannadi, who teed up Sancet for a spectacular just from the outside of the box, sealing a convincing win which takes the club three points within of Atlético in third place.

With his second goal of the day, he becomes the first Athletic Club player in the 21st century, to reach 15 goals in their first 23 LaLiga appearances of the season, overtaking a record set by Fernando Llorente in the 2011-12 campaign.

Sancet, our player of the weekend in LaLiga not for the first time this season continues his rich form in front of goal with 16 for the club this season, 15 of which have come in the league.

He is the higest scoring midfielder in top five leagues this season and aside from his goals on the night, Sancet completed more dribbles than anyone in the pitch, four, despite playing 45 minutes.

Serie A: Mateo Retegui of Atalanta 

The past few weeks have not been kind on Atalanta, who are now being dragged into the UEFA Champions League qualification battle after their hopes of challenging for the Scudetto is dashed.

Three consecutive defeats means they are just a few points ahead of the other European hopefuls, and the race is set to be more intense as the final weeks of the season approach.

Important players have dropped from but during the weekend, they had inspiration from a regular source, which had run out of the goods in previous weeks, Mateo Retegui.

The Italian striker was the hero as they rerurn to winning ways, scoring one and setting up the other in a 2-0 win over high-flying Bologna, who had not lost in any of their last seven games across all competitions, winning six.

A fixture that has brought Atalanta a lot joy than the years but the opposite in their most recent meetings – Bologna was on a run of five unbeaten against Atalanta with four wins, including a 1-0 Coppa Italia quarter-final victory in Bergamo back in February.

However, Mateo Retegui helped Gian Piero Gasperini's charge put all the negatives behind them on Sunday afternoon, scoring less than three minutes from kickoff to set the tune for an important win.

Bellanova was played in down the right and the defender sent a teasing low cross into the box, with Retegui managing to beat the defenders to it and powers home at the near post for his 23rd of the Serie A season.

The second goal came midway through the first-half as Retegui turned provider. The striker showed great resilience to get away from Jhon Lucumi dowm the right before sending a cross into the box for Mario Pasalic to attack on the half volley and double the host's lead.

There was no further goals in the game as it finished 2-0 to Atalanta with Retegui, who lasted 80 minutes in the pitch going on to have a complete performance to ensure the safety of them points which moves them further clear in the race for the topnfoir finish.

Retegui completed 100 percent of his dribbles and tackles, created three chances, including one big chance that led to the second goal, and he makes another appearance in our nomination this weekend.

Bundesliga: Xavi Simons of RB Leipzig 

RB Leipzig's priced asset was again at the top of his game during the weekend, putting in a player of the match display to drag the Red Bull club to a narrow win away at Wolfsburg.

The 21-year-old scored a brace to reach 20 goals for Leipzig, ten of which have come in the ongoing season despite the injury setbacks earlier on.

Ikoma Lois Openda got things underway eleven minutes into the game and Simons made it 2-0 just before the half hour, firing home a low shot from the edge of the box after receiving the ball from Arthur Vermeeren.

Four minutes after the restart, the Dutch playmaker scored to make it 3-0 to the visitors. As Leipzig pressed their host, Ridle Baku passes the ball to Simons, who unleashed a curling strike from 25 yards out, that managed to beat the goalkeeper.

The host scored two goals in their attempt to achieve a comeback but it was little too late as Leipzig make away with all three points to seal a return into the top four after a while of absence.

It is Leipzig's first away win in the Bundesliga in 2025 as well as their first away to Wolfsburg since February 2023. Simons, who was at the heart of it has now scored nine League goals this season, adding that to his five assists.

Such performances is part reason he is on the radar of top teams ahead of the summer window, even though he just signed to become a Leipzig player on the permanent basis.

He is the star of the Bundesliga during a weekend where only a few top players make the headline for the good reasons.

Ligue 1: Azor Matusiwa of Rennes

It has been a season of doubts for Rennes but on Sunday, there was never a doubt about them taking maximum points at Le Havre right from kickoff as a man in the form of Azor Matusiwa played the best game of his career, surely.

The Dutch midfielder was directly involved in three of five goals as the visitors thrashed their host, making it three wins in four away games to edge closer to a place in the top half of the Ligue 1 table.

It took less than a minute into the game for Matusiwa, who had not scored in 41 Rennes games across all competitions since joining from Reims in January 2024, to open the scoring as Le Havre lost possession while attempting to play out from the back.

Matusiwa intercepted the ball and it fell kindly to Arnaud Kalimuendo-Muinga, who returned the ball to the former to leave him with a simple finish, leaving the goalkeeper in no man's land.

The goals started flowing in and in the 12th minute, Kalimuendo-Muinga set up Lorenz Assignon to give the visitors a cushion and Matusiwa turned provider three minutes later to set up Kalimuendo-Muinga to head home for 3-0 following a counter attack.

Junior Mwanga grabbed a consolation for the host with a direct free-kick goal before the halftime break, but it was Rennes who scored the next goal through Mousa Tamari to restore their three goal cushion three minutes before the hour mark.

Azor Matusiwa teed up substitute Andres Gomez in the final minute of normal time to complete a 5-1 demolition, completing the league double over their host for the first time since the 1999-2000 season.

Matusiwa, alongside teammate Arnaud Kalimuendo-Muinga are the only pair to be directly involved in three goals in top five leagues during the weekend, but it was the former who had the better game overall.

An unusual nomination but the 26-year-old couldn't be more deserving of this recognition. A much needed performance for Rennes, who haven't won in back-to-back home games.

Ultimate Player of the Weekend 

A more than complete midfield performance from Azor Matusiwa to secure a massive win for Rennes away to Le Havre sees him emerge as our ultimate player of the week.

Aside the goal and assists, the former Reims man completed 100 percent of his attempted dribbles, won eight of 10 duels, three of four tackles, made four recoveries, created two chances, one big chance and all two led to goals.

If there's anyone deserving, it is the Rennes man.