Club games returned during the weekend following the conclusion of the final international break of the calendar year. It saw the hopes of returning to the form of some teams dashed while others found their rhythm, again.

Manchester City hit their lowest under Pep Guardiola as their losing run reaches five in a humiliating 4-0 home loss to Spurs, allowing Liverpool to open up an eight-point gap-lead on the Premier League summit after a scrappy win at Southampton on Sunday.

Arsenal returned to winning ways in a commanding display against Nottingham Forest at the Emirates. Chelsea edged Leicester City on Enzo Maresca's return, with Steve Cooper dismissed from his role in the aftermath.

There was no winning start for Ruben Amorim at Manchester United as they needed an Andre Onana heroics to avoid a defeat in Portman Road against Ipswich Town, who scored through a sensational Omari Hutchinson goal, canceling out a Marcus Rashford's early opener.

In Spain, Barcelona failed to see out a 2-0 lead in Celta Vigo as the host battled back to salvage a point with two late goals, allowing the duo of Real and Atletico to close the gap after wins against Leganes and Alaves respectively.

Wins for Inter, Napoli, Atalanta, Lazio, and Fiorentina in Italy as everyone in the top five maintained position, while Juventus and Milan canceled out each other in a goalless draw in San Siro on Saturday.

Bayern Munich extended their lead in the Bundesliga after Leipzig's defeat in Hoffenheim, leading to a change in the top two as Frankfurt secured a narrow win against Werder Bremen. Bayer Leverkusen, Borussia Dortmund, Gladbach, Mainz, and Stuttgart also secured wins.

In France, everyone in the top five tasted wins in gameweek 12 as Roberto de Zerbi's Olympic Marseille returned to winning ways away to Lens. Lyon was denied back-to-back wins as a second-half equalizer from Oumar Diakhite canceled out Rayan Cherki's first-half goal.

That summed up the weekend of the major teams in the top five leagues. However, it is the non-major players that dominated our player of the nomination in each of these leagues.

From James Maddison's epic performance that silenced the Ethiad to hat-trick hero Patrik Schick and those finding their feet after a tough start to the league, here are the five stars that feature in this week's episode.

Stars of the weekend in top five leagues

English Premier League: James Maddison of Tottenham Hotspur 

It was not a foreseen outcome, what happened at the Etihad during the weekend, despite the poor form of Manchester City.

Under the watch of Pep Guardiola, no side has beaten Manchester City in the Premier League more than Tottenham Hotspur, and on Saturday evening, it was an absolute nightmare for the host as they suffered a fifth straight defeat.

It had never happened to Guardiola in his managerial career, but James Maddison and his fellow cult heroes at Spurs ensured the birth of an unwanted record for the Spaniard.

Maddison bagged a first-half brace to take his goal tally this season to five, already one more than he managed in his debut season at Spurs last season.

Against a City side who had not lost a league game at home in 35, and desperate to make a good impression after losing four consecutive games before the break, James Maddison fired Ange Postecoglu's side in front 13 minutes into the contest.

Against the run of play, Dejan Kulusevski got the better of Josko Gvardiol before sending a cross into the box for Maddison, whose timing was perfect, arrived in the box to guide the ball home with a one-time finish.

Seven minutes later, the former Leicester City midfielder doubled the lead with a delightful dinking finish, leaving Ederson helpless following a neat pass from Heung-Min Son inside the penalty area.

It was only the third time Maddison has scored a Premier League brace having done so against Brighton and Nottingham Forest in 202-21 and 2022-23 respectively, both times as a Leicester City player.

Spurs would go on to add two more goals in the second half through Pedro Porro and Brennan Johnson to seal a 4-0 win, inflicting on Pep Guardiola the biggest home league defeat as well as the most consecutive losses of his managerial career.

Maddison's performance stood out as the best compared to others, given the context of the fixture and the strength of the opponent. He is our star man of the Premier League gameweek 12.

The likes of Matheus Cunha, Bukayo Saka, Mohamed Salah, and Enzo Fernandez all had great weekends but Maddison, playing against the Champions away from home delivered a dream performance, and is rightly nominated as the best of the best.

Spanish La Liga: Bojan Miovski of Girona

After seven appearances in which he left a lot to be desired, Bojan Miovski finally arrived in La Liga during the weekend, delivering an excellent performance inside the opening 20 minutes in Montlivi to help Girona blow away Espanyol.

Although Girona was the heavy favorite heading into the fixture, it was not foreseen to be as easy as Michel's side had it. They had the game wrapped up three minutes before the half-hour mark, as they already had a 4-0 lead.

Miovski started his day with a brilliant pass to set up Bryan Gil for the opener in the fourth minute. Although the Tottenham loanee still had much to do before beating the goalkeeper, it was the pass that opened up the visitors' defense.

Miovski then got on the scoresheet for the first time in La Liga with an easy tap-in from close range following a low cross across the goal by Bryan Gil in the 16th minute to double the host's advantage.

Three minutes later, the North Macedonia international completed his brace from the same play that led to his first. He taps home from close range from a Bryan Gil cross to make it 3-0.

His impressive showing relieves the club, who paid around £7 million to sign him from Aberdeen in the summer, as a replacement for Artem Dovbyk, who departed the club to join AS Roma.

Miovski, who already scored a brace against CD Extremadura in the Copa del Rey, made it three goals in two games following his winner for North Macedonia against Faroe Island in the UEFA Nations League during the break.

He will hope to have finally returned to the the form that saw him score 26 goals for Aberdeen last season, and help Girona in their quest to live up to the standard of last season, where they finished third in La Liga.

Italian Serie A: Joaquin Correa of Inter

The Argentine was unplayable in Inter's thrashing of Hellas Verona on Saturday afternoon, playing a direct involvement in three of the five goals.

Marking his first start of the season, Correa must have had himself under a lot of pressure to deliver due to the competition for a place at the club. In the absence of Lautaro Martinez from the matchday squad, it was a big opportunity and he knew he had to take it.

Already had a good record in his only appearance away from Verona, when he scored a late brace to help Inter complete a 3-1 comeback win in August 2021, he didn't need much time to get the party started this time.

The 30-year-old finished off a sweeping team move with a delicate chip to open the scoring in the 17th minute after he had hit the crossbar with a header earlier in the game.

Correa turned provider three minutes after scoring. His through pass sent Marcus Thuram on his way, and the Frenchman expertly left the goalkeeper for dead before slotting into an unguarded net.

With four minutes left on the clock before half-time, Correa registered his second assist of the day for Yann Aurel Bisseck to score his first of the season, sealing a 5-0 win for the visitors.

The former Lazio man must be delighted with his performance as he made the best of the time given to him by Simone Inzaghi. He is our pick as the best player in the Serie A during Gameweek 13.

Correa just about beat Marcus Thuram here, as his Inter teammate was also directly involved in three goals, two goals, and one assist, but his early withdrawal maybe cost him the chance to rate better.

Bundesliga: Patrik Schick of Bayer Leverkusen

In a week the Bundesliga champions lost striker Victor Boniface to an injury until the turn of the year, they trailed 2-0 in the opening 21 minutes at home to Heindenheim but Patrik Schick calmed any rising nerve with a reassuring performance.

The Czechia striker scored a hat-trick to seal a comeback win for Xabi Alonso's side, announcing himself as a more than capable alternative for the club in the absence of their Nigerian talisman.

Schick, who scored his first Bundesliga goal of the season on what was his second start in the competition in the final game before the international break, scored to make it 2-2 two minutes after Palacio had pulled one back for the host on the half-hour.

He received the pass from Palacio with his back to goal, turned quickly, and fired a left-footed shot to the goalkeeper's near-post, beating him to restore parity.

He then fired Leverkusen ahead seven minutes after the restart, connecting with a Florian Wirtz cross, Schick flicked the ball goal-ward, and guided it past the goalkeeper and into the back of the net.

He completed his hat-trick with a close-range header following a cross from substitute Arthur in the 71st minute to take the game beyond the visitors before Granit Xhaka scored late on to seal a 5-2 win.

It was a performance that eased the fears of the fans following the injury to Boniface. Schick will have more opportunities to impress and maybe make the No.9 spot his own before his rival returns from injury.

The three goals see him now have 62 Bayer Leverkusen goals since signing from AS Roma in the summer of 2020. Schick has also now scored eight goals this season, double his total in 2022-23 and five away from equaling his total last season.

It's his third Bundesliga hat trick for the club, taking him behind only Ulf Kirsten, seven, as the player with the most hat-trick for Bayer Leverkusen in the competition.

The 28-year-old is our Bundesliga player of the week, beating Harry Kane, who also scored a hat-trick and became the fastest player to reach 50 goals in the competition's history, taking just 42 games.

Kane scored his hat-trick from two penalties in the 3-0 win over Augsburg, while all of Schick's goals came from open play, making the latter more deserving of the nomination.

French Ligue 1: Maghnes Akliouche of AS Monaco 

Monaco took on Brest on Friday night and the best performance in the French top-flight came in early in the form of 22-year-old Maghnes Akliouche.

The playmaker scored a brace to conquer a very stubborn opponent in a 3-2 win and help Monaco keep pace with PSG at the top of the Ligue 1 summit.

It took just five minutes for the France Under-23 star to open the scoring on the night. Akliouche feeds Eliesse Ben Seghir as Monaco breaks away. The French youngster then made a great run into the box, where he connected with the latter's cross for his first Ligue 1 goal of the season.

He almost got a second a few minutes later, but saw his shot come off the upright after taking a touch off the goalkeeper.

Akliouche then completed his brace to make it 3-1 in the first minute of added time in the second half, after Aleksandr Golovin had doubled Monaco's lead and Abdallah Sima had halved the deficit.

As the visitors committed bodies forward in search of an equalizer, Monaco broke away again, substitute George Ilenikhena played Akliouche through and the Frenchman held onto the ball amidst pressure, before planting a beautiful lobed shot over the goalkeeper for 3-1.

Brest got one more consolation through Ludovic Ajorque but the sensational performance from Akliouche was enough to hand the host all three points and the French starlet sees himself to our Ligue 1 player of the week crown.

Ultimate Player of the Week

James Maddison, it had to be. A midfielder with a brace and a player-of-the-match performance on the ground of arguably the toughest team on the planet, leading to a result that had never befell arguably the best coach in history.

Despite Patrik Schick bagging a hat-trick and Joaquin Correa's three-goal involvements, James Maddison just surpasses them with his overall display in the Etihad.