On this week’s edition of Stars of the Weekend, new names fought their way into the list, albeit not with the most impressive performances as in recent weeks but these players did just enough to keep their respective teams afloat and topple their counterparts.

 

 

 

 

Outcome and Consequences of the Weekend’s Results

The Premier League saw top teams disappoint but Chelsea continues to benefit from the slips with a win, closing the gap on Liverpool to two points, after Arne Slot’s 10-man Reds had to settle for a much-cherished point at home to Fulham.

Arsenal continues to lose ground in the race following dropped points in back-to-back games as Everton stood up to them in the Emirates, while Manchester City fell to United in the derby, as Pep Guardiola’s charge's miserable run reaches eight defeats in 11.

In Spain, Real Madrid dropped points in a six-goal thriller in Vallecano, allowing Atletico Madrid, who edge Getafe thanks to Alexander Sorloth’s goal from the bench, to move ahead of them by a point. Barcelona were shocked at home by Leganes, who won 1-0 thanks to a fourth-minute goal by Sergio Gonzalez in the final kickoff on Sunday.

Atalanta maintains their lead with a narrow win away to Cagliari thanks to a lone winner by substitute Nicolo Zaniolo, while Antonio Conte’s Napoli maintains second place with a come-from-behind win at Udinese thanks to three second-half goals.

Juventus were held at home by Venezia, Fiorentina downed in Bologna while AC Milan was also held in a goalless draw at home to Genoa. Inter, meanwhile lock horns with Lazio in a top battle on Monday night.

Bayern Munich were beaten in a terrible outing to Mainz, allowing defending champions Bayer Leverkusen to close the gap lead to four points with a win in their trip to Augsburg. Frankfurt fell 2-1 to Leipzig, who are starting to pick themselves up in the league on the back of European heartbreak.

Here are our picks for the weekend from each of the top five leagues in Europe.

Stars of the weekend

English Premier League: Amad Diallo of Manchester United

Although there were players who put in massive shifts, like the Tottenham Hotspur duo of James Maddison and Heung-Min Son, who had a hand in two and three goals respectively, the Newcastle United duo of Alexander Isak and Jacob Murphy as well as Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford, Amad is our pick.

 

 

 

 

The Ivorian winger was decisive in United earning a comeback win against Manchester City in the Etihad, ending a run of three straight defeats for the visitors on their rival’s ground.

With United still trailing to a lone goal in the final two minutes on Sunday evening, Amad won a penalty from a resilient display, which forced Matheus Nunes into committing a foul on him inside the area.

Bruno Fernandes converts to draw the visitors’ level in the 88th minute and moments after the restart, Amad completed the comeback, beating Ederson to a Lisandro Martinez ball before slotting home for 2-1.

Amad in the process becomes the second youngest player to score a 90th minute winner against a reigning Premier League champions after Neil Mellor against Arsenal in 2004.

With his second league goal of the campaign, Amad takes his goal involvement to ten for the season, eight of which have come in the Premier League, continuing to solidify his status as Manchester United’s best attacker so far.

He beat a lot of other top performers to our nomination and with a performance like that away to Manchester City in a derby, for a United side that looks very much incapable, it is a well-earned recognition.

Spanish La Liga: Cyle Larin of Mallorca

10-man Mallorca upsets Girona to return to winning ways and move up to fifth in the league following their 2-1 comeback win on Saturday.

 

 

 

 

 

The architect of that win, Cyle Larin was an unusual hero for Jagoba Arrasate’s charge as he had only scored twice in his first 14 games for the club this season, but he ended up with as many, despite Mallorca conceding a deficit in the seventh minute after kickoff.

The Canadian striker fired them on level terms in the 20th minute, assisted by his striking partner Vedat Muriqui, who was sent off 12 minutes later for a reckless tackle on Bryan Gil, leaving Mallorca to play more than an hour with 10 men.

However, Larin produced the decisive moment of the game six minutes after the half-time break, scoring the eventual winner from close range, and the host went on to protect their lead for more than 40 minutes plus added time.

With his fourth goal of the season, the 29-year-old is on course to better his tally of seven last season, while the club will also need him to maintain the top form ahead of upcoming winnable fixtures against Getafe and Pontevedra.

Italian Serie A: Marco Carnesecchi of Atalanta

The Italian shot-stopper came up big for Atalanta as their one-goal proved enough for maximum points away to an inspired Cagliari, who created four big chances in the match on Saturday.

 

 

 

 

Carnesecchi made eight saves to keep the host at bay, four of which were made from shots taken inside the penalty box. He denied an expected goal of 3.03 while walking away with a clean sheet, his fifth in 15 Serie A appearances this season.

He was called into action multiple times in the closing stages of the first half when the score was still level, denying Roberto Piccoli three times before the halftime whistle.

The 24-year-old was also called into action late on and did enough to shut out Cagliari, helping Gian Pierro Gasperini’s charge to the points to maintain their lead on the league summit.

He leads the way in Italy, making it consecutive weeks that a goalkeeper features in our nomination, after Auxerre’s Donovan Leon last time.

German Bundesliga: Jae-Sung Lee of Mainz

Mainz’s impressive run was halted last weekend away in Wolfsburg but Bo Henriksen’s charge return to winning ways with what may be their biggest win of the season.

 

 

 

 

A Jae-Sung Lee brace helped them defeat league leaders Bayern Munich on Saturday afternoon, moving them to seventh at the end of the weekend games, ahead of heavyweights like Borussia Dortmund and Gladbach.

The 32-year-old opened the scoring four minutes from the half-time break following an erratic defending by the visitors, which saw the ball eventually fall to him 10 yards from goal. Lee applied the finish, as Mainz scored the opening goal in this since April 2022.

The Korean was on hand to double the host’s advantage on the hour mark, firing home Armindo Seib’s cutback to send the MEWA ARENA into eruption.

Although Bayern got a consolation through substitute Leroy Sane, Lee’s outstanding display was enough to seal maximum points for Mainz, while he became the first to score a brace for Mainz against Bayern in history and at the same time the first Asian to score a Bundesliga brace against the Bavarians.

Lee, with a brace against Bayern, toppled the likes of Alessane Plea and Lukas Kubler, who also starred for their respective teams with a brace each.

French Ligue 1: Abdallah Sima of Brest

Abdallah Sima’s adventure in Ligue 1 hadn’t been going as planned but the Senegalese was the hero in their win over Nantes on Sunday evening.

 

 

 

 

The Brighton loanee was left on the bench for the fourth straight game due to his dip in form. He had scored only once in nine league games when he was called upon to replace Mama Balde as Eric Roy looked to take the game beyond the visitors three minutes after the hour mark.

With Brest already leading 2-1, Sima scored to extend the lead two minutes from time, firing a right-footed shot into the bottom right corner after being played through by Pereira-Lage on the counter.

Sima completed his brace in the third minute of added time, again on the counter, with Romain Faivre the architect this time, as the host sealed a 4-1 win to mark a return to winning ways in the league and move up to 11th in the standing.

Sima has now scored six goals across all competition for Brest, as many as he had for Angers in his previous loan spell in France, while he’ll be looking to win back the trust of the manager for more opportunities in the coming weeks.

For this weekend, he ousted other Ligue 1 stars like Dilane Bakwa of Strasbourg and PSG stars to our nomination as player of the weekend.

Player of the Weekend

Marco Carnesecchi was the highest rated player in the top five leagues during the weekend and given the significance of his performance for Atalanta as well as walking away with a clean sheet, he is our ultimate player of the weekend.

 

 

 

 

With Atalanta doing well with their tenth straight Serie A wins while they are also safely positioned in the UEFA Champion League, the season looks like he’ll push Carnesecchi more to the limelight.

Performances like this will earn him recognition, just like it has in this nomination, and accolades may flood his steps come the end of the season.

Which player impressed you the most during the weekend?