This edition of top Performers of the weekend is dominated by strikers, who all came out on top thanks to their goalscoring prowess in their respective leagues.

From hat-trick scorers to the brace scorers with significant impact on the outcome of the games, here are the top players in each of Europe's top five league.

Top Performers of the weekend in Top Leagues

English Premier League: Chris Wood of Nottingham Forest

Following a humiliating 5-0 loss to Bournemouth last time out, Forest returned to action during the weekend, as make up for the loss by humiliating Brighton in a 7-0 scoreline, setting a new record for their biggest Premier League win in the process.

At the heart of the historical win is their New Zealand international striker Chris Wood, who bagged a sensational hat-trick to become the first-ever home player to score a Premier League hat-trick in the City Ground in the new era.

The 33-year-old got in on the scoresheet for the first time on the afternoon, heading home an Anthony Elanga cross to make it 3-0 two minutes after the half hour.

The goal, makes his 15th in the Premier League this season, overtaking his previous highest scoring campaign in the competition (14 in 2019-20 and 2023-24).

He grabbed his second of the day four minutes after the hour mark to make it 4-0. The striker was well positioned to tap home another Anthony Elanga low cross from close range, bringing forth his 16 league goal of the campaign.

Chris Wood completed his hat-trick from the spot five minutes later, after Tariq Lamptey was penalized for a foul on Morgan Gibbs-White.

The Kiwi stepped up and sent his effort into the bottom right corner, sending the Goalkeeper the wrong way for his second Premier League of the season, making him the player with the most hat-trick for the club in Premier League (2).

He is the standout player in the Premier League during the weekend, leapfrogging his teammate, Anthony Elanga and Mohamed Salah to the prize.

Wood now has 17 Premier League goals this campaign, only Mohamed Salah (21) and Erling Haaland (19) have more.

Spanish LaLiga: Ante Budimir of Osasuna

Although lower in the pecking order, Osasuna had found joy playing against Real Sociedad in recent times having won each of their previous three meetings heading into the weekend.

Los Rojillos showed what they were made of again by beating the Anoeta club 2-1 on Sunday thanks to an Ante Budimir's brace, one in eithet half before substitute Orri Oskarsson scored a late consolation for the visitors.

Budimir, who had scored a total of four goals in those three wins against Real Sociedad, opened the scoring four minutes after the half hour, managing to beat the offside trap and firing home from a difficult angle.

The goal ended a run of five games without one in the LaLiga for the Croatian striker, although his day was to get even better.

Budimir, after being booked for a dive to win a penalty, doubled his side's lead 16 minutes to the end of the match, heading home a Ruben Garcia cross from the right for 12th League goal this season, to make it 2-0.

Being the only player in the Spanish topflight to score multiple goals during the weekend, Budimir is an easy pick as the most standout performer in the division.

He has now scored 15 goals across all club competitions this season, only in 2023/24, where he found the back of the net on 18 occasions has he had more for a topflight club.

Italian Serie A: Randal Kolo Muani of Juventus

The early weeks of Randal Kolo Muani in Juventus has been promising. Although his goal on debut was worth nothing as the club surrendered a 1-0 lead to suffer their first loss of the season, this time, the Frenchman's contributions did earned them valuable points.

Juventus fell behind in the opening four minutes to a goal scored by their former defender Mattia de Sciglio, who head home after the host failed to deal with a corner kick.

The visitors took the lead into the halftime break and Kolo Muani restored parity with Juve's first goal of the day, beating Saba Goglichidze in a duel before slotting past the Goalkeeper for 1-1 a minute after the hour mark.

The PSG loanee gets his second of the day to give Juventus the lead. Not much did he know about this though. A Timothy Weah shot came off him, wrong footing the Goalkeeper as the ball traveled into the back of the net for 2-1.

Kolo Muani became the second player to score in their first two Serie A games for Juventus in the three points per game era, and the first since Carlos Tevez in August 2013.

Substitutes Dusan Vlahovic and Chico Concecaio added one each to make it 4-1, sealing a convincing win for Thiago Motta's men and taking them into the top four.

A much needed win, inspired by Kolo Muani, who is our pick as the most standout performer in the Serie A during the weekend, and definitely, no one comes close to the 26-year-old.

German Bundesliga: Harry Kane of Bayern Munich 

Bayern Munich secured a nervous win against Holstein Kiel after the visitors to Munich threatened a comeback from 4-0 down, as the game finished 4-3 in the Allianz Arena on Saturday.

Harry Kane played a pivotal role in the match, scoring twice and withdrawn before the hour mark. The England captain, who is our pick as the most standout in the German topflight could do nothing but watch on and hope his side will hold on to the points.

In the end, they did, although it wasn't easy because substitute Steven Skrzybski scored twice in injury time to leave the host defending desperately in the closing stages.

Harry Kane headed home a Kingsley Coman cross to double Vincent Kompany charge's lead in added time of first half, after Jamal Musiala had given them the lead inside the opening 20 minutes.

The striker completed his brace with another header seconds after the restart. Raphael Guerreiro sent in a cross from the edge of the box, and Kane guided a powerful header into the top right corner for 3-0.

Serge Gnabry added a fourth, which was the eventual match-winner as the visitors scored three times before the end of the clash to complete a 4-3 result.

Kane, who took his goal tally to 19 in the league this season was pivotal in sealing the win for Bayern. His two goals before his early withdrawal see him emerge as our most standout player in the division.

He will be hopeful of finally putting an end to his trophy drought this season as Bayern maintains their six point gap lead over second place Bayer Leverkusen.

French Ligue 1: Mika Biereth of Monaco

Just a few weeks in France and Mika Biereth is already making quite an impression – on Saturday, he bagged an eight minute hat-trick to help AS Monaco seal a comeback win over AJ Auxerre.

After failing to score on his debut for the club, the Hale Ender has now scored four times in his last two Monaco games, showcasing why he is highly rated and one of the most clinical forwards in Europe.

Monaco started well but fell behind before the interval, despite taking a 1-0 lead through Thilo Kehrer, who scored for the fourth time in the Ligue 1 this season, becoming the highest scoring center back in top five league.

Kept at bay in the first half, Biereth finds the back of the net three minutes before the hour mark to level at 2-2, firing his shot into the bottom right corner after being teed up by substitute Breel Embolo.

He fired Monaco into the lead for the second time on the night six minutes later, this time, set up by another substitute Ciao Henrique, the former Sturm Graz man firing home from the center of the box for 3-2.

Biereth ensured safety of the points two minutes later, completing his hat-trick in eight minutes and 10 seconds. Breel Embolo was again the assister, registering his second of the day.

Although Ousmane Dembele also bagged a hat-trick in PSG's victory over Brest, it is the new comer Biereth who comes out on top as our pick as the best in the French topflight during the weekend.

Biereth has now scored 18 goals across all club competitions this season, 14 of which have come for his former club Sturm Graz. Monaco will hope he continues on this form, even so as he will be set to represent them in the UEFA Champions League, when the knockout rounds kick-off later in February.

Ultimate Player of the Weekend

Young striker Mika Biereth is the pick as the ultimate player of the weekend. Beating Ousmane Dembele to a nomination from the Ligue 1 appears to be enough for the Dane.

He finishes ahead of Chris Wood, who is the other hat-trick scorer in our nomination. Wood trail Biereth given one of his goals was from the spot, and neither was significant in earning Forest the points.

Biereth however, restored parity with his first, won the match with his second and ensured safety of the points with his third.