High on Son and Haaland after first day shows in Europe

From Manchester United making a statement in the Premier League, Real Madrid and Barcelona confidently starting life without lodestars, Erling Braut Haaland setting the Bundesliga on fire, and Paris being under the spell of Lionel Messi, a new European football season began with some scintillating performances and rapturous receptions for new signings.

City, Arsenal shocked

In the Premier League, title challengers Manchester United, Liverpool and Chelsea were off to flying starts but defending champions Manchester City slipped to a 0-1 loss away to Tottenham with the crowd chanting, “Are you watching Harry Kane?” With Kane, Spurs’ most influential player, not at White Hart Lane, this was some statement from the team that won through Son Heung-min’s 55th minute goal on Sunday. It was also exactly the start new coach Nuno Espirito Santo would have wanted.

Two days earlier, on Friday, it was exactly the kind of start Mikel Arteta would not have wanted. Arteta’s Arsenal slumped to a 0-2 defeat at Brentford who were making their first appearance in the Premier League after never having played in the top tier since 1947.

At Old Trafford, United dismantled Leeds United 5-1 with Bruno Fernandes scoring at hattrick and Paul Pogba providing four assists—it was more that he had in the entire campaign last season. The performance against Leeds, a team capable of disappointing and delighting in equal measure, will give United the confidence of ending their eight-year title drought.

New signing Jadon Sancho came on as a second-half substitute and Raphael Varane received one of the best introductions a player could hope for as he was presented before the start. As ‘This is the One’ boomed on the public address system, Varane made his way to the centre-circle, waving the No. 19 shirt he will be wearing.

United coach Ole Gunnar Solskjaer believes that they have enough firepower to keep scoring, something they failed to consistently do last season. Skipper Harry Maguire feels that addition of experienced Varane will bring “winning mentality” to the squad.

But things will be far from easy for United looking at how Chelsea and Liverpool recorded identical 3-0 wins against Crystal Palace and Norwich City respectively.

Thomas Tuchel was quick to steer clear of the favourites’ tag but bolstered by striker Romelu Lukaku, Chelsea will be a team opponents fear. Mo Salah and his mates gave a timely reminder that one can’t count out Liverpool either. The Egyptian set up two goals and became the first player to score for a fifth straight year in the opening round of a season. Virgil van Dijk’s return was the biggest boost for Liverpool after the inspirational skipper missed most of the last’s season.

Given their problems in front of goal, Manchester City will be desperate to seal the Kane deal. While losing Kane will be a huge setback for Spurs, young players such as Oliver Skipp, Steven Bergwijn and Japhet Tanganga showed they can blend with the experience of Son, Lucas Moura, Hugo Lloris, Eric Dier and Dele Alli to forge a formidable outfit that could have scored more on Sunday.

Real, Barca win

For now, Carlo Ancelotti and Ronald Koeman can breathe easy. Both were under pressure through the pre-seasons, Ancelotti for lack of major signings at Real barring David Alaba and Koeman because few at Barca can contemplate life without Messi. But in their first La Liga game without former skipper and centre-back Sergio Ramos Real, riding of Karim Benzema’s twin strikes, beat Alaves 4-1. Barca started the post-Messi era with 4-2 victory over Real Sociedad.

Resigned to the fact that the club “no longer have a player who can decide the fate of matches on his own” Koeman has asked his team to put a “collective effort” to challenge for the title. While the club management took down Messi’s posters from the outer walls of Nou Camp, fans weren’t ready to accept a first season in 17-years without him. Some 20,000 at the stadium paid tribute to the Argentine and protested against the club for letting him go.

They loudly chanted Messi’s name in the 10th minute, a reference to the No 10 jersey he used to wear. Many fans were wearing or carrying Messi’s jersey and several banners honoured the playmaker.

In Paris

In Paris, Messi was introduced at a packed-to-capacity Parc des Princes along with new signings before Paris St Germain’s first home game of Ligue 1, against Strasbourg which they won 4-2. Messi didn’t play but received a rousing welcome as he ran onto the pitch to the chants of “Leo! Messi” with 48,000 greeting the six-time Ballon d’Or winner despite the welcome ceremony taking place an hour before kick-off.

Haaland’s heroics

While Messi is getting ready in Paris, the early noise in Bundesliga has been made by Haaland. The Norwegian striker, who had scored a hattrick in the first round of German Cup, scored twice and provided three assists in Dortmund’s 5-2 win over Frankfurt.

“Haaland is the complete package. We need him,” said Dortmund captain Marco Reus about the player who has a phenomenal 62 goals in 61 games for Dortmund.

German legend Lothar Matthaeus calls him a “machine” and who could give Dortmund an edge in the title race. This might be Dortmund last chance to win the Bundesliga with Haaland and break the dominance of Bayern Munich drew 1-1 against Borussia Monchengladbach under new coach Julian Nagelsmann.

Haaland reportedly has an €80 million release clause in his contract which can be activated in 2022. Haaland’s credentials and his ability to perform against top opponents will be tested on Tuesday night when Dortmund face Bayern in the German Super Cup. It many also set the tone for Bundesliga title fight.

Please sign in to continue reading

• Get access to exclusive articles, newsletters, alerts and recommendations
• Read, share and save articles of enduring value