The latest round of action across Europe's elite leagues saw Bayern Munich, Real Madrid and Porto maintain their winning starts to the 2025-26 season. However, while everyone expects Bayern to run away with the Bundesliga, Barca are hot on the heels of Madrid in La Liga, while Porto are presently processing the news that the most famous manager in the club's history has just taken charge of their hated rivals Benfica.
Over in Italy, Juventus dropped their first points of the season at Verona but Massimiliano Allegri's resurgent AC Milan made it three wins on the bounce by beating Udinese, with Christian Pulisic the star of the show at the Bluenergy Stadium.
In France, Le Classique between Marseille and Paris Saint-Germain was pushed back until Monday due to the weather and that allowed Monaco to draw level with PSG thanks in no small part to a former Barcelona star…
Below, GOAL runs through all the big winners and losers from Europe's top leagues…
AFPWINNER: Lorenzo Pellegrini
Gianluca Mancini played his 15th Rome derby on Sunday but admitted afterwards that he still gets "butterflies" before every game.
"Those on the outside cannot understand what the derby means," the Roma defender told . Lorenzo Pellegrini is no outsider, of course. The Italy international was born and raised in the Eternal City. The derby has always been everything to him.
However, Pellegrini was even more emotional than usual after netting the winner against Lazio as he expected to be sold during the summer before picking up a hamstring injury that ended any hope Roma had of finding a buyer for a midfielder that has often been criticised by the club's fans.
"It's true that I was very moved after scoring the goal," Pellegrini, who is out of contract next summer, told . "Life is unpredictable: you don’t know what could happen next. To win the derby, that is for my people and my family. You are all my family and helped me during this difficult time."
A group of supporters had also unfurled a banner before the game that read "Welcome back, captain!", so even though Bryan Cristante was actually wearing the armband, it was a gesture that was very much appreciated by Pellegrini.
"I know there are those who love me in the stands, and I never doubted it. I love them too," the 29-year-old said. "I also believe this team has so much more to give, as so many great men with character who care about Roma are here now.
"I feel proud to be one of the many captains, those responsible for passing on the passion for Roma to those who have just arrived and haven’t realised where they are. That includes Mancini, who is my brother from another mother.
"Aside from all the reasoning and words, though, there is one constant, which is that I love Roma. As long as I wear this jersey, there won’t be a moment when I will hold back."
AdvertisementAFPWINNER: Ansu Fati
Monaco endured a miserable start to their Champions League campaign, losing 4-1 away to Club Brugge last Thursday. However, there was one positive: Ansu Fati coming off the bench to net his first goal for the club, which put a smile on the face of neutrals all across the world.
Remarkably, even better was to come at the Stade Louis II on Sunday, with the on-loan Barcelona attacker bagging a brace on his Ligue 1 debut as Monaco beat Metz 5-2 to move level on points with PSG at the top of the table.
"I feel very good and capable of helping the team," Fati told the club's official website. "I’m happy to be playing football again. You have to live in the moment and take it one day at a time. No one knows what the future holds but, whatever happens, I’m very happy tonight."
Obviously, Fati is right: there's no point in looking too far ahead. It's very early days and it would be unwise to take anything for granted when it comes to such an injury-ravaged player, making giddy talk of Fati being 'back' feel incredibly premature.
In fairness, though, it's hard not to be excited by the prospect of the former prodigy getting a once-promising career back on track after so many setbacks in recent seasons. As Barcelona sporting director Deco pointed out during the summer, Fati is still only 22, while there are few better clubs than Monaco when it comes to getting the best out of young talent.
Nobody wanted Fati after his dismal loan spell at Brighton in 2023-24 – least of all Barca boss Hansi Flick – but Monaco might just have pulled off a masterstroke by securing an €11 million (£9.5m/$13m) option to buy the former Spain international at the end of his loan spell in the principality.
Getty Images SportLOSER: Harry Kane's critics
claimed over the weekend that Barcelona are eyeing up Harry Kane as a possible replacement for Robert Lewandowski – which, on the face of it, appears pretty nonsensical. Why would Barca even consider replacing a 37-year-old forward with a player that turns 33 next summer?
On the other hand, Kane is showing zero signs of slowing down and is actually enjoying one of the more productive periods of his career.
After netting twice in Bayern Munich's Champions League opener against Chelsea on Wednesday, the England international went one better at the weekend, hitting a hat-trick in a 4-1 rout of Hoffenheim at the PreZero Arena.
Consequently, Kane has a frankly ridiculous eight goals in just four Bundesliga matches so far this season and 13 in seven in all competitions, which is why some German journalists are now publicly apologising for previously arguing that Bayern had overpaid for the forward – and why the reports emanating out of Spain don't actually feel that far-fetched!
AFPWINNER: Jose Mourinho
Things have worked out pretty well for Jose Mourinho. Just over three weeks after Bruno Lage’s Benfica effectively cost the Portuguese his job at Fenerbahce, 'The Special One' returned to Lisbon 25 years after starting his illustrious coaching career with The Eagles.
Although it's never been a good idea to try to predict what Mourinho might do – or say – next, it seems likely that his second spell in Lisbon will definitely last longer than his first (nine games) because he believes that Benfica – unlike Fenerbahce – are on his "level".
"I came to coach a big club, I came to coach a giant," he said after leading the two-time European Cup winners to a 3-0 win over AVS on Saturday night. "I've been with giants, Real Madrid, Inter, Manchester, Roma – not a giant in terms of winning titles, but a giant from a social point of view.
“So, I've been at big clubs and now I had the opportunity to come and coach a giant, and that's what brought me here.”
Deep down, maybe even Mourinho knows that he’s lucky to have landed such a top job after flopping at Fenerbahce but it’s kind of irrelevant now.
All that matters is that he’s back at one of Europe’s prestigious clubs – and back in the Champions League, too. Truth be told, we’re already counting down the days until his upcoming return to Stamford Bridge. The pre-match press conference alone should be gold!
