Europe's Top 5 Leagues: The best performers from last week

Football is a beautiful game. Every week, most of the people make a beeline to the stadiums, put away all the engagements to get a peek of the television for the love of this sport. And football never disappoints. Even though it is the same game where the ball rolls on the turf and 20 madmen run after it to get it behind the net. The two giants in between the sticks are ready to split their bodies to stop the ball from going in. Football is beautiful as it comes.

Last week was no different. We have seen miraculous performances, shocking defeats, spectacular curving balls and what not. Barcelona was humbled by Leganes mid-week and their arch rivals who would have been smiling in silence were thrashed hours later by Sevilla.

We have seen the student beat the teacher when Frank Lampard’s Derby dumped Jose Mourinho’s Manchester United out of the Carabao Cup. Manchester’s misery continued on Saturday when West Ham thrashed them 3-1. A top of the table clash between Liverpool and Chelsea stood up to the hype. Hazard and Sturridge netted for their teams and, Liverpool and Chelsea are both still unbeaten. The Madrid Derby was as competitive as it comes as Oblak and Courtois stood tall against the opposition attacks.

And what about goals? Hazard ran ruckus through the Liverpool defense while getting a Messi-esque solo goal. Phillipe Coutinho lifted the ball up before rocketing the ball past the Leganes keeper. We have seen this much in a matter of three days and this is not even it. While the goals and the surprises are amazing, a few stood tall for their team and went into god mode. We will look at five of the heroes who held their crest up high.

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Honorable Mention: Eden Hazard (Carabao Cup)

Eden Hazard: How much more can he improvise?

Jose Mourinho, while managing Hazard at Chelsea, tipped Hazard over Ronaldo. The Special One got a lot of hate comments and even though he might have exaggerated a bit in putting Hazard over CR7, he rightly spotted Hazard’s potential. Hazard has earned praises from Maurizio Sarri as well who claimed he has the potential to reach the standards of Messi and Ronaldo.

Hazard stood up to the claims of his manager. With Chelsea not finding anything till half-time against Liverpool, Sarri put Hazard on the pitch at the 55th minute. Soon after, Liverpool found the back of the net. In the 78th minute Hazard made his first major impact, his header rebounded off Alisson and fell into the feet of Emerson who rolled it in. Four minutes later, Azpilicueta passed Hazard the ball at the wide right wing. Azpilicueta would never have thought it would turn into an assist.

Hazard strode through the right-hand side shoving off Mane and away from Robertson and the Liverpool defence. He blasted the ball into the net with his right foot away from Alisson’s reach, to top off a brilliant solo goal. Hazard’s contribution, however, was more serious towards the final minutes, he teased the defence to tackle him thus taking precious seconds away from the clock. He won the mental battle against Jordan Henderson who couldn’t pinch the ball and had to dump Hazard over multiple times. A brilliant performance from Hazard off the bench.

#5 Cristiano Ronaldo

Cristiano Ronaldo: Hungry to succeed

Cristiano seems to have finally got the hang of things at Italy. His performance are improving and his cohesion with the teammates is improving too.

Cristiano was on his level best against Napoli. Napoli did take the lead through Dries Mertens but Carlo Ancelotti’s side failed to capitalise on the lead. Cristiano was almost under par in the first half, getting dispossessed several times, the passes either having too much weight or getting intercepted. He didn’t make it easy for Matuidi and Dybala to find him while running behind Koulibaly, who would gobble up anything around him. But Ronaldo’s first half did have two highlights.

First, his cross which gave Mandzukic his first goal. He lined by on the left wing, pretended to go one way and turned away quickly facing goal. He beat the defender clean and with a clear line of sight picked the cross right into Mandzukic.

Next one was the free-kick which he won outside the box. From a difficult angle to get a goal, even though the distance wasn’t such an issue, Ronaldo drilled one low across the wall which was heading straight into the bottom corner, but for the timely reaction from Ospina.

Ronaldo was much better in the second half, his worked his way around the defences. In the 49th minute the cut inside with the ball and shot with the right, which hit the post and came right back into Mandzukic. Ronaldo’s header which came into Chiellini gave Juve their third goal.

Ronaldo had several goal-scoring opportunities afterwards. One of them saved by Ospina, one messed up by his own left foot. The other chances were put to bed by the defence. But this till now, is the best performance for CR7 against a quality opposition in the black and whites. His ardent followers will be hoping for more of the same and even better from him.

#4 Lionel Messi

Lionel Messi: Saviour

How valuable is Lionel Messi? How good are Barcelona without him? We found the answers to both the questions in the first half of Barcelona vs Bilbao. Ernesto Valverde decide to rest his best two players, Messi and Busquets. Having held Real Madrid to a draw earlier it had to be noted that Bilbao aren’t pushovers.

Barcelona’s first half was terrible for their standards. Not much creativity, one or two shots at goal from Suarez which didn’t seem much trouble to the keeper. To add to the woes, at the brink of half time, a terrible defensive shut-down caused the first goal from Oscar De Marcos.

Barcelona’s defence against high balls has been terrible in the season which just started. Without Lionel Messi on the pitch, the team’s morale was down and they wasted chances. Bilbao on the other end was fearless.

Valverde had no other option but to put Lionel Messi on the pitch to salvage something from the game. Lionel Messi’s impact was certainly visible on the game. Barcelona looked very potent in their attacks and Bilbao switched on to defensive. Barcelona’s attacks were taking shape in a very high tempo and the equaliser was always coming. Messi dropped deep as always, but he had an unusually high work rate compared to his normal walking game. He sprinted forward, always on the lookout for open spaces.

Bilbao shut their gates down but Messi had the key to everything. He created several chances for Barcelona which if converted they could have won by at least 4-1. He played Suarez in who didn’t convert. He played Coutinho in who messed the finish. He played Alba through and the ball back to him struck off the post.

Lionel eventually got his reward though. He recovered the ball at the depths of the right wing and moved in towards the box. Atleti players were cautious in tackling him and he swept past them for the shot at goal. The rebound came right back to Messi and while almost 90% of the players would have shot again with the keeper struggling, Messi thought better of the angle and cut it back to Munir. The presence of mind from Leo gave Barca the equaliser.

Lionel lobbed the ball over to Rakitic in the 90th minute for the winner but Rakitic fluffed the finish. Even after his spectacular 35 minute display, Lionel bend down with hands on knees with a sense of defeat on the back of his mind. The Camp Nou faithful is lucky to have Messi, Barcelona is really resting on his shoulders. Although Nelson Semedo was Barcelona’s best player on the day. Messi was the most influential and that is what make Leo, the Messiah.

#3 Oscar De Marcos

Oscar De Marcos: The impenetrable wall

Who is this guy? That must have been the first reaction of the Camp Nou faithful when Oscar De Marcos headed the ball to their agony. Neither is he in the discussion of the best centre backs in the world and neither is a famous guy. But the performance that he put up against Barcelona, performances like these exposes the player to big clubs and better spotlights.

De Marcos was the sole reason to why Barcelona didn’t win against Athletic Bilbao. His goal which gave them the lead was only one of his contributions yesterday. De Marcos locked Coutinho and Suarez down, not giving them an inch to move. None of the balls reached the intended target because De Marcos was always prowling. Lionel Messi eventually did undo the De Marcos jigsaw but De Marcos was smart enough. He didn’t close Messi but he chose to close down his targets. When Messi played Coutinho in, De Marcos put pressure on him to fluff the finish. When Leo, lobbed the ball to Rakitic, De Marcos, ran back and pressurised Rakitic.

The free-kick from Leo should have bended into the net but smartly Oscar De Marcos, moved away from the wall and headed the free-kick away from the goal line. De Marcos had two last man tackles in the game.

Oscar De Marcos absolutely demolished the game and he deserves a top 3 place for this week’s best performers.

#2 Neymar

Vintage Neymar

Neymar is having a terrible time to say the least. He has been thrashed by social media and journalists alike for his play-acting. He received a total of 0 votes in FIFA The Best Awards, among 504 votes for captains and 504 for coaches, and an additional 500 votes for journalists. Neymar didn’t make the FIFPro Team of the Year as well. He sported a cry baby celebration when he scored the last time in Ligue 1 but that behaviour too was slammed.

Lest said, Neymar doesn’t seem to care about what is happening around when he enters the pitch. He was all over the place against Nice. He held almost 6% possession in the whole game. Neymar dropped deep several times, and dribbled from near his own box straight to the Nice half. He was dispossessed only 4 times in the course of the whole game, despite holding and running with the ball for a lot of time.

Neymar’s first goal was a sublime one, curved from outside the box into the bottom left side of the goal. His second one was just a simple tap-in. Neymar showed various skills without much showboating during the game. He ran and attracted tackles, completed 84% of his passes. Neymar needs to play at this level for PSG to succeed at the European Stage.

#1 Thibaut Courtois

Thibaut Courtois: Defiance

After having a terrible night at Seville, Thibaut Courtois had to compose himself for a much bigger test. The Madrid Derby as it is called was going to be in front of Courtois’ home crowd and Real Madrid fans don’t stay behind players who don’t step up their game. With Keylor Navas also knocking on the doors, being good enough to start, Courtois had to prove his value against Atletico. And needless to say, the Belgian came up with the goods.

Courtois has never been called into action so much in a single game as he was last night. With Atletico pressing high and putting immense pressure on Real Madrid’s possession game, Courtois was called into action more often than not. He had to use his feet a lot, something that he isn’t used to doing.

But Courtois was as composed as they come, not faltering on any sneaky moves by Atletico attackers. His ball distribution was tremendous, picking out right players who are not under pressure. He didn’t take much of a chance and got rid of the ball within three seconds of receiving it. The weight on the passes from Courtois was just right.

Apart from with his feet, Courtois had to work with his hands a lot. He jumped around here and there gobbling up, every set piece attempt from Atleti. His brilliant saves, saved Real Madrid’s night. He was caught out on a 1v1 situation twice or thrice and against good finishers. The first shot came from range and Courtois was able to parry it away.

The next attempt though was a clear goalscoring opportunity for Antoine Griezmann who was clearly through on goal, in behind the defense. Courtois left his lines and approached forward and the shot blasted by Griezmann, took a big piece of Courtois’ head and came out. The next 1v1 came up for Diego Costa. Costa was expected to poach the goal but Courtois saved the attempt from short range.

All in all, a perfectly improvised game from Thibaut Courtois. Lopetegui will have to ponder over whom to choose for El Clasico but nevertheless, he has two top class goalkeepers at his disposal.