Erik ten Hag's shock sacking completes a wild week for ex-Man Utd managers! Winners and losers from around Europe as PSG's Joao Neves lights up Ligue 1 and pressure continues to mount on Diego Simeone

Joao Neves's hat-trick in Paris Saint-Germain's 6-3 win at Toulouse on Saturday may not have been technically 'perfect', but it did earn the Portuguese one of those very rare perfect 10 ratings from L'Equipe.

"It's not just the three goals," PSG coach Luis Enrique coach told his club's media channel, "but the way he scored them." Indeed, the first two were over-head kicks scored after teeing the ball up for himself with his chest - which is just ridiculous - while his third was a thunderous strike from outside the area.

Given Luis Enrique believes that finishing is something Neves needs to improve, the Benfica product was unsurprisingly feeling pretty pleased with himself after matching his Ligue 1 tally for the entire 2024-25 season just three games into the current campaign.

"Over-head kicks are something I practice in training," he revealed, "and it paid off tonight!"

If Neves adds regular goals to his already outstanding game, it really won't be long before the 20-year-old is regarded as the finest central midfielder in world football - because he wasn't far off as it was. 

A matter of hours after Besiktas failed to qualify for the Conference League proper, having already been dumped out of the Europa League, the Turkish outfit sacked Ole Gunnar Solskjaer after just eight months in charge. The following morning, another Super Lig side, Fenerbahce, announced that they had parted company with Jose Mourinho - just two days after their Champions League elimination by Benfica in Lisbon.

Remarkably, the last three permanent Manchester United managers are now out of work, with Erik ten Hag having been dismissed by Bayer Leverkusen on Monday. The Dutchman only officially took over from Xabi Alonso on July 1 but he's paid the price for the 2023-24 double winners' disastrous start to the new Bundesliga season.

After opening with a 2-1 loss at home to Hoffenheim, Leverkusen were held to a 3-3 draw at Werder Bremen on Saturday - despite twice holding a two-goal lead while Werder played the final quarter of the match with just 10 men.

Ten Hag pointed to the fact that there has been an awful lot of upheaval at the Bay Arena over the summer (which is undeniably true) and that his revamped team would need time to gel. He also claimed that some of his players were not in good physical condition. However, the writing was on the wall for Ten Hag as soon as captain Robert Andrich publicly revealed that the squad simply wasn't united and that many of his team-mates "are concerned only with themselves" - which obviously reflected horribly on the coach.

There were also reports that some Leverkusen directors had been left less than impressed with the former Ajax coach's communication skills and motivational powers, making Ten Hag's embarrassingly early exit almost inevitable. 

Just like Ten Hag, Diego Simeone makes our list of losers for the second time this season. Of course, unlike Ten Hag, Simeone has an enormous amount of credit in the bank at Atletico Madrid. However, it's very telling that the Argentine is already calling for "time and patience" after watching his team draw 1-1 at Alaves on Saturday.

The result means that Atleti are still waiting for their first win of the season and, with just two points on the board after three rounds, they currently sit 17th in the Liga standings - which is nowhere near good enough for a club that has spent approximately €180m on new players in each of the past two summer transfer windows.

What's particularly worrying is that the Rojiblancos' performances have been as disappointing as the results and, as Simeone matter-of-factly pointed out, "It's difficult to win while playing badly."

The two-time Liga winner is adamant that his team will come good, but the home game against Villarreal immediately after the international break - which comes four days before a Champions League trip to Anfield - is already looking like a must-win game for Atleti, who were meant to mount a sustained title challenge this season.

"I trust the guys who have come in," Simeone insisted. "We're going to keep working, and with hard work, we'll start picking up points." That needs to happen sooner rather than later. Otherwise Simeone will find himself facing some seriously awkward questions about his future.

Four teams in Serie A boast 100 percent winning records. Incredibly, Cremonese are one of them.

The Grigiorossi were in the second tier last season and only came up through the play-offs - but new coach David Nicola masterminded a magnificent opening weekend win over AC Milan at San Siro that came courtesy of a stunning scissors-kick from Federico Bonazzoli.

Then, on Friday, Cremonese went top of the table (for 24 hours) after beating fellow newcomers Sassuolo 3-2 with a 93rd-minute penalty from Manuel De Luca.

"In Milan, we didn't expect to take home all three points," Nicola admitted to DAZN. "We achieved more than expected. But, tonight, I asked the team to be competitive and we produced a lot, so I think the victory was fair and deserved. We're not yet at our best physically, but I saw the right attitude, and it's a win that makes us happy. We're a team under construction, and we need to improve in everything, but we're only at the beginning."

It certainly feels like the start of something special, given Cremonese are also on the verge of signing Leicester City legend Jamie Vardy. For a club that's never won a major honour and is probably still best known for producing Gianluca Vialli, these really are crazy days.

Napoli won Serie A last season by a single point from Inter - and another tight title tussle is anticipated this season, which is why the notoriously cranky Antonio Conte was grinning from ear to ear after watching his side nick a 1-0 win over Cagliari with an injury-time goal from Frank Anguissa on Saturday.

"You all saw what happened," the Italian coach told DAZN after the champions made it two wins from two in Italy's top-flight. "It was your typical game where you run the very big risk of defeat. I would've even been happy with the 0-0!

"But we are improving in terms of concentration and intensity, we believed right until the death, and were rewarded with the winner 20 seconds from the end, so I'm very happy."

Conte's spirits will have only been further lifted by the events of the past 24 hours. Not only did new striker Rasmus Hojlund arrive in Naples ahead of his medical, title rivals Inter slumped to a shock 2-1 loss at home to Udinese on Sunday. The Nerazzurri had started the season strongly under new coach Christian Chivu, but they rather worryingly betrayed some of their old frailties in throwing away a one-goal lead at San Siro.

There's still a long, long way to go, of course, but Napoli still look a lot stronger than Inter from a mental perspective - and that could once again prove crucial over the course of the coming campaign.

"I think a point was good enough," Barcelona boss Hansi Flick admitted after Sunday's 1-1 draw at Rayo Vallecano. "We didn't deserve more."

Flick was spot on. In fact, one could easily argue that the Blaugrana were lucky to have even come away from Vallecas with a share of the spoils.

For starters, the penalty with which Lamine Yamal opened the scoring was utterly farcical, with Barca awarded a spot-kick for a 'foul' on their star winger by Pep Chavarria - even though it was the other way around. The video assistant referee should, of course, have intervened but technological issues meant that the referee Mateo Busquets was unable to even review the incident on a pitch-side monitor.

"[The Spanish Football Federation] have apologised and we forgive them, but it’s annoying," Inigo Perez told DAZN. "Maybe the problem was with Rayo Vallecano; I would not be surprised if that was the case!"

Credit to Rayo, though, they responded brilliantly to the injustice and deservedly drew level midway through the second half through Fran Perez. They would have gone on to win the game, too, had it not been for Joan Garcia, who was outstanding in the Barca goal and was deservedly named Player of the Match. However, the new signing's performance was pretty much the only positive on an otherwise negative night for Flick.

"I'm not happy with my team," the Barca boss admitted. "The problem was in midfield and attack. We made so many mistakes. We did not play well. We didn't play to our usual sharpness, we didn't dominate as we should have, and we made many mistakes."

Yamal pointed out that the condition of the pitch was a disgrace - particularly at this stage of the season - but the Spain international also acknowledged that Barca "lacked intensity" and are not playing anywhere near last season's level.

A draw is obviously not a disaster for Flick, but he has definitely been given plenty of food for thought as his team goes into the international break fourth in the table, two points behind hated rivals Real Madrid.