Bayern Munich ruin the Bundesliga title race, AC Milan and Marseille hit the summit while Ange Postecoglou is fired by Nottingham Forest: 10 biggest winners and losers from the weekend's football action

It might have taken him 11 months and 51 matches, but Ruben Amorim has finally won back-to-back matches as Manchester United manager. For so long the Red Devils have lurched from one crisis point to another, so it actually feels a little strange to be talking about them being in a position to capitalise on some forward momentum.

That Amorim backed up the win over Sunderland from before the international break with victory over United's eternal rivals Liverpool will have made this even sweeter for Red Devils supporters. Not since Wayne Rooney netted the winner on Merseyside in 2016 had United won at Anfield, but their performance in Sunday's 2-1 was not only deserving of the three points but also pointed to Amorim being able to eventually bring some consistency to Old Trafford.

Ever since he replaced Erik ten Hag at the helm, questions have been asked as to whether Amorim can actually bring sustained success back to the Theatre of Dreams due to his insistence on playing a 3-4-3 formation that his squad aren't a fit for. However, if Casemiro can continue rolling back the years, Bruno Fernandes can maintain his current energy levels and Senne Lammens can build on his solid start to life in the United goal, then they certainly have the talent in attack to turn this ship around.

Time will tell as to whether this result truly was lift-off for Amorim, but he couldn't have (eventually) got himself a better launching pad.

Has there ever been a more inevitable sacking coming back from an international break than Ange Postecoglou's dismissal by Nottingham Forest? Probably not, and even then it came as a shock that the Australian's removal from the City Ground dugout was confirmed just 21 minutes following Forest's 3-0 loss to Chelsea on Saturday.

Postecoglou was on a hiding to nothing following his appointment in September after replacing the immensely popular Nuno Espirito Santo, with few seeing many similarities between the two coaches' respective footballing philosophies, and thus he needed results to win over both the Forest fans and players. Instead, Postecoglou oversaw a 39-day tenure that resulted in six defeats and two draws across all competitions and that leaves them inside the Premier League's relegation zone just six months on from being entrenched in the top four.

Of course, the former Tottenham boss didn't help himself by insisting pre-match that, if given the time, he has proven he will win a trophy in his second season in charge. Unfortunately for 'Big Ange', the most likely piece of silverware Forest would have been chasing in 2026-27 would have been the Championship trophy had he remained in charge.

Quite where Forest go from here is anyone's guess. Evangelos Marinakis sounded out both Sean Dyche and Roberto Mancini to potentially replace Postecoglou, with the former the most likely to take over, but whomever takes over has a real job on their hands to meet the ambitions of the club's owners. Forest again spent big over the summer following their qualification for Europe, but that has only resulted in a bloated squad that would threaten to make Chelsea blush.

On Saturday, £113 million ($152m) worth of recent arrivals - James McAtee, Omari Hutchinson, Dilane Bakwa and Arnaud Kalimuendo - failed to make the bench, while £36.5m ($49m) forward Dan Ndoye was an unused substitute. Factor in that club-record signing Hutchinson wasn't even named to Forest's Europa League squad, and this is clearly a club whose thinking is anything but joined up. If Postecoglou's replacement isn't able to create a sense of unity, relegation could become a serious possibility.

Seven games in, and it seems the notion of there being a title race in this season's Bundesliga is already over. For the past two years, Bayer Leverkusen have challenged Bayern Munich's supremacy in Germany, but the departure of Xabi Alonso and a glut of key players from the BayArena was always likely to lead to Leverkusen falling away (even if the short-lived Ten Hag era accelerated matters!).

Borussia Dortmund looked likely to re-take up the mantle of being Bayern's biggest challengers after going unbeaten through their first six matches, but Saturday's 2-1 win for the defending champions in Der Klassiker means that Vincent Kompany's side already look uncatchable at the top of the table. Harry Kane continued his all-worldly form while Michael Olise netted the winner as Bayern moved five points clear at the top of the table after winning each of their opening seven games.

They are averaging almost four goals a game in that time, and as long as they aren't hit by a ridiculous injury crisis, a 27th Bundesliga title already feels assured before October is even over.

While the title race might already be over in Germany, it's rather surprisingly up for grabs in France right now. Paris Saint-Germain's injury issues have led to some underwhelming results to start the season, and they again dropped points on Friday as they fought back from 3-1 down to draw with high-flying Strasbourg.

That result has seen the European champions sacrifice top spot in Ligue 1, with Marseille the beneficiaries. Roberto De Zerbi's side thrashed 10-man Le Havre 6-2, led by four goals from last season's top scorer Mason Greenwood, on their way to being the only team from within the top five at the start of the weekend to record a victory. This was also the fourth time already this season that OM have scored at least four goals in a game, with their high-powered attack proving to be a handful for all defences.

Whether they can sustain this form remains to be seen, with De Zerbi's sides not known for their consistency, and it would be a shock if PSG didn't rattle off a run of wins once they get back to full strength, but they could yet face something of a fight to retain the crown many presumed they would be able to claim without breaking a sweat over the coming months.

However, perhaps the most open title race among Europe's 'Big Five' leagues can be found in Serie A, where the top four are currently separated by a single point after seven matchdays with it still anyone's guess who will even be in the running to claim the Scudetto come the end of the campaign.

Right now, AC Milan sit top of the pile after they came from behind on Sunday to beat Fiorentina 2-1, with Rafael Leao netting both goals for the Rossoneri. Milan were able to leapfrog Napoli and Roma after both lost their games on Saturday, to Torino and Inter, respectively, and manager Massimiliano Allegri looks to have got the club back on the right path after last season's miserable campaign saw Milan finish eighth and miss out on European qualification.

Allegri's side are unsurprisingly not the most exciting team to watch around Europe, but with the ageless Luka Modric pulling the strings and a solid defence that has conceded just four goals in its opening seven games, as well as a more sympathetic schedule given their lack of continental action, there's a real chance for Milan to win their 20th league title this term and pull level with city rivals Inter on the most in Serie A history.

One team who could yet force their way into the Serie A title picture are Como, who leapfrogged Juventus to within four points of the summit with Sunday's 2-0 win over the Bianconeri. The victory was yet another feather in the cap of Cesc Fabregas, who continues to mark himself out as an elite coach of the future with the results he has produced since taking the helm in the summer of 2024.

This win will have tasted particularly sweet for Fabregas after Juve boss Igor Tudor had dubbed Como a "fake, small club" and claimed that Fabregas has an advantage over his peers in that he gets to handpick new signings while other Serie A coaches find themselves at the whim of their respective sporting directors ahead of the match. The former Arsenal midfielder bit back after watching the increasingly impressive Nico Paz lead his side to victory, saying: "He said I buy all the players, but perhaps they didn’t explain things to him properly. Tudor is the one who has the obligation of winning every time at Juventus, not us. We’re a different story."

Whatever the truth is, there's no doubt that Fabregas is doing a fantastic job at Como, and they certainly look capable of launching a challenge for European qualification just two seasons after earning promotion from Serie B.

While Serie A is certainly the league with the most parity among the top European divisions, it is not always the most thrilling to watch. Only Inter are averaging more than two goals a game through this early part of the season, and this past weekend offered little in terms of excitement for the neutral.

Across the nine games played on Saturday and Sunday, only nine goals were scored, with there only one match, Milan's win over Fiorentina, where both sides got themselves on the scoresheet. Four of the games ended in 0-0 draws, and while some were more dramatic than others, this was a weekend that harked back to a previous era of Italian football when defences were king.

With the biggest-ever World Cup to come at the end of the season, the 2026 Ballon d'Or campaign promises to have plenty of twists and turns over the coming months. Lamine Yamal is considered the early betting favourite, but the teenager's injury-hit few weeks has opened the door for three big-name strikers to push their Golden Ball candidacies via some outrageous goal-scoring form that they were able to maintain this past weekend.

Kane capped a superb all-round display for Bayern with the opening goal in their win over Dortmund, taking his season tally to 22 goals in just 14 games for club and country. Erling Haaland, meanwhile, is setting an even better pace after his double to down Everton took him to 23 efforts in just 13 matches for Manchester City and Norway.

Kylian Mbappe's total of 18 goals in his 14 appearances thus far in 2025-26 isn't quite at the same level as the aforementioned duo, but the importance of his strikes to Real Madrid cannot be underestimated, and it was his 80th-minute strike against Getafe that proved the difference on Sunday as Xabi Alonso's side remained top of La Liga.

Yamal, of course, could yet come along and blow all three out of the water, while there could yet be a surprise contender akin to Ousmane Dembele in 2025 who is yet to reveal themselves to the masses. Right now, though, the world's three best strikers couldn't be doing much more to prove themselves worthy of Ballon d'Or consideration.

Speaking of that Madrid game, it would be remiss of us not to mention Allan Nyom's contribution to the weekend's action. The former West Brom full-back was introduced in the 76th minute for Getafe as they looked to battle towards a goalless draw. However, 37 seconds later and Nyom was dismissed having not even touched the ball!

The veteran defender was making just his second appearance of the season and clearly wanted to make his mark as he clashed with Vinicius Jr off the ball as the Madrid winger looked to make an early dart in behind the home side's defence. And while it was a soft red card given the minimal contact between the duo, it was a brainless decision by Nyom that not only went on to cost his own side as Getafe's 10 men failed to hang on, but likely didn't go down too well in Barcelona either.

And finally, you may recall the story of Ajax's epic title collapse from last season. With five Eredivisie games to play, the Dutch giants sat nine points clear at the top of the table, only to fritter their advantage away down the stretch and hand the championship to PSV. Manager Francesco Farioli subsequently walked away to be replaced by Liverpool assistant coach John Heitinga, but the new man in charge has failed to alleviate that negative momentum.

Saturday's 2-0 home loss to AZ Alkmaar means Ajax have won just one of their last six matches in all competitions, and only four of their nine in the league, leaving them ninepoints adrift of leaders Feyenoord after just a quarter of the campaign. They are also without a point from their opening two Champions League matches, and a trip to in-form Chelsea on Wednesday is unlikely to offer Heitinga much respite.

The ex-Everton defender insists that he and technical director Alex Kroes remain on the same page, but the pressure to move on from Heitinga will only grow if results don't improve - and fast.