FEATURES

The weekend before an international break always feels significant. Pick up a positive result and the only thing a manager really has to worry about is players suffering injury while representing their countries. A defeat, though, results in two torturous weeks as the result is pored over in the press while the coach waits for the opportunity to make amends.

Since Pep Guardiola won his first Premier League title back in 2018, only two teams have been able to compete with Manchester City: Arsenal and Liverpool. The Gunners led the way for the majority of the 2022-23 season before they were overhauled by Guardiola's treble-chasing juggernaut, while only two points could separate them in 2023-24, when City won a fourth successive title.

GOAL reviews the key takeaways from Americans playing in Europe, with Pulisic featuring for Milan after recovering from injury.

Barcelona continued to play their role as La Liga’s entertainers as they beat Celta Vigo 4-2 on Sunday to move within three points of leaders Real Madrid. Celta were a constant threat on the counter, catching out the Blaugrana high line constantly, but the Barca attacking trifecta of Marcus Rashford, Robert Lewandowski and Lamine Yamal proved too strong for Os Celestes.

Jeremy Doku ripped Liverpool to shreds in one of the great individual displays this fixture has seen as Manchester City outclassed their rivals in a dominant 3-0 win. The Belgian winger gave Conor Bradley a living nightmare throughout the time he was on the pitch, but no visiting player was safe from Doku, and after monstering the Reds he topped his performance off with a fittingly brilliant goal.

Liverpool saw their mini-revival come to an end as they lost 3-0 against Manchester City in the Premier League on Sunday. The Reds were unable to build on their victories over Aston Villa and Real Madrid in a sluggish performance which saw Erling Haaland, Nico Gonzalez and Jeremy Doku put them to the sword during Pep Guardiola’s 1,000th-game as a manager.

Real Madrid endured a miserable afternoon against Rayo Vallecano on Sunday as they offered little attacking threat on their way to settling for a frustrating 0-0 draw. The high-powered attacking corps of Kylian Mbappe, Vinicius Jr and Jude Bellingham were kept quiet in a frustrating contest for manager Xabi Alonso as Los Blancos failed to bounce back from their midweek defeat to Liverpool.

Manchester City capitalised on Chelsea's draw with Arsenal 24 hours earlier to go top of the Women's Super League after a closely contested 2-1 victory over Everton on Sunday. The visitors were made to work for all three points, but good finishing by Vivianne Miedema and Khadija Shaw, coupled with some smart stops by Ayaka Yamashita in between the sticks, ensured City would leave Merseyside with the win.

Lionel Messi scored twice and added an assist, while Tadeo Allende bagged a brace as Inter Miami thumped Nashville 4-0 to reach the Eastern Conference semifinals. The Herons were dominant throughout, leaning on their star man to cruise past their opponents, with Jordi Alba also providing an assist as Miami sealed their first-ever playoff series win.

Chelsea made it back-to-back league wins at the expense of managerless Wolves on Saturday night as the Blues cruised to a 3-0 victory on home turf. The win lifted the west London side up into second and closed Arsenal's lead at the top to six points. The result, meanwhile, leaves Wolves rooted to the foot of the table with just two points from the opening 11 games.

Sunderland dealt Arsenal a blow in the title race as Brian Brobbey bagged a sensational late equaliser in a 2-2 draw at the Stadium of Light. The Gunners looked to be home and dry before the Dutch forward popped up in the dying moments, ensuring Mikel Arteta's side failed to take all three points and fully capitalise ahead of title rivals Manchester City and Liverpool doing battle on Sunday.

Matthijs de Ligt scored a 96th-minute equaliser as Manchester United managed to snag a 2-2 draw from their trip to Tottenham, snapping a run of four successive losses to Spurs. Thomas Frank's side trailed for much of the game but a late turnaround saw them close in on three points, only for Ruben Amorim's men to claw back at the very last and enact at least some sort of revenge after losing last season's Europa League final.

Alessia Russo's late goal kept Arsenal's Women's Super League title hopes alive in a controversy-riddled 1-1 draw with Chelsea. Alyssa Thompson gave the visitors the lead before Stina Blackstenius' strike was ruled out for a questionable handball. Russo then delivered the crucial equaliser before even more late drama, as Frida Maanum had her stoppage-time winner chalked off for offside.

Chelsea equaled the longest unbeaten streak in Women’s Super League history as they were held to a controversial 1-1 draw with title rivals Arsenal on Saturday afternoon. Alyssa Thompson’s opener was cancelled out by Alessia Russo's late strike in a breathless match which saw Sonia Bompastor’s Blues match their own 33-game unbeaten league run at the Emirates Stadium.

Manchester United suffered their first defeat of the WSL season, falling 1-0 to a spirited Aston Villa side. The visitors broke the deadlock in the 35th minute, with Miri Taylor firing in from the edge of the box for her first goal as a professional. The Red Devils were uncharacteristically listless in attack as Mark Skinner's side failed to score for the first time in the 2025-26 season.

Erling Haaland needed less than four minutes to score his first ever goal against Liverpool. Aged just 19 at the time, he had started on the bench for RB Salzburg's Champions League visit to Anfield in 2019, despite scoring a hat-trick on his competition debut against Genk. He was introduced by coach Jesse Marsch with his side in the middle of a comeback from three goals down and duly made it 3-3.

The Herons might miss the Uruguayan when they take on Nashville Saturday night, yet his absence could offer some answers as to how they function going forward

GOAL looks at the biggest storylines among Americans Abroad, including reports of Pulisic's return for AC Milan.

Sweden has a proud modern history of producing elite strikers, from Henrik Larsson and Zlatan Ibrahimovic, to Alexander Isak and Viktor Gyokeres. If the hype is to be believed, then 16-year-old Kevin Filling is the latest sensation off that conveyor belt of talent, and the AIK prospect is already being linked with a transfer to one of the Premier League's big hitters.

It's been impossible to escape the storm surrounding the release of Mary Earps' new book this past week, with the former England No.1 making headlines aplenty for her comments on Sarina Wiegman and Hannah Hampton in particular - and not in a good way. Earps has since said she "never intentionally" meant to "hurt" anyone, but it's hard to imagine that Hampton has not been negatively impacted by everything that has unfolded over the course of the last seven days.

Bayer Leverkusen CEO Fernando Carro is in no doubt: Florian Wirtz "definitely" would have joined Real Madrid rather than Liverpool during the summer had he been offered the chance to follow Xabi Alonso to Santiago Bernabeu. "But Xabi has less say at Madrid than he did with us," Carro pointed out in an interview with Sport1. "One of Alonso's greatest strengths was his ability to work with our scouting department to define who needed to be in our team, but Florentino Perez decides the transfers at Madrid - not Xabi Alonso."

The 21-year-old striker's Newcastle career may be in the past, but Ohio State has provided a chance for a fresh start

The squad is missing some key names, forcing Mauricio Pochettino to shuffle the deck ahead of final two matches of 2025

Within the last week, Amad Diallo has pulled off the rather impressive feat of being seen as one of Manchester United's greatest weapons and yet also one of their most obvious weak points. The Ivory Coast international's incredible volley at Nottingham Forest last Saturday grabbed his side a point, while he was a few inches away from snatching the winner in added time. Yet while he was rightly hailed as a difference-maker in United's attack, a lot of the post-match analysis focused on his defensive shortcomings.

Phil Foden picked up his wand and produced more magic in the Champions League to inspire Manchester City to a 4-1 win over Borussia Dortmund. Foden broke the deadlock with a brilliant finish before Erling Haaland struck against his former club. Foden scored a delightful second goal after the break to give City a three-goal cushion, but Pep Guardiola's side then lived dangerously.

Club Brugge and Barcelona played out a six-goal thriller on Wednesday night as the spoils were shared in an entertaining 3-3 draw. The Belgian side responded to back-to-back Champions League defeats with a solid point. Barcelona, meanwhile, came from behind three times to secure what could prove a precious result in their bid to book their place in the last 16 of the competition.

Stunning headers from Joelinton and Dan Burn in particular secured Newcastle a comfortable 2-0 win over Athletic Club in the Champions League. Goals in either half from their experienced campaigners helped the Magpies climb to sixth in the league phase table, with Eddie Howe's men now inching closer to the knockout stages after a third straight European victory.

GOAL reviews the major takeaways from Americans playing in MLS, including Arfsten elevating his game to lead the Crew

Super-sub Alejandro Garnacho saved Chelsea's blushes against Champions League surprise package Qarabag while Estevao enhanced his burgeoning reputation in a thrilling 2-2 draw on Wednesday. However, young defender Jorrel Hato had a night to forget in Azerbaijan as his calamitous display almost proved the undoing of Enzo Maresca's side, who survived a real scare.