Winners and Losers: Dovbyk delivers for Roma as Zagreb's horror week continues
Winner: Artem Dovbyk
It's been a tumultuous week in Rome, with coach Daniele de Rossi surprisingly sacked on Wednesday in the wake of AS Roma's very disappointing start to the season despite having extended his contract in April.
This has put a lot of pressure on the players to deliver under new coach Ivan Juric. One of those at the centre of media criticism has been former Girona striker Artem Dovbyk, who has had some big boots to fill after Romelu Lukaku continued his career in Naples.
The Ukrainian striker, who scored no fewer than 24 goals in Girona's sensational season in LaLiga last term, has seemingly struggled to settle in quickly with his new teammates, but judging by his recent performances, Roma fans can look forward to the coming matches.
Dovbyk got on the scoresheet for the first time in last week's 1-1 draw with Genoa and against high-flying Udinese, he scored again and laid the foundation for a fine 3-0 victory at home with his goal.
Loser: Dinamo Zagreb
It's been a horror week for the Croatian giants, who were dealt a major blow in the Champions League on Tuesday when they suffered a record 9-2 defeat to high-flying Bayern Munich.
The heavy defeat was too much for the club management, who subsequently sacked coach Sergej Jakirovic. Jakirovic took over in August 2023 and led the club to both the league and cup titles that season. The start of the new season hasn't been as good. Recent league games have featured a draw and a defeat, and on Tuesday it all went wrong against Bayern.
On Saturday, assistant Sandro Perkovic was given the role of interim head coach, and Dinamo were expected to regain their confidence as Saturday's opponents were bottom club NK Slaven Belupo, who before Saturday's game had just one point from six games.
Instead, it ended in a sensational 4-1 defeat against the unfancied opponents. Should Dinamo fail to win the Croatian championship this season, it will be the first time since 2017 that the title has gone to another club. Dinamo have won seven straight titles and 18 of the last 19 Croatian championships, with HNK Rijeka's 2017 title being the only interruption.
Winner: Conrad Harder
19-year-old Conrad Harder has taken the Portuguese league by storm since his summer move from FC Nordsjaelland and the Portuguese media are likening him to a clone of his Swedish strike partner Viktor Gyokeres after the Dane scored in his first start in the 3-0 win against AVS on Sunday and provided an assist.
Harder made it 1-0 as the Portuguese league leaders beat AVS 3-0 at home. Fifteen minutes into the game, compatriot Morten Hjulmand sent a flat ball into the feet of Harder, who held off a defender and set the ball before firing it into the net.
He then did even more to win the favour of the local fans when he mimicked former Sporting player Cristiano Ronaldo's world-famous celebration.
Shortly before half-time, the Danish teenage striker was in the creator role after Sporting won the ball in the centre of the pitch. Harder played the ball to the league's top scorer Gyokeres, who made it 2-0.
After just under an hour, the Dane was substituted with Uruguayan Maximiliano Araujo given the last 30 minutes.
Loser: Borussia Dortmund
It wasn't long ago that Bayern Munich totally ruled the Bundesliga and the team from southern Germany is on a roll again this season. But there are other contenders for the championship and the duel for the Bundesliga title has become more of a four-horse race, with Borussia Dortmund, VfB Stuttgart and defending champions Bayer Leverkusen also playing a role.
That the quality at the top of the league has been spread across a broader spectrum was felt by Dortmund at the weekend when they lost 5-1 to high-flying Stuttgart, who had already demonstrated their current form in midweek with a narrow defeat to Real Madrid.
Stuttgart sold their two biggest assets Serhou Guirassy and Waldemar Anton to Dortmund before the start of the season but Guirassy was almost invisible on his old stomping ground, where he found himself contained by a powerful Stuttgart back four.
Gregor Kobel made four saves, but it always looks bad if you concede more goals than you make saves. Coach Nuri Sahin's insistence on playing Nico Schlotterbeck and Marcel Sabitzer in positions where they clearly don't feel at home also proved costly against a Stuttgart side that on the day outshone Dortmund in all areas.
Winner: Olympique de Marseille
It's been a very long time since Marseille have been able to compete for the French title. In fact, you have to go all the way back to 2010 to find their last championship, and it's been a long time since the likes of Jean-Pierre Papin, Chris Waddle, Enzo Francescoli and Basile Boli thrilled the fanatical crowds at the Stade de Velodrome.
But now there are signs that positive times may be on the horizon. In any case, the club is currently in second place with the same points tally as their feared rivals Paris St-Germain. And at the centre of their perhaps unexpectedly positive start to the season is Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, whose vast experience at the Velodrome has given him a central role in an otherwise very young team at a club that over the years has become known as a bit of a madhouse.
This weekend's very difficult away match against Olympique Lyon was to provide a new signal of Marseille's real strength this season, and sure enough Les Phocéens managed to escape Parc OL with a 3-2 victory despite being a man down for no less than 85 minutes after captain Leonardo Balerdi received his second yellow card after just five minutes.
Marseille were also handicapped ahead of the match as their fans were banned from travelling to Lyon on Sunday due to the risk of violence between supporters and police.
