Winners and Losers: Lobotka and Lewandowski shine as Leverkusen start to slide
Winner - Sergio Rico
Although this column mainly focuses on the weekend's events on the pitch, the story of Spanish goalkeeper Sergio Rico deserves an exception. Rico scared the entire footballing world in late May 2023 when he fell off a horse while still a PSG player.
He hit his head in the fall and doctors kept him in an induced coma for 19 days, and shortly after waking up, he had to be sedated again. He eventually spent 26 days in the coma and was hospitalised for up to 86 days.
"My first thoughts on waking up were about football. I remembered everything, my wife, my family and my friends. I spent almost three months in hospital, with a tube in my arm... I was afraid I would never return to football, I immediately asked the doctor about it," he recalled.
After a long rehabilitation, he returned to full training in mid-April 2024, agreed a deal with Qatari side Al-Gharafa in late September and took part in an Asian Champions League clash against Al Ain on Tuesday. His side won 4-2.
In the spring of 2022, he was on loan at Mallorca and on May 7th, 2022, he notched his last start until recently, having to wait a long 878 days for the next one. "I'm back to football and I'm winning again. Thank you to all the fans for their support, this is the first win in a long line," promised Rico.
Loser - Bayer Leverkusen
Even a draw sometimes feels like a loss. Especially if you drop points to a newly-promoted side in the league, moreover one at the bottom of the table. Leverkusen tasted that in their clash with Holstein Kiel.
By the eighth minute, after two assists by Exequiel Palacios and goals by Victor Boniface and Jonas Hofmann, the favourites led 2-0. However, Max Geschwill reduced the deficit with a goal on the stroke of half-time and Jnn-Fiete Arp equalised from a penalty kick in the 70th minute. There were no further goals.
The match thus earned coach Xabi Alonso just a point in what was his 100th game in charge. Before the encounter, the champions were haunted by an unpleasant statistic: while last season, they dropped only 12 points in 34 rounds, after six matches of the current season they have already dropped seven. They now have 11 points to their name, which is a defending Bundesliga champion's worst start since 2012/13.
Winner - Stanislav Lobotka
The Slovak international had it rough at the beginning of his time in Naples. Under coach Gennaro Gattuso, he was unable to assert himself, helped only by the arrival of Luciano Spalletti, who made him a member of the starting lineup and together they enjoyed the championship title.
Lobotka didn't lose his place even during a more turbulent period when Rudi Garcia, Walter Mazzarri and Francesco Calzona were at the helm of the club.
His insight and qualities in midfield make him an extremely valuable footballer, something that new Partenopei coach Antonio Conte is well aware of. The latter, upon his arrival at Napoli, declared an embargo on his transfer and branded him unsellable. He knew very well why.
Although after the 3-1 home triumph over Como there was talk of Scott McTominay's quick goal or another precise finish by Romelu Lukaku, the visitors' coach Cesc Fabregas had words of praise for Lobotka after the final whistle: "Please give me Lobotka! Mamma mia, fantastic player. I could play with 11 Lobotkas. He makes the difference, he's world-class."
"He was amazing today," Antonio Conte added. Before the season, there was speculation about Barcelona's interest in Lobotka and the tenacious midfielder showed his qualities at the European Championships in Germany. If he continues like this, maybe Conte's transfer embargo won't matter after all.
Loser - Illan Meslier
Being a goalkeeper is sometimes a very thankless task. Frenchman Illan Meslier proved it, as he was responsible for the fact that his Leeds side didn't take all the points from Sunderland in the ninth round of the English Championship.
Christoper Rigg put the home side into the lead in the ninth minute before Joel Piroe equalised in the first half but after the change of sides, an accurate strike from Junior Firpo of the Dominican Republic sparked euphoria in the visitors' end.
However, in the 97th minute of the match, a seemingly harmless attempt by Alan Browne sailed past the helpless goalkeeper and into the net. The inexplicable mistake may be all the more unfortunate for Meslier because, in the event of a victory, his team would have been within a point of the leaders of the second-tier league, but now they are three points behind and in fifth place in the table.
Meslier used to play in Lorient's academy in his native France under Sunderland coach Regis Le Bris, who spoke to his former player after the game. "I'm disappointed because I like this boy and anyone can make a mistake. For a goalkeeper, the consequences are very important. Today it happened and we are happy with the final result," assessed the coach.
Winner - Robert Lewandowski
Over the weekend we saw several hat-tricks in the top European leagues. Mateo Retegui starred for Atalanta, Marcus Thuram of Inter imitated him on Saturday night, but even more impressive was Sunday's stunt by cannon Robert Lewandowski between the seventh and 32nd minutes of Barcelona's duel with Alaves. It was the fourth fastest hat-trick by a Barcelona player in LaLiga history. Only Samuel Eto'o (24 minutes), Justo Tejada (28) and Lionel Messi (30) have done it quicker.
It was his third hat-trick for the Blaugranas, and he now leads the LaLiga scoring chart with 10 goals. In the top five leagues, only Erling Haaland has also already reached that number. However, if we take all competitions into account, the experienced striker is the absolute leader in the 2024/25 edition with twelve goals. Overall, he has a record of 12 goals and two assists. Sometimes age really is just a number, and in the case of the 36-year-old finisher, this is certainly true.
Losers - Athletic Bilbao & AC Milan
Not taking advantage of a penalty kick in a game is always hard to take. However, this is nothing unusual. What's a bit more unique is throwing away two penalties in a match in which you lose all three points.
The Athletic players, who left Girona empty-handed on Sunday, know something about that. Alejandro Berenguer could have sent them into the lead as early as the 28th minute, but he failed. After goals from Yaser Asprilla and Oihan Sancet, the second half was tied 1-1 and the visitors could have taken the lead after an hour of play, but Ander Herrera would have had to convert his attempt.
Cristhian Stuani fired the winner for Girona in extra time and the visitors were left with nothing but regrets. Athletic gave away two penalties in a single LaLiga game for the first time in the 21st century. The last time Real Madrid managed it in the top flight was against Osasuna two years ago.
AC Milan experienced something similar, letting the reborn David de Gea stand out in a duel away with Fiorentina. First Moise Kean failed to covert for the home side before Theo Hernandez did the same before the break. After the change of sides, he was imitated by Tammy Abraham.
The last time we saw two penalty attempts thwarted by one side in Serie A was in May 2016, when goalkeeper Federico Marchetti starred in Carpi's duel with Lazio.
