Real Madrid maintain perfect start to LaLiga campaign with another comeback win

By Sports Desk September 17, 2023

Real Madrid were forced to come from behind to continue their perfect start to the new LaLiga season with a 2-1 win over Real Sociedad.

Jude Bellingham was presented with the player of the month award for August before kick-off, but the Santiago Bernabeu went silent after five minutes when Ander Barrenetxea put Sociedad in front.

It remained 1-0 until half-time, but Carlo Ancelotti’s men levelled immediately after the break with Federico Valverde side-footing home 40 seconds into the second half.

Madrid’s winner arrived on the hour mark when Joselu headed home Fran Garcia’s cross to earn the LaLiga leaders a fifth consecutive win.

Earlier in the day, Mason Greenwood made his first appearance in 20 months and helped Getafe to a late 3-2 win over Osasuna.

Greenwood signed for Getafe on loan on transfer deadline day after Manchester United made the decision last month for the forward to continue his career away from Old Trafford after he was suspended by the club on January 30, 2022 over allegations relating to a young woman after images and videos were posted online.

One-time England forward Greenwood faced charges which included attempted rape and assault, but after the Crown Prosecution Service announced in February that the case had been discontinued, following the withdrawal of key witnesses and new material coming to light, he resumed his career in Madrid with a cameo in a five-goal thriller.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Getafe C.F. (@getafecf)

Introduced with 13 minutes left at Coliseum Alfonso Perez, Greenwood’s blocked shot forced a corner which resulted in Nemanja Maksimovic’s 86th-minute winner after the Serbian headed home Carles Alena’s cross.

It was later reported Greenwood received chants urging him to “die” by the visiting Osasuna supporters.

Europa League winners Sevilla claimed a first win of the new season after Dodi Lukebakio’s 71st-minute effort earned them a 1-0 victory at home to Las Palmas.

Villarreal required a stoppage-time header to beat Almeria after former Crystal Palace forward Alexander Sorloth nodded home from close range in the fourth minute of stoppage time.

Sergio Akieme had put Almeria ahead a minute before half-time, but Gerard Moreno levelled on the stroke of the interval before Sorloth headed in a last-gasp winner.

Roma put their poor start to the campaign behind them with Chelsea loanee Romelu Lukaku scoring in a 7-0 thrashing of Empoli.

Jose Mourinho’s side had lost two of their opening three Serie A fixtures, but Paulo Dybala and Renato Sanches put them 2-0 up inside eight minutes.

Empoli, the division’s bottom club, trailed 3-0 at the break thanks to Alberto Grassi’s own goal before Roma upped the ante after half-time with Dybala completing his brace before Lukaku fired home with eight minutes left following a quick break after Andrea Belotti’s pass. Bryan Cristante and Gianluca Mancini were also on the scoresheet.

Fiorentina edged out Atalanta in a five-goal thriller with Christian Kouama firing the winner in the 76th-minute after Ademola Lookman looked to have salvaged a point for the visitors.

Teun Koopmeiners put Atalanta ahead before Giacomo Bonaventura and Lucas Martinez Quarta put the home side ahead at half-time.

Luca Mazzitelli’s brace inspired Frosinone to a 4-2 home victory over Sassuolo despite Andrea Pinamonti’s early double giving the visitors a two-goal advantage.

Walid Cheddira halved the deficit on the stroke of half-time before Mazzitelli’s double and Pol Lirola wrapped up the impressive comeback win.

Monza and Lecce finished with 10 men after Luca Caldirola and Federico Baschirotto received their marching orders respectively in a 1-1 draw. Nikola Krstovic’s third-minute penalty was cancelled out by Andrea Colpani.

There was also a red card in the goalless stalemate between Cagliari and Udinese after Mateusz Wieteska received a second yellow card late on.

Heidenheim capped a historic day for manager Frank Schmidt with a thrilling 4-2 win over Werder Bremen after Eren Dinkci’s double.

Schmidt became the longest-serving manager in German history on Sunday having taken over the club back in 2007 when they were in the fifth tier and his landmark occasion was marked with Heidenheim’s claiming a first-ever Bundesliga win.

Eren Dinkci’s brace against his parent club downed Werder Bremen at Voith Arena in Schmidt’s 591st match in charge of the newly-promoted outfit.

An early Tim Kleindienst penalty abd Dinkci’s first set them on their way, only for Marvin Ducksch and Mitchell Weiser to level for Bremen. However, Dinkci and Jan-Niklas Beste won it for the hosts.

Darmstadt and Borussia Monchengladbach shared the spoils after an entertaining 3-3 draw where the home side threw away a three-goal lead.

Marvin Mehlem, Matej Maglica, who was later sent off, and Tim Sharke put Darmstadt into a 3-0 lead at half-time, but Jordan Siebatcheu started the comeback before further efforts by Florian Neuhaus and Tomas Cvancara salvaged a point for Monchengladbach.

Folarin Balogun scored for Ligue 1 leaders Monaco but they were pegged back by a stoppage-time leveller by Romain Faivre in Lorient.

Aiyegun Tosin put Lorient ahead after two minutes but Aleksandr Golovin equalised for Adi Hutter’s Monaco before Balogun struck with 21 minutes left.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Ligue 1 Uber Eats (@ligue1ubereats)

Faivre had the final say on proceedings when he fired into the bottom corner in the eighth minute of stoppage time in a match where former Manchester City defender Benjamin Mendy, who was cleared of rape and attempted rape charges in July, made his first competitive appearance in two years.

Elsewhere, Marseille were held to a 0-0 draw at home to Toulouse and Lyon played out a goalless stalemate with visiting Le Havre.

Moses Simon’s solitary goal earned Nantes a first win of the season at Clermont, while Brest won 2-1 at Reims and Strasbourg came back to draw 2-2 with Montpellier.

Related items

  • Gravenberch ready to show off Liverpool form ‘to the world’, says Gakpo Gravenberch ready to show off Liverpool form ‘to the world’, says Gakpo

    Liverpool’s Cody Gakpo expressed his pride in seeing compatriot Ryan Gravenberch show off his qualities ‘to the whole world’ after a fine start to the Premier League season.

    Though the Netherlands pair did not become teammates at Liverpool until late summer of 2023, Gakpo knew well Gravenberch’s talents from their respective Eredivisie spells with PSV Eindhoven and Ajax.

    Now in his second season at Anfield, Gravenberch has drawn widespread plaudits for his form in a new deeper-lying midfield role under new head coach Arne Slot, having largely been used as a substitute under Jurgen Klopp.

    Gravenberch is the only midfielder in Europe's big-five leagues to both make 30+ tackles (30) and 30+ interceptions (33) in all competitions this season, and Gakpo insisted that his Netherlands team-mate can continue to go from strength to strength, starting against Southampton this Sunday.

    “We [the Dutchmen at Liverpool] knew Ryan already from the Eredivisie when he played at Ajax, and I think everybody knew already that he is this good,” Gakpo recently told Men in Blazers.

    “After that, he made a move to Bayern Munich, and maybe he didn’t play that much over there, but still everybody in Holland knew how good he could be when he was playing.

    “And I think maybe the manager [Slot] also knew this. At the beginning of the season, he put him in a slightly different position, but he gave him the confidence to play there.

    “Ryan showed his quality in that position, grabbed his chance as well and turned out to be a good match. He is playing outstandingly for us this season.

    “I’m very happy that we can see Ryan, as we Dutchmen already knew, but now he can show it to the whole world. I’m very proud of him.”

    Southampton, meanwhile, welcome the Reds to St. Mary’s on the back of a 2-0 defeat to Wolves ahead of the international break, leaving them bottom of the table after 11 games of the season.

    The Saints are the lowest scorers in the Premier League this season (seven), while only Crystal Palace (5.1%) have a lower shot conversion rate than Russell Martin’s side (6.2%). Just 30.1% of Southampton’s shots have been on target this term (34/113), a league-low ratio.

    However, the Southampton head coach is relishing the opportunity of facing Liverpool, with his players performing well against the likes of Arsenal and Manchester City already this term.

    "I'm really excited about Sunday. We're playing the best team in the country at the moment, on their current form and what they have been doing with their manager, built on an incredible foundation from the previous manager, so I'm really looking forward to it,” Martin said.

    "I think we showed the guys the Premier League table last season and how much it changed by the end and by the end of December. But it's honestly such an exciting month.

    "People talk about the difficulty of the game and every competition we face in the next four or five games, but it's what we all worked so hard for. We should be excited about the challenge.  

    “I think teams have shown in the last few weeks that you can pick up big results against big teams, good opposition, and we are going to have to. Our level of performance against teams at the top end of the table has been good on the whole."

    PLAYERS TO WATCH

    Southampton – Mateus Fernandes

    Fernandes has become a mainstay in the Southampton team, starting the last eight Premier League games in a row, and has been one of Martin’s standout performers in a lacklustre start to the campaign.

    In the Saints’ 2-0 defeat to Wolves last time out, the Portuguese contributed a team-high expected goals (xG) tally of 0.22 from his three shots, while only Yukinari Sugawara (10) and Flynn Downes (12) have created more chances in the top-flight than Fernandes (eight) this season.

    Liverpool – Mohamed Salah

    Salah has both scored and assisted in the same match 35 times in the Premier League (including four already this term), just one shy of Wayne Rooney’s record of 36 games with both a goal and an assist in the competition. The Egyptian has been directly involved in 11 goals (seven goals, four assists) in 11 Premier League appearances against Southampton.

    He has also been directly involved in 67% of Liverpool’s Premier League goals this season (14/21 – eight goals, six assists), the highest ratio by a player for any side in the division in 2024-25. Indeed, only Matt Le Tissier for Southampton in 1993-94 (69% - 34/49) has scored or assisted a higher proportion of a side’s goals in a single season in the competition.

    MATCH PREDICTION: LIVERPOOL WIN

    Liverpool have won nine of their 11 Premier League games under new head coach Slot (D1 L1). A win over Southampton will see the Dutchman become the joint-fastest manager to reach 10 wins from the start of a Premier League career (12 games), alongside Guus Hiddink in May 2009 and Carlo Ancelotti in November 2009 (both with Chelsea).

    The Reds’ last Premier League game against the Saints was a 4-4 away draw in May 2023 – they conceded as many goals in that game as they had in their previous six visits to St Mary’s combined.

    Southampton have won just one of their last 14 Premier League games against Liverpool (D3 L10), a 1-0 home victory in January 2021.

    This will also be the first Premier League match between the side starting the day bottom of the table and the side starting the day top since April 2023, and Southampton’s 3-3 draw away to Arsenal. The league leaders are unbeaten in 14 such matches (W12 D2) since Wolves won 2-1 against Manchester United in February 2011.

    However, Southampton have only lost one of their last eight Premier League home games against sides starting the day at the summit (W2 D5) and are unbeaten in their last four (W2 D2 – including a 1-0 win over Liverpool in January 2021) since a 0-1 defeat to Man City in May 2018.

    But Martin’s side have lost nine of their 11 Premier League games this season (W1 D1). Only seven sides in English top-flight history have reached 10 defeats in 12 or fewer matches from the start of a campaign, with all seven going on to be relegated.

    OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

    Southampton – 9.7%

    Draw – 12.6%

    Liverpool – 77.7%

  • Taylor proud of 'gritty' Man City display in Hammarby victory Taylor proud of 'gritty' Man City display in Hammarby victory

    Gareth Taylor was pleased with how his Manchester City players handled the atmosphere against Hammarby to secure their passage into the Champions League quarter-finals.

    Khadija Shaw opened the scoring in the 31st minute before Ellen Wangerheim restored parity shortly after the interval with a finish from close range. 

    But Shaw continued her fine start to the campaign, scoring the winner to become City's all-time top scorer in the competition, surpassing Georgia Stanway and Janine Beckie (both six). 

    The result saw City make it to the last eight of the competition for the first time since 2021, though the encounter was far from comfortable at the Tele2 Arena on Thursday. 

    Hammarby ended the contest with an expected goals (xG) total of 2.15 compared to the visitors' 1.07, despite both sides having 14 shots throughout the match. 

    However, City maintained their unbeaten record against Swedish sides in the competitor (W6), and Taylor was proud of his side's "gritty" display in Stockholm. 

    “I’m really pleased. It was about qualification for us tonight," Taylor said. 

    "There were a couple of ways we could do it. Obviously, we knew a point was enough, but I don’t think the players were thinking that way.

    “It was a really gritty performance on a really difficult on this pitch. It probably doesn’t look like that for the viewers at home watching it.

    "But it was a really lively surface and we worked so hard.

    “I felt there were some areas we could control the play better. I have to give credit to Hammarby, they were really aggressive.

    "The referee was on our side a little bit in the first half and maybe not in the second.

    “I’m really pleased and proud of the players, they really dug in tonight. You come away from a hostile environment with a win.”

  • Serie A side Genoa confirm sacking of head coach Gilardino Serie A side Genoa confirm sacking of head coach Gilardino

    Serie A side Genoa have confirmed the departure of their head coach Alberto Gilardino, with Patrick Vieira reportedly on his way in.

    Gilardino, a World Cup winner with Italy in 2006, leaves the club with them sitting just one point above the relegation size with 10 points from 12 matches this season. 

    A former striker who played for clubs including Genoa, Parma, AC Milan and Fiorentina, Gilardino took charge of Genoa in 2022 and helped them earn promotion to the top division before a 11th-place finish during the 2023-24 season. 

    "The club thanks Gilardino for the goals achieved together over the years and wishes him the best for his career," Genoa said in a statement.

    The 42-year-old saw his side salvage a late 1-1 draw against Cesc Fabregas' Como in their last match before the international break. 

    Genoa were also knocked out of the Coppa Italia in the second round following a defeat to Sampdoria on penalties in September. 

    Arsenal legend Vieira is set to replace him, according to multiple reports. 

    The former France midfielder has been out of work since leaving Strasbourg by mutual consent in July. 

© 2024 SportsMaxTV All Rights Reserved.