This is the first of a series that, hopefully, will take us till the end of the season, around May next year. I have added the term “European” in front of football, so that I can not be accused of bait-and-switch…hahaha. My aim is to shed some light about what is going on in the continent apart from the Champions League. I will focus on teams that will participate in the next edition of the top European contest.

An emotional day marked the start of the season for Liverpool. They beat 4-2 Bournemouth but the most remarkable moment was the tribute to Diego Jota who died recently in a car crash. Even though they got an early lead (2-0), Bournemouth managed to equalize the match till Chiesa (88 minutes) and Salah (94) put the final 4-2 for Liverpool. The recent signing, Ekitiké, scored again for Liverpool. Man City did not show any mercy to Wolverhampton as they beat them 4-0. Haaland keeps adding goals (2) and the recently signed form Milan, Reijnders, scored a goal and participate in other two. Good start for Citizens. Arsenal managed to beat Man U at Old Trafford (0-1). Despite of making some signings this summer, they were not good enough to beat the Gunners. A mistake made by Man U goalkeeper, allowed Callafiori to score in a corner kick. That was enough to decide the match. Chelsea was unable to beat recent Community Shield winners, Crystal Palace. The match ended in a draw (0-0). Finally, Newcastle only could draw (0-0) against Aston Villa, despite of playing against 10 players for the last 25 minutes, following Newcastle’s centre back, Konsa, was sent off at 66 minutes of play.

Villareal commenced with an easy win (2-0) against recently promoted Real Oviedo, following they had a player sent off at 27 minutes. On Saturday, Barça had a great start against Real Mallorca (0-3), though they played 50 minutes against 9 players due to 2 Mallorca players being sent off. Lamine Yamal and Raphinha scored one goal each, and Ferran Torres added the third. Athletic Bilbao beat 3-2 Sevilla in a box-to-box match. A stellar Nico Williams scored a goal and participate in the second to give an early lead to the basque team. In the second half, Sevilla improved their game and managed to score twice thanks to an incredible goal by Lukebakio and the equaliser by Agoume. However, Bilbao, in another great action by Nico Williams who assisted Navarro, got the winner at 81 minutes. Atletico Madrid was very happy after scoring from a free kick (Julian Álvarez) in the first half. However, in the second half, Español completed an unexpected comeback (2-1) with a header by Pere Milla at 84 minutes. A lonely 1-0 helped Real Madrid to beat Osasuna in the last match of this week, played last night. They could only score from a penalty kick in the second half, even though they shot 18 times, just 5 on target. As a reference, Osasuna only shot twice, none on target. Real Madrid has plenty of room to improve. Mastantuono, recently signed Argentinian midfielder, made his debut. Real Madrid paid over 63 M euros to River Plate. It seems crazy right now, we will see in the future.

Olympique Marseille is returning this year to the Champions League, though they have lost their first match against Rennes. Even though their rivals had a player sent off at 31 minutes of play, they could not beat them Just when it looked like that the result was going to be a draw, Ludovic Blas scored for Rennes in the extratime. Monaco performed well against Le Havre, winning 3-1. PSG carried on with their winning strike on Sunday night aftrer beating 0-1 (Vitinha) to Nantes. They seem to be keeping their form.

There were no league matches this weekend in the Bundesliga, as Bayern and Stuttgart played the Supercup. Harry Kane and Luis Diaz, recenlty signed from Liverpool, scored the Bayern’s goals. League will start next week.

As in Germany, they will commence their league next week.

Sporting Lisbon is at the top of the table after 2 weeks, following his victory 6-0 over Arouca. Meanwhile in the Eredivisie, PSV remains at the top after beating Twente away (0-2) and Ajax only could get a draw against Go Ahead Eagles, staying 6th in the table.

This season has only started and it is very exciting all we have ahead. Hope you enjoy it.