12 hours ago
The Euro XI: Ruben Amorim keeps banter-verse ticking, Richarlison pulls up Ronaldo tape, the world pays tribute to Diogo Jota
Well, that was all a little bit disappointing. The opening weekend of European football was, in most ways, frighteningly predictable. The Premier League teams that should have won, did, indeed win. Man United looked good but lost to Arsenal (thanks, of course, to a free kick).
Man City are (maybe) back and they have a shiny new attacking midfielder to replace Kevin De Bruyne. Meanwhile, on the continent, PSG survived a scare, Barcelona showed that they are still excellent, while Diego Simeone offered some compelling evidence for him to just stick to stocky Spanish midfielders and stop faffing about with all of this "finesse."
In fact, the real action happened a little below, lurking in the shallows, on the edge of the spotlight.
GOAL US presents The Euro XI, with 11 key observations from the weekend.
Diogo Jota, remembered
The soccer news cycle moves on so quickly that it's, at the very least, reassuring to see that some important things remain top of mind. Such was the case with the European-wide tributes to Diogo Jota. His memory was everywhere: celebrations, pre-match acknowledgements, songs.
But perhaps most jarringly was the extra minutes Mo Salah took in front of the Kop, teary-eyed, as the fans belted Jota's tune. Maybe football can confront something real, after all.
Ruben Amorim and the process
"We are going to play 3-4-2-1 if it kills us!" Presumably, at least, that was what Ruben Amorim said to his players before the season. And, well, it didn't kill them against Arsenal, even if they did lose 1-0. Man United were really rather good throughout, and showed that there may yet be hope for this strange, strange club. Then again, anything more would have been an immense blow to the football banter sphere.
Mikel Arteta, watching his own fall apart (and somehow still winning)
How the hell did they get away with that? If Man United were excellent in defeat Sunday afternoon, then Arsenal were dismal in victory. It was a fairly morbid start to the season for (checks notes) phase 7 of Mikel Arteta's Gunners. They showed plenty of fight, but very few tactical ideas when they had the ball. Sure, this is Old Trafford, where anything can happen. But winning 1-0 thanks to a bit of terrible goalkeeping? That's what you call a league-contending team?
Thomas Frank does not believe in Spursiness
The whole Tottenham thing for a long time was to squeak out results against far better teams, and then get battered by the smaller clubs. Well, Thomas Frank has bucked that trend early.
Spurs did rather throw things away in the Super Cup against PSG last week, but, like, it's PSG - and PSG are very, very good. Regardless, history dictates that Spurs would then go out and lose to Burnley at home. So much for that. Tottenham were excellent value for their 3-0 win, full of attacking intent and scorers of three very good goals. Time for predictable mediocrity? That just might be progress.
Richarlison is not the man you remember
A strange thing happens to the Spurs' mercurial attacker every World Cup year. Suddenly, this baffling, misfiring, intensely confusing footballer decides that he is the 2020s' answer to Ronaldo Nazario. Here comes O Fenomeno again, but he's got really bad tattoos and plays in North London.
It's a strange vibe, but a comforting sort of inevitability of football. Richarlison kept the bit going in style with a truly lovely bicycle kick. Expect 30 in all competitions now, of course.
Tijjani Reijnders is scary talented
The Pep Guardiola logic is simple. He has lost Kevin De Bruyne, who is too old and too injured for his rebuilding juggernaut. The solution? Go out and buy the next one. Of course, Reijnders is a different archetype of player, all jinks, cuts and tight movements.
He's not as powerful as De Bruyne (and he's not as good, either). But he did look a wonderful footballer this weekend, scoring and assisting in his City debut. The Pep rebuild is pending.
The Black Cats are back in style
What could any of us expect from Sunderland? In theory, they weren't supposed to be here. The Northern English side spent the last six weeks of last season playing pretty morbid football, but squeaked into the playoffs, and got hot at the right time.
A couple of hundred million pounds later, and they're here and, presumably, prime relegation candidates. That might yet happen, but they were excellent against a miserable West Ham side, running out 3-0 winners in their Premier League return. Welcome back.
Barcelona can still play football
When Lamine Yamal spent all summer partying, and, presumbably, disregarding the responsibilities of being a professional footballer, there were a few raised eyebrows. Could this really be the next Messi? He likes social media too much. He parties too hard. Cue the rampant catastrophizing. What we had instead, it seems, was a footballer resetting in style. Yamal scored what is now his goal to round off Barcelona's 3-0 opening night win, a lovely cut and curl to see off 10-man Mallorca. Nothing to see here.
The wheels come off for Atletico... immediately?
Every couple of summers, Atletico Madrid open their checkbook. It's an odd thing, this perennially third club trying to spend like the big boys. But here they are, splashing the cash at an apparent moment of weakness around them. It makes sense, strategically.
Real Madrid are enduring something of a blip. This could be their chance to push back towards the top. Well, it got off to a pretty tepid start. Atleti started three new midfielders and lost 2-1 to Espanyol, letting a duo of goals in late on. They might need time - and La Liga isn't very forgiving.
Rodrygo ain't going anywhere
There goes one of the more fun transfer sagas of the summer - already. Rodrygo was rumored to go to Arsenal. Then he was supposed to go to Liverpool. Then he was surely going to be a Man City player. In the end... he is very much staying at Real Madrid. At least, that's what Xabi Alonso claimed in a news conference Monday. Snooze.
PSG are still very, very good
The fall off was never likely to happen, but wouldn't it be pretty to think so? PSG spent 80 minutes or so missing a lot of chances against Nantes, and we all got a bit excited. Could there be jeopardy in Ligue 1? Would Luis Enrique have some work to do? Nah. In the end, Vitinha bagged the winner, and the Parisians are off to a flyer. So much for all of that.
