Euro Roundup

No better place to begin with than in Spain, where Barcelona manager Luis Enrique announced his decision to quit the club at the end of the season. The announcement came in stark contrast to his side’s 5-0 win over Celta Vigo. The Catalan club now sit top of the table, a point above Madrid, who thrashed Eibar 4-1 and incidentally have a game in hand. It was a weekend of doubles as Messi, Benzema, Jese and Griezmann all bagged braces for Barcelona, Madrid, Las Palmas and Atletico respectively. Messi now leads the way with an impressive 23 league goals for this campaign so far.

With the top three in France all on 62 points after Saturday’s results, Monaco took the initiative and moved three points clear with a 4-0 trouncing over Nantes, where 18-year-old striker Mbappe scored two more in his remarkable season for the club. PSG and Nice both picked up vital 1-0 victories, where Cavani scored his 27th league goal for the former and highly rated attacker Cyprien found the net for Nice. Marseille kept their European hopes alive with a 4-1 win at Lorient, where Payet stole the show with a stunning finish.

Bayern now find themselves seven points clear at the top after their win at Cologne as RB Leipzig dropped vital points in a 2-2 draw at Augsburg. Meanwhile Dortmund is in third place after putting six past Leverkusen in an eight-goal thriller, leaving them a point ahead of surprise package Hoffenheim. Aubameyang’s brace puts him top of the goal scoring charts on 21, two ahead of former team-mate Lewandowski.

Juventus are mirroring Bayern’s dominance as they went eight points clear in the Serie A despite a draw with Udinese. Third-placed Napoli stole the headlines however with a 2-1 win at second-placed Roma thanks to a Mertens double, placing him on 18 league goals for the season. Torino’s Belotti however took things a step further with an incredible eight-minute hat-trick against Palermo, and he now finds himself top of the tally with 22 Serie A goals this season. The San Siro sides are both edging towards that elusive Champions League spot, as Inter hit Cagliari for five, while Bacca scored twice and missed a penalty in Milan’s win over Chievo Verona.

Plenty of goals were scored this weekend across the top European leagues, with seven scored at Hoffenheim and Las Palmas, who incidentally both picked up 5-2 home victories, while Dortmund against Leverkusen finished 6-2 to the home side.