The latest round of action across Europe's 'Big Five' leagues has predictably produced a plethora of talking points, with Arsenal, Bayern Munich and Real Madrid all in fine form. The Gunners are six points clear at the top of the Premier League after scoring yet another set-piece goal, and keeping another clean sheet, in their 2-0 victory at Burnley. Meanwhile, both Bayern and Real have five-point leads in Germany and Spain, respectively, after comfortable wins over the weekend.
Paris Saint-Germain are only two ahead of Marseille in France but it would take a brave man to bet against Luis Enrique's men retaining their title. However, Italian champions Napoli have a serious Scudetto fight on their hands. Antonio Conte's men were held to a 0-0 draw by Cesc Fabregas' impressive Como side on Saturday and that allowed Inter and AC Milan to draw to within a point of the Partenopei at the summit of the standings.
So, who were the big winners and losers of the weekend's action? GOAL breaks it all down below…
Getty Images SportWINNER: Mohamed Salah
Mohamed Salah's 250th goal for Liverpool was one of the easiest he's ever scored, with Emiliano Martinez presenting the Egyptian with both the ball and an unguarded net. However, it was still a hugely significant strike for both Salah and his side, as it arrived at a time of great difficulty for both. Having lost six of their previous seven games in all competitions, Liverpool desperately needed a win over Aston Villa on Saturday – so scoring first was huge for the home side.
Salah, of course, had netted in his previous outing, against Brentford, and his spectacular finish in London was far more impressive than his open goal on Merseyside. However, the Egyptian's overall display at the Gtech Community Stadium had been atrocious. At Anfield, he looked far more like his old self – and that's what pleased the under-pressure Arne Slot most of all.
"If you score 250 goals, it's already unbelievable – let alone for one club. You don't see this that much in football anymore," the Dutchman said in his post-match press conference. "But I think apart from the goal he scored tonight, he had a very good performance. Because when we had to play long, we played mainly long towards him and he could hold the ball, so because of that the rest of the team could come to him and we could keep playing.
"And what I also liked was that he didn't only do his offensive work really well, but he helped the team out defensively as well."
The challenge now, of course, is for Salah to prove that he's well and truly back when Liverpool face Real Madrid and Manchester City in the coming days…
AdvertisementGetty Images SportLOSER: Paulo Dybala
Gian Piero Gasperini rightly pointed out that there were plenty of positives for Roma to take out of their performance in Sunday's 1-0 loss at AC Milan. The visitors had squandered the opportunity to go top of Serie A, but they had played well for the most part, with even Rossoneri coach Massimiliano Allegri admitting that Roma had been the better side before Strahinja Pavlovic turned in Rafal Leao's cut-back just before the break. Unfortunately for Roma, though, the game couldn't have finished in a more negative fashion.
The Giallorossi had been awarded a penalty with just 10 minutes remaining at San Siro – which felt like a guaranteed goal, as Paulo Dybala had scored all 18 of his previous spot-kicks for the club he joined from Juventus in 2022. Dybala didn't just miss, though, he also hurt himself in the process – much like Kevin De Bruyne for Napoli a couple of weeks ago.
It's not yet known how long Dybala will be out of action, but Gasperini doesn't expect to see the gifted but injury-prone attacker back in action before the next international break. "This is the biggest loss of the night," Gasperini admitted in his post-match interview with .
Getty Images SportWINNER: Madrid's dynamic duo
Real Madrid's freescoring French forward Kylian Mbappe was quick to dismiss comparisons with the great Cristiano Ronaldo after taking his tally for the current campaign to a ridiculous 18 goals in 14 appearances in all competitions with a brace in Saturday's 4-0 rout of Valencia.
"Everyone knows that Cristiano is the reference in Madrid, the number one," Mbappe said of his childhood idol. "I've been here for a year-and-a-half and he was here for nine years. I can't compare myself to what he did; my path is different."
It's clear, though, that Mbappe is already well on his way to achieving a similar level of reverence at Santiago Bernabeu. Last season's European Golden Shoe winner has taken his game to another level since the summer arrival of Xabi Alonso as coach, and the really exciting thing for Los Blancos is that the fit-again Jude Bellingham is also thriving under the new boss.
The Englishman backed up an outstanding performance in the Clasico with another stellar display against Valencia, which he capped with a sublime strike from the edge of the area to make it three goals in his last three games for Madrid. This could have easily been a season of transition at the Bernabeu but, with Mbappe and Bellingham in this kind of form, Alonso's Liga leaders actually look capable of sweeping all before them.
Getty Images SportLOSER: Vinicius Jr
Of course, it's not all sunshine and roses in the Spanish capital right now, as Vinicius Jr continues to cut a frustrated figure. The Brazilian's latest hissy fit, after being taken off in El Clasico, dominated the headlines in the lead-up to the Valencia game, but Alonso attempted to draw a line under the matter in his pre-match press conference and said that there was no need to punish Vinicius for his petulance. Consequently, Vinicius – who publicly apologised to everyone but Alonso for his on-field outburst against Barcelona – retained his place in the starting line-up on Saturday.
He began brightly, too, causing Valencia all sorts of problems down the left flank. However, when Madrid won their second penalty of the evening shortly before half-time – Mbappe had converted their first – Vinicius wasted the chance to register his first goal involvement since October 4, with his weak spot-kick easily saved by Julen Agirrezabala. Unsurprisingly, his influence on the game waned thereafter, before being once again replaced by Rodrygo with 12 minutes to go.
Thankfully, there was no classless show of insolence on this occasion, but the onus very much remains on Vinicius to prove himself as important to this Madrid team as he clearly thinks he is, because if he doesn't, he’s going to have to get used to being subbed on a regular basis.