The week-end kicked-off with an all Spanish affair in The European Supercup in Monaco between Barça and Sevilla. Contrary to most pre-match predictions, The Andalusians dominated from start to finish and thoroughly deserved their 3-0 victory. Sevilla fans were not the only ones ecstatic with the result - The Madrid based press couldn't resist a chance to gloat at Catalan woe. The main headline in 'Marca' screamed out 'Superbaño al Barça' (Barça get a super thrashing), while 'Diario AS' described it as a 'Cura de arrogancia' (A cure for arrogance). Barça President Joan Laporta had wound the Madrid press up before the match, by saying that Barça would win everything this season.
An epic match was played out on Saturday evening for The Italian Supercup. Inter (the current champions by default) came from 3 goals behind to beat Roma 4-3 - the winning goal for The ‘Nerazzurri' came in extra time from a fantastic free-kick by Luis Figo. To think that many British pundits continue to label Italian Football defensive!
Many Follow Follower's favourite German team Hamburg - could only draw again, this time away at Hertha Berlin. Thomas Doll's men would have been hoping for more after securing Champions League qualification mid-week and now only have 3 points after 3 games.
Bayern Munich could only draw at home to Nuremberg and Schalke won the match of the week-end defeating Werder Bremen 2-0 with goals from Kuranyi and Altintop.
After three games Nuremberg, Bayern and Schalke are all tied on 7 points.
In Holland - Shota's AZ Alkmaar are top after winning 3-1 at Vitesse. Ajax recovered from their shock Champions League qualifying defeat in mid-week, to win 2-1 away at Breda, with Wesley Sneijder scoring twice. Feyenoord could only draw at home and PSV suffered a shock, losing at Twente Enschede 1-0.
Football was also back in Portugal this week-end. Many pundits consider the big 3 (Sporting, Porto and Benfica) to be well matched this season, so hopes are high for an exciting title race. Week 1 saw Sporting Lisbon defeat Boavista 3-2 in Lisbon. Porto beat Leiria 2-1 at home, the winner coming from the ex-Barca winger Quaresma.
So what about the so-called ‘Liga de Estrellas' (league of stars) in Spain. Valencia and Betis kicked off the new season in ‘The Mestalla' - in what was in truth a scrappy game - Valencia took all 3 points in a 2-1 victory - Morientes back in Spain after his ill-fated time in England, scored a goal on his debut for ‘Los Ches'.
The Bernabeu was witness to a very disjointed performance by Real Madrid against Riquelme's Villarreal. Despite fielding almost 47 million pounds worth of new talent, Capello's troops produced a quite shambolic second half performance and could only draw 0-0.
The other team from Madrid - Atletico won 1-0 away in Santander with golden boy Fernando Torres scoring the only goal. After years of underachievement and having strengthened well in the summer, 'Atleti' are tipped by many as possible dark horses for the title. Deportivo and Zaragoza played out a classic in 'The Riazor', 'Depor coming out on top 3-2.
The Olympic Stadium in Barcelona was the venue for a mini-Catalan derby between Espanyol and new-boys Nastic de Tarragona. Campano scored the only goal of the game for Nastic to silence the home crowd.
Barcelona were not due to play until Monday evening because of their involvement in The Supercup match.
Athletic and Real Sociedad played out a 1-1 draw in the Basque derby. Athletic took the lead thanks to a penalty awarded for handball (even though TV cameras clearly showed that it was an Athletic forward Arduiz who handled it). Arduiz promptly stepped up to fire home the penalty, Aranburu netted a late equaliser for the team from San Sebastian
In France, Lyon hammered Nice 4-1, but Marseille are top after beating Le Mans 2-0. Both sides are tied on 10 points, but Marseille have the better goal difference.
The main transfer deals of the last few days - saw Joaquin signing for Valencia and Milan agreeing to sign Ricardo Oliveira from Real Betis.
MACCLOYALIST