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European Paper Review

A Scottish teen sets up a winner against Dortmund, Joe Hart’s debut for Torino and Totti is still scoring winners as he approaches 40.


“One for all!” screamed the front page of BILD Leipzig in a special edition ahead of RB Leipzig’s first Bundesliga home game against Borussia Dortmund. As the Leipziger Volkszeitung pointed out, it was the first Bundesliga match to be played in the city’s historic Zentralstadion in 8,163 days – more than 22 years. “Exactly a century lies between the foundation of Borussia Dortmund (1909) and Rasenballsport Leipzig (2009),” added the LVZ.

A single 89th minute goal separated the two sides on Saturday evening as the controversial Bundesliga newcomers shocked one of Europe’s most famous clubs. “Historic first home game - RB steal the show!!” exclaimed the partisan LVZ, whilst BILD praised the “32.6m euro goal” – set up by Scottish substitute (pictured) Oliver Burke (€17.6m from Nottingham Forest) and finished emphatically by striker Naby Keita (€15m from Red Bull Salzburg).

As for Borussia Dortmund, Thomas Tuchel’s newly assembled side are still getting to know each other. Both BILD and Süddeutsche Zeitung praised Mario Götze on his first competitive start for the Schwarzgelben but Spiegel concluded: “Dortmund’s defeat says a lot about Leipzig’s quality on the one hand, but also more importantly that this new BVB still needs to settle.”

Whilst 4,300 predominantly east German BVB fans filled the away end in Leipzig, the club’s regular hardcore support attended a reserve fixture in Dortmund in protest at what they see as the “construct from Leipzig.” “Open fire! Skittles as 5,000 fans celebrate BVB party” reported local Der Westen, referring to the pre-match choreography in which fans threw large rubber balls to knock down a wall of energy drink cans before directing chants of “You are destroying our sport” at the Austrian beverage manufacturer. Leipzig-based broadcaster MDR however praised the friendly, sunny atmosphere which surrounded the Bundesliga fixture in Saxony, suggesting that “the real losers today were the Dortmund ultras.”

The defeat in Leipzig already leaves Dortmund three points behind Bayern Munich after the champions left it late to win 2-0 away at Schalke on Friday night thanks to goals from Robert Lewandowski and Joshua Kimmich. “Schalke well in the game – but Bayern have Lewandowski,” said Kicker with a resignation which was echoed elsewhere. “Bayern are still Bayern” sighed Sportschau. “Ice cold Munich cement Schalke’s poor start,” added Die Welt, as the Royal Blues sunk to a second defeat in two games despite a laudable performance.

Elsewhere, there was good news for Manchester City as the Blues’ Champions League opponents Borussia Mönchengladbach suffered a shock 1-3 defeat away at newly promoted SC Freiburg. “A dampener for Borussia,” commented Deutsche Welle. “Abysmal! Tired Foals trot limply behind,” cried the more partisan local Express, suggesting that André Schubert’s men are a little worn out after an impressive start to the season.

In France, Paris Saint-Germain’s indifferent start continued as they were held to a 1-1 draw at home by St Étienne. “No more guarantees from Paris,” said a worried Le Parisien. “Can PSG be considered favourites when they face Arsenal on Tuesday?” asked France Football. “The least we can say is that they don’t look too confident…”

Lyon however again failed to capitalise on the champions’ slip as they were beaten 1-3 by Bordeaux – their first defeat at the new Parc OL. “Nightmare!” said L’Équipe, “Lyon given a slapping by Bordeaux.”

Inevitably however, the story of the weekend was Mario Balotelli’s debut for Nice, the Italian scoring twice as the Niçois beat Mediterranean neighbours Marseille 3-2 to go joint top of Ligue 1 with Monaco. “Nice and Balotelli – madness already!” exclaimed L’Équipe, whose front page featured a photo of the Italian under the headline ‘Superbe Mario’. “It’s the Dolce Vita for Nice!” quipped France Football.

There was another shock in Spain as Barcelona were beaten 1-2 at home by promoted Alaves, who also held Atletico Madrid away from home. Luis Enrique spoke to his players on Sunday morning at training. “He could tell the squad was upset,” wrote Sport. “For many it was a true nightmare, like debutants Jasper Cillessen and Paco Alcacer, for others a blow to their confidence, like Vidal or Digne, who replaced heavyweights like Jordi Alba and Sergi Roberto. It was a summit in the most positive sense of the word, without looking for scapegoats.”

Real Madrid are top after they defeated another promoted side, Osasuna, 5-2. “A Happy Madrid,” reads the headline on the front of Monday’s Marca, complete with a picture of Cristiano Ronaldo and his son at a BBQ at the club’s training ground. The Portuguese, who scored just six minutes after his return from injury, is dressed as a clown. He also thinks that his side will win the league this season. Spain’s biggest three clubs are now on a run of seven games in 23 days, with Barça hosting Celtic at home in the Champions League on Tuesday. At the bottom of La Liga, Valencia have lost all three games so far, their latest a 2-3 home defeat to Real Betis.

In Italy, Joe Hart’s Torino debut could have gone better after he struggled to clear a second half corner which led to Atalanta equalising. His side lost 2-1. “Hart error,” notes La Gazzetta Dello Sport way down their front page. Torino are seldom headline news, but the Milan clubs are in the city where their newspaper is published. AC Milan lost 1-0 at home to Udinese in a surprise result. “Bacca blackout and Milan stunned by Udinese,” is a headline, but not the main one. “Icardi Inter”, is the main headline in Monday’s pink paper after Inter got a 91st minute winner at Pescara. Champions Juventus beat Sassuolo 3-1 on Saturday, while last season’s runners up Napoli also scored three, defeating Palermo 3-0 away.


Sunday’s best game was Roma 3 Sampdoria 2. “The Totti flag is flying,” writes La Gazzetta with a picture of a bare-chested Totti waving the Roma shirt after he provided an “Assist, penalty and triumph” according to the paper. Playing in his first game of the season – a match which was temporarily suspended because of heavy rain - the club legend got the winner against a Sampdoria side who’d won their opening three league games. ‘Why stop?’ asks the paper of the man who turns 40 this month. Why stop indeed?