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European Paper Review - The return of Ole Gunnar Solksjaer, Javier Mascherano facing a ban, and when will it click for Angel Di Maria?

A look at what the European newspapers are reporting as Ole Gunnar Solksjaer is back in the news, Javier Mascherano is caught out and when will Angel Di Maria come good?

After spending a year tending to his garden, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has enjoyed a fine return to management at Molde, where he once played and managed.

Molde started with a 3-1 win against Celtic, and on Sunday 2-1 away at their local rivals Aalesund. Solskjaer watched the match from the stands.

“I sat down in the stands to get a better view,” he told VG. “I spoke to the guys on the bench via phone. I want to get to know the boys. I think it will be like that this year.”

In Spain, Levante boss Luis Alcaraz was sacked after his side lost 4-0 to David Moyes’ Real Sociedad at home. Facing dismissal speculation talk, it was only Moyes’ second win of the season and he told Diairo Vasco: “Today wasn’t our best game but we got goals.” They’ve only scored six in their previous eight games.

La Real move up to 14th in a league headed by Real Madrid and Barcelona for the first time. That’s after previous leaders Celta Vigo were defeated at home to Real Madrid. Goalkeeper Keylor Navas was again praised, with AS lauding his 27 saves against Celta. He’s conceded only three league goals all season, by far the best record in Spain.

Barcelona came from behind to win for the eighth time this season, beating Eibar 3-1 but AS reports that Javier Mascherano is facing a possible four match ban after being sent off for telling the linesman: “Your mother’s a c**t”.

In Germany, the press had two Bayer Leverkusen goal fests to feast on this week, starting with a 4-4 draw at home to Roma in the Champions League. “Football madness – one of the most turbulent and dramatic group games of recent years” said the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung on Tuesday evening, after Leverkusen gave away a 2-0 lead to trail 2-4, before scoring two more to draw level in a game described as “a crazy rollercoaster ride” by Sport1. And the goals continued to fly in on Saturday at the BayArena as the Werkself came from 3-1 down to beat VfB Stuttgart 4-3. “More goal madness at Bayer!” screamed BILD, “Bayer with yet another crazy comeback”, added Sportschau.

Bayern Munich suffered their first competitive defeat in 13 games away at Arsenal in the week. “Between genius and madness”, said Die Welt after Manuel Neuer pulled off outstanding first half saves before completely misjudging the 77th minute free-kick from which Olivier Giroud scored. But it was Bundesliga business as usual come Saturday as the champions extended their run of league wins to a record ten with a 4-0 thrashing of 1. FC Köln. “Total dominance”, said FOCUS as Bayern enjoyed 7% ball possession against a Cologne side who “camped behind the ball like a handball team” – the words of Arjen Robben to Die Welt after the Dutchman crowned his comeback with his 75th Bayern goal in the club’s 1,000th Bundesliga victory. The paper believes that Franck Ribery could be close to making a return from injury too and also suggested that patience with Guardiola is wearing thin on Säbener Straße as he hesitates over a new deal.

Borussia Dortmund weren’t to be outdone as they hammered bottom-of-the-league Augsburg 5-1 thanks to a brace from Marco Reus and a hat-trick from the unstoppable Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. “Dortmund celebrate Aubameyang’s latest hat-trick”, said Süddeutsche Zeitung, as the Gabon international added another treble to his three against Qabala of Azerbaijan in the week. Aubameyang has now scored 20 times in his last 18 games. BVB have scored 54 in total over the same period and remain 7 points behind Bayern.

Borussia Mönchengladbach’s impressive form under interim boss André Schubert continues apace. Having lost their first five league games, they have now won five in a row, the latest a 3-1 win over Schalke 04 on Sunday. “Five games, five wins - Gladbach’s run continues” headlined Spiegel. But it wasn’t all good news, as Kicker pointed out: “Ugly foul – concern for André Hahn”. The Gladbach attacker was taken to hospital with a fractured tibia after a challenge by Schalke’s Johannes Geis which Tagesspiegel described as “a foul of astonishing brutality.”

In Ligue 1, Marseille ended a run of seven games without a win with a 2-1 success away at Lille. “A match of primordial importance for two clubs with two of the largest budgets in the league, both in need of points”, said l’Équipe, as OM climbed above Lille to 14th.

Elsewhere, this season’s surprise packages Caen and Angers “came back down to earth” (Le Monde), the Normans losing 2-0 at home to Nantes and Angers held to a 0-0 draw at home to Guingamp.

Ahead of PSG vs St Etienne on Sunday night, l’Équipe’s front page had featured Angel Di Maria with the headline “When will it click?” The Argentinian has failed to impress since swapping Manchester for Paris, and indeed it was once again left to Edinson Cavani, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Lucas Moura to score the goals as the French champions beat Les Stéphanois 4-1 at the Parc des Princes to go 7 points clear.

In Italy, Roma make the top of La Gazzetta dello Sport after an epic 2-1 win at previous leaders Fiorentina. “The Roman Command,” ran the headline with a picture of the celebrating Mohamed Salah, who had a very eventful afternoon against his former club – who’d complained to FIFA that he didn’t complete his 18 month loan in Florence. The former Chelsea midfielder was later sent off four minutes from time for a second yellow card. There’s a full set of Serie A fixtures midweek.