De Bruyne's brilliant return for Man City, Real humble Barca in Supercopa, more

It’s been another wild weekend in European soccer, with the return of the German Bundesliga aligning with some eye-opening results in the Premier League, Spanish Supercopa and Serie A. We had the transcendent return of Kevin De Bruyne, as Man City shrugged off a 2-1 deficit at Newcastle to win 3-2, along with an eye-opening 4-1 win for Real Madrid over rivals Barcelona in the Supercopa.

In Germany, Bayer Leverkusen gritted things out to beat Augsburg and remain in control of the Bundesliga title race, Inter (powered by Lautaro Martinez) stayed in charge of Serie A with a win over Monza, and Jadon Sancho showed what we’ve been missing with a dazzling cameo upon his return to Borussia Dortmund on loan.

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It’s Monday, and Gab Marcotti reacts to the biggest moments in the world of football.

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De Bruyne’s game-changing return is huge for Man City, but Newcastle trip highlights issues at the back

Manchester City’s 3-2 away win to Newcastle leaves them two points from Liverpool at the top of the table, which is where you realistically wanted to be right now, considering they were five off the top when they left for the Club World Cup. For the neutral, it was a hugely entertaining game with five exceptional goals, a reminder of the individual quality at the top end of the Premier League. (The fact that Bernardo Silva’s back heel was, as I see it, only the fourth-best tells you all you need to know.)

Newcastle looked like they were running on fumes, spit and gristle. And still, despite conceding a number of chances and going behind, they turned it around with quick goals from Alexander Isak and Anthony Gordon late in the first half. Both very well taken, but also similar in the way they exploited vulnerabilities in City’s back line. It’s not just Kyle Walker left one-on-one; it’s a breakdown in the press for the Isak goal and Ruben Dias giving it away (plus his teammates being out of position as a result) for the second one.

As we’ve said before, City’s style of play will always mean they’ll have to do more one-on-one defending than most sides. That’s fine if you’re going to win your individual battles regularly. This year it hasn’t been happening quite as often, which is why it’s more important to get the collective details right. It’s something for Pep Guardiola to work on.

The good news is that Kevin De Bruyne is back and in full force. His 22-minute cameo was marked by an absolutely sensational goal — the best of the bunch, as I see it — that saw him befuddle Fabian Schar and effectively side foot the ball from 30 yards out, with power and precision, and a trademark ball-on-a-dime for Oskar Bobb, who notched the winner after some nifty footwork.

(Should De Bruyne have been closed down? Sure, but we’re in injury time and Eddie Howe’s players aren’t robots.)

Another clasico win, and a trophy, for Real Madrid: Vinicius shines, Ancelotti lectures

Vinicius will take the headlines for his first-half hat-trick en route to Real Madrid’s 4-1 hammering of Barcelona, and you could tell how delighted was given his rough first half to the campaign. But it takes two to tango in games like this, and you have to hold Barca to account here as well. When you concede two goals inside the opening 10 minutes — it could have been three, if not for Inaki Pena’s stop to deny Rodrygo — of a cup final, something is seriously wrong. Especially when each is in transition and each is the direct result of one or more mental errors.

Jules Kounde is enduring a nightmare in 2023-24. Xavi needs to figure out what’s wrong and even if it means giving him time off, so be it. Ronald Araujo gave away a needless penalty and then got himself sent off. If you’re going to be a defensive leader, you can’t do that. (And, you assume, he knows it.)

It’s worth noting that they’re not helped by some of Xavi’s tactical decisions either. If you’re going to play a high defensive line, you need to close down the ball straightaway, especially against the kind of speedsters Real Madrid have up front. If you don’t trust your forwards to press, that’s fine: drop off, but at least read the situation. And while we’re at it, the old Xavi trick of trying to contain Vinicius by moving Kounde inside and putting Araujo wide worked well in the past, but at some point, the opposition was going to figure it out.

Pointing out Barca’s shortcomings shouldn’t take away from Real Madrid, by the way. You adapt to the opposition and you take what they give you. Ancelotti complained after the game that they struggled a bit after the second goal — a spell in which Robert Lewandowski pulled one back and Ferran Torres hit the woodwork — and that they ended up counterattacking more than he would have liked. Fair enough, but you get the sense he wasn’t expecting such a poor performance from Barcelona.

That’s probably also why he complained about the back heels from Vinicius and Jude Bellingham at the end. When you’re this much better than the opponents on the day, there’s no reason to rub it in.

Light and dark for Ratcliffe’s first appearance at Old Trafford

Sir Jim Ratcliffe sat next to Sir Alex Ferguson at Old Trafford for Manchester United’s 2-2 draw with Tottenham. We have no clue what Sir Alex told him, but if he was feeling positive, he could have pointed to the following. Marcus Rashford looked bright. Rasmus Hojlund scored in consecutive league games, while Diogo Dalot again looked sharp, as did the youngster Kobbie Mainoo. Alejandro Garnacho is a threat even when he’s not on top of his game. Lisandro Martinez and Casemiro are close to full fitness again.

What if he was feeling grumpy? Well, they dropped points again, which means that if Arsenal and Brighton win their games in hand, Man United will slump to eighth and a whopping (for January) 11-point gap between them and the Champions League spots. They managed just two shots on target against a side missing 11 players — including their entire starting midfield and two-thirds of their front three. Yeah, they had chances on the counter, but against Ange Postecoglou and Tottenham, who doesn’t? And sure, United could have won, but it would have been a smash-and-grab.

The fact is, Man United are in a deep hole, and getting out of it is a multiyear project. Is it one that Erik ten Hag can bring to fruition as manager? That’s what Sir Jim and Dave Brailsford will need to figure out.

As for Tottenham, Timo Werner made his debut and, without sounding too harsh, picked up where he left off in his last stint in the Premier League: running a lot, working hard, getting on the end of chances and spraying them everywhere but past the opposing keeper. I think he can still contribute and be a good signing, but only if you get others to provide the goals.

More broadly, the fact they’re level with Arsenal and knocking on the door of the Champions League with the sort of horrendous injury run they’ve had points to the fact that maybe “figuring out Ange-Ball” isn’t proving to be quite as easy for opponents as some suggested.

PSG pass their biggest test of the domestic season, while Mbappe continues as center-forward

Lens away was one of those ties where the opponent could actually beat Paris Saint-Germain rather than PSG beating themselves, which they occasionally do. In that sense, PSG’s 2-0 win means they passed the test, racing to an eight-point lead at top of Ligue 1. We can — and probably should — crack jokes about the league’s imbalance of power, but this was far from a foregone conclusion.

Gianluigi Donnarumma had to save an early penalty, which could have sent the game in an entirely different direction, and even after going down to 10 men just before half-time (with PSG a goal up thanks to Bradley Barcola), Lens continued to attack, as evidenced by the fact that they dominated the xG battle, 2.25 to 0.94. Kylian Mbappe added a second late to put the game to bed, but the result was in the balance until that stage.

Speaking of Mbappe, he again lined up at center-forward. (If you want to be unkind, you might suggest he’s practicing in the role ahead of his move to Real Madrid, when he’ll leave the left flank to Vinicius.) It’s not a traditional No.9 role, he’s far more involved which is good for his continued development, I guess. But it does make you wonder what it says about PSG and recruitment guru Luis Campos given that they committed some $150m over the summer on two center-forwards, Goncalo Ramos and Randall Kolo Muani, both of whom were unused substitutes.

Inter swat Monza away as Lautaro keeps scoring

It was a derby (of sorts), but it was as one-sided as you’re likely to see. Inter raced to a 2-0 lead over Monza, had an opposition goal disallowed for the kind of offside only semi-automatic offside is going to see, and then romped to a 5-1 win, mostly in transition. Along the way Hakan Çalhanoğlu and Henrikh Mkhitaryan showed that being able to run a counter-attack well is as much about precision, geometry and speed of thought than speed of foot.

Lautaro Martinez also bagged another two goals, taking his total to 20 for the season in all competitions. He’s well on track to pulverize his personal best, which got me wondering to what degree he’s over-performing his expected goals. The numbers suggest he certainly is: his 20 goals come from an xG of 15.93 in all competitions. Then again, last season — excluding the Italian Super Cup — his 27 goals came from an xG of 22.55.

Those are pretty similar ratios, which equally suggest the over performance may well continue.

Decimated Leverkusen leave it late, but grab a well-deserved win to stay top

Xabi Alonso had to reinvent both his defence — Odilon Kossounou and Edmond Tapsoba are at the Africa Cup of Nations, while Jonathan Tah is only fit enough for the bench — and attack (Victor Boniface injured, Florian Wirtz out of the starting lineup) for the trip to Augsburg. Their only goal was scored very late, with Ezequiel Palacios poking it home in the fourth minute of injury time, but don’t let that throw you off. It would have been a different story had Patrik Schick converted his chances, starting from his early one-on-one, or if Alex Grimaldo’s shot had been an inch lower. And Augsburg were held to exactly zero shots after minute 48.

It’s a different set up with Schick up front, compared to Boniface and the partnership with Adam Hlozek looked somewhat clunky. But the big Czech has a lot to give, both in build-up play and in finishing. If he finds his mojo, he can not only hold down the fort in Boniface’s absence, but possibly form a devastating strike tandem with him when he returns.

Girona throw up a stinker against last-place Almeria, meaning two points dropped

We’ve been praising them all season, but on Sunday, away to bottom club Almeria (they haven’t won all season long … and we’re 20 games in), Girona turned in their worst performance of the season. They simply didn’t look prepared, or maybe they thought the three points were already in the bag, which may explain why Savio and Viktor Tsygankov started the game on the bench.

Whatever the case, they were outshot 20 to 5, which shouldn’t be happening when you’re playing a team that is 43 points behind you in the table. The draw means they go top, but Real Madrid now have a game in hand.

French-powered Milan roll past Roma to consolidate third place

Barring divine intervention, Milan won’t get back into the title race and, of course, they’re out of the Coppa Italia and the Champions League. So if you’re Stefano Pioli, you just want your team to grow, finish top four and see what you can do in the Europa League.

With that in mind, the 3-1 win over Roma on Sunday night was important. Olivier Giroud scored and dispensed magic, Theo Hernandez unleashed a screamer and Yacine Adli, the forgotten man, opened the scoring, showing that maybe he can be your midfield general (at least until Ismael Bennacer returns). The win means they’re nine points clear of fourth and keep Roma far away. They need some calm to grow and this affords them plenty.

As for Roma, they showed their usual limitations when Paulo Dybala is unavailable. They created very little until late and were gifted a penalty. Jose Mourinho opted to drop Rui Patricio for his backup, Mile Svilar, and because Mourinho was banned (again), nobody was able to ask him about it.

Roma feels a mystery right now.

New wide men Sancho, Maatsen shine for Dortmund

It could have gone differently (at 1-0 Gregor Kobel made an absurd, and improbable, flying kick save for which you need to give him the benefit of the doubt) but it didn’t, and Borussia Dortmund got both a 3-0 win at Darmstadt and positive debuts for their new arrivals from the Premier League, Jadon Sancho and Ian Maatsen.

Maatsen started and was a bundle of energy out of the left-back position — enough so to make you wonder why Mauricio Pochettino wrote him off so quickly in that role and instead played him as a winger on the few occasions he did play him. Sancho came on, looking nothing like a guy who hadn’t played since August, and set up Marco Reus for his goal, before Youssoufa Moukoko’s dazzling run made it 3-0 in garbage time.

Sancho’s arrival on loan from Manchester United feels like more of a “too-good-to-pass-up” signing than anything to fill a need. In fact, Dortmund had a glut of attacking midfielder/winger types — Julian Brandt, Reus, Jamie Bynoe-Gittens, Donyell Malen, Karim Adeyemi and Gio Reyna, plus three center-forwards — even before his arrival. You assume Reyna will go, but even then, that’s a ton of players for three positions.

Chelsea beat Fulham, but progress still slow

Cole Palmer — him again — converted a penalty (his fifth of the season) to give Chelsea three points over Fulham and make up for the chances he missed in midweek against Middlesbrough, one of his few subpar outings of the season. There wasn’t much else to cheer (other than the result, and even that might have been different if Malo Gusto had been sent off in the first half).

Too much of Chelsea’s attacking is down to individual initiative, rather than patterns of play. And that’s largely because the middle of the park — Enzo Fernandez, Moises Caicedo and Conor Gallagher — too often feels like three guys who showed up for a pickup game, not three pros who have worked and trained together for six months, with a veteran coach.

It’s not that they lack urgency or quality; it’s just that they’re disjointed. By this stage, they should be much further along.

Messy Napoli get late winner against cellar-dwellers

It was ugly, it was desperate and if you’re determined to see the glass as half-full, you can talk about spirit and belief and all that jazz. Amir Rrahmani found the net in the sixth minute of injury time against a horrible Salernitana side that parked the bus. Huff and puff, and eventually, you may blow the house down.

Walter Mazzarri will take the three points, and rightly so, but he shouldn’t be gloating. It’s not easy to break down a side focused solely on defending (which is what happened after the break), but this was very much an ugly win driven by the pride of individuals, rather than any semblance of team play. Which is what he’s paid to provide.