“Barcelona’s La Liga juggernaut rolled into Seville on Saturday and left with the scoreboard smoking, as the leaders beat Real Betis 5-2 to make it nine wins from nine, stretching their blistering league goal tally to 39. Lamine Yamal lit the fuse with a dazzling opener before Rodri, Gabriel Jesus, Eric García and the substitute Dani Olmo joined the party, while Valentín Gómez and Ez Abde replied for Betis, who played much of the second half with 10 men after Facundo Bernal was sent off for headbutting Lamine Yamal. … Álex Baena struck in the 89th minute to snatch a 1-0 win for Atlético Madridat Espanyol. Baena smashed in from the edge of the box to claim the Rojiblancos victory from a tight game in Cornella. Atlético have won six consecutive games across all competitions and remain five points behind Barcelona. Valencia and Athletic Bilbao drew 0-0 at Estadio de Mestalla. … In Germany, Luis Díaz scored a hat-trick as Bayern Munich pummelled a listless RB Leipzig 6-1 at home on Saturday to climb to the top of the Bundesliga table. Borussia Dortmund had edged ahead of Freiburg into top spot after their earlier goalless draw at Union Berlin, but Bayern responded in typically ruthless fashion. … In Italy, Inter pulled clear at the top of Serie A by coming from behind to beat Bologna 3-1. The champions were criticised after a 4-3 Champions League defeat against Club Brugge in midweek, but bounced back to move three points clear of second-placed Lazio, who face Juventus in Turin on Sunday. …”
Guardian
Europe is a blast – but more a curse than a blessing if you are not a super-club – Jonathan Wilson
“The sun shone. The temperature was in the high 20s. There was a mood of great conviviality. If you were struggling with the official allocation, it turned out you could just email the president of Torreense and he’d sort you out. Were these “Nuno-tickets” real? It turned out they were. Not only that, but you could sit anywhere you wanted in a stadium too big for the game and, if you happened to have gravitated to the comfortable hospitality seating at the back of the lower tier, the beer was inexplicably free. …”
Guardian
Brentford 1 Liverpool 2: What’s changed with Isak and how did Iraola’s side punish 10 men?
“This was the kind of win Liverpool need. Trips to Brentford have rarely been straightforward in recent seasons, with Liverpool twice suffering defeat since 2023, but a second-half comeback was enough to secure a 2-1 win thanks to goals from Victor Munoz and Alexander Isak, lifting Andoni Iraola’s side to fifth in the process. …”
NYT/ATH
YouTube: Brentford v. Liverpool | PREMIER LEAGUE HIGHLIGHTS, Manchester City v. Ipswich Town, Fulham v. Hull City, Newcastle United v. Aston Villa, Newcastle United 0-1 Villa
“It took 147 days for Rayo Vallecano to walk out for a competitive game on the Avenida de Albufera and 24 minutes and 56 seconds for them to walk off again. Half of those had been spent watching thousands of paper planes touch down on the turf, play suspended while a message was delivered, over and over, until it was impossible to avoid. Forced from their home, the team from the barrio had been away for five months. On the bright Saturday afternoon that they came back, there were just 13 minutes of football, a fans’ protest instead forcing the abandonment of their match with Athletic Club, the 
“Diego Simeone is such an established part of top-level European football that you sometimes forget how unusual his tenure is. Approaching 15 years in charge of Atletico Madrid, ‘only’ winning two league titles doesn’t quite summarise his considerable impact on European football, and the extent to which he has overachieved in a division that had become a two-horse race. Atletico had spent the previous decade as a mid-table side in La Liga, even dropping into Spain’s second tier for a couple of seasons. It is one of the most impressive dynasties in the modern game, and all the more special because of something we all know, but take for granted: Simeone is South American. For all the South American playing talent in European football over the decades, it’s very rare for a South American manager or head coach to succeed in Europe. …”
“In some football matches, we simply remember the result. Whenever Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid meet, it is dramatic scenes that stick in the memory. Sergio Ramos’ 93rd-minute equaliser that helped Real Madrid win a 10th European Cup in 2014, 
“Diego Simeone said it had been a special week in Madrid, a ‘tremendous energy about the city’, and it closed the way he wanted. He had enjoyed the Formula One, he said, and he had enjoyed going to see Shakira. He enjoyed this even more, at least he did by the time the last of many, many blows on the referee’s whistle brought it to an end, sending him sprinting up the tunnel punching the air. Two-nil up against 10 men through goals from Álex Grimaldo and Jonathan David, seemingly in control, a late strike from Antonio Rüdiger awoke old ghosts and brought tension to the final minutes, but they had done it. …”
“THERE are surprise early leaders in the Bundesliga in the form of Freiburg, who won 5-0 against Borussia Mönchengladbach, taking their tally for the season to 10 goals in three games. Freiburg’s Yannik Engelhardt and Igor Matanovic scored two apiece. After the game, Gladbach’s third defeat of the campaign, coach Eugen Polanski became the first Bundesliga coach to be sacked this season. Polanski was appointed a year ago and had a win rate of 29.73% in his 37 games with Gladbach. Borussia Dortmund also maintained their 100% record with a 3-0 win against Paderborn with goals from Serhou Guirassy, Maximilian Beier and Marcel Sabitzer. Bayern Munich made hard work of beating newly-promoted Elversberg, who fell to their first defeat since arriving in the top flight. Harry Kane and Lennart Karl scored Bayern’s goals. Augsburg kept pace with the leaders but were denied a 2-1 win by a last-minute goal from Leverkusen’s Patrik Schick. Frankfurt picked up their first win at Mainz with Can Uzun netting twice in a 3-1 win. …”
“Kiat Lim wanted to see 
“THE first ‘big six’ clash of the season saw two clubs with a 100% record come face-to-face. Arsenal played host to Chelsea at the Emirates but the hosts received a shock in the first minute when Morgan Rogers netted his second goal since arriving from Aston Villa. Former Chelsea man Kai Havertz scored the equaliser in the 25th minute with a shot that goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez should probably have stopped and the game was clinched by Martin Ødegaard in the 50th. Arsenal showed they are out to retain their title and Chelsea suggested they are a better equipped side than last season, but they are still some way from being contenders. Manchester City also have a 100% record after beating Coventry City with a goal from Erling Haaland. Liverpool secured their first win under new manager Andoni Iraola as they beat Ipswich Town at Portman Road (pictured). …”
Torino’s Nikola Vlasic equalises from the spot against Inter Milan in Serie A
Bournemouth might have unearthed another top talent in Alvaro Rodriguez
“… That is how one senior Atletico Madrid source described the situation surrounding Julian Alvarez this summer. Although deadline day ended with Alvarez staying at Atletico, the fallout from the window’s most bitter transfer saga is only just settling — and the story is far from over. 
“Julian Alvarez was whistled and insulted by Atletico Madrid fans as he made his first appearance for the club since expressing his desire to move away, amid interest from Barcelona and Arsenal. Alvarez’s name was jeered by the Atletico supporters at the Metropolitano when it was read out before their La Liga game against Villarreal, while many gestured and made their feelings clear towards the Argentina striker when he began to warm up around the hour mark. …”
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“After the final whistle of Rayo Vallecano’s 3-0 Conference League quarter-final first leg win over AEK Athens on April 9, almost the entire crowd of 14,000 stayed behind in the stands for over 15 minutes to sing and celebrate together. Rayo’s players and coaches remained on the pitch to share a joyful connection with fans whose support had helped the team overwhelm their Greek opponents. Most of those present eventually headed home, or to the many neighbourhood bars in the working-class Madrid suburb of Vallecas that gives the club its name. But others stayed behind to form queues outside the stadium, with some fans camping out overnight to secure a ticket for the second leg. …”
“IT’s always entertaining to watch Diego Simeone on the touchline at an Atlético Madrid game; he’s a human jack-in-the-box, a black-clad octopus who resembles a rabid director of inner-city traffic. For 15 years, Simeone has been the driving force behind the club’s graduation from Real Madrid and Barcelona’s wing men to contenders for silverware. In his time, they have won two league titles, the Copa del Rey and two Europa Leagues, not to mention reaching two Champions League finals. In 14 seasons, Atlético have never finished below fifth and that was in Simeone’s first half-season in charge. …”
“The last time Elche were a top-flight side, they were flirting with unwanted records. In 2022-23 — their centenary year — they finished 12 points adrift at the bottom of the table, cycled through six different managers, and went 19 games without a win to get the season underway. Only two teams have ever made a worse start. But two years away from the limelight looks to have done Elche good, with a rebuilt squad and new approach under coach Eder Sarabia. He has taken them back to the top tier with a distinct brand of possession football, and it was only defeat to Alaves before the international break that prevented them from becoming the first newly-promoted side in Spanish top-flight history to go unbeaten in their opening eight games. …”
