Weekend Highlights: Historic Haaland, celebs flock for Messi
Goal of the weekend
It was inevitable we had to get to Saudi Arabia at some point. On the first day of September, Al Ittihad and Al Hilal clashed in the derby. Karim Benzema scored for the home side, but the Ballon d'Or winner was outdone by Aleskandar Mitrovic. The Serbian striker, who joined the visitors from Fulham, was the main man in the 4-3 win with a hat-trick. This goal is worth watching...
Underperformers of the weekend
Chelsea's fluctuating form continues. The Blues lost 1-0 to Nottingham at the weekend - even though all the stats suggested they should have managed the game fairly comfortably. The hosts had enough chances to score two goals. However, as former Arsenal player Paul Merson jokingly remarked on X, "Chelsea could play till Monday and wouldn’t score."
Of a whole team of underperformers, we have to pick out striker Nicolas Jackson as the biggest one. He had an open goal in front of him but sent the ball high over the crossbar instead.
Social media highlight
While Chelsea's current players had no reason to rejoice this weekend, one former player showed he can celebrate for two. Damien Duff, a retired winger who also played for Newcastle and Fulham, is now coaching Shelbourne in his native Ireland. His players turned the game against St Patricks around with two goals late on and the coach duly enjoyed the celebrations with the fans.
Statistics of the weekend
Erling Haaland is hard to stop at Manchester City, even though he may only have a few touches of the ball per game. He scored a hat-trick in City's 5-1 win at the weekend, becoming the fastest player in Premier League history to have a hand in 50 goals (41 goals and 9 assists). He managed to do it in 39 games, four matches faster than Manchester United legend Andy Cole.
The story of the weekend
Any technology is only as good as the people who operate it. That's why VAR can sometimes bring more chaos than order to football. However, few probably expected the kind of theatrics that Portugal experienced at the weekend. FC Porto hosted Arouca and were surprisingly behind after a goal in the 83rd minute.
Then home team's striker Mehdi Taremi went down in the penalty area in the 90th minute and referee Miguel Nogueira, after a moment's hesitation, awarded a penalty. When he wanted to confirm his decision with a video replay, he found that the screen was not working, so he had to call his colleagues on his phone. He then called both coaches over and explained that he was calling off the penalty.
As if the situation wasn't absurd enough, Porto did end up taking one penalty kick later... and missed it. In the 19th minute of stoppage time they managed to grab an equaliser, but in spite of the point won, Porto protested the referee's behaviour and demanded a replay.
Photo of the weekend
The phrase that Lionel Messi is the biggest attraction in MLS applies a hundredfold in Los Angeles. In a match against LAFC which he contributed with two assists, the Argentine magician was watched from the stands by Prince Harry, basketball legend Magic Johnson, actor (and co-owner of the Californian team) Will Ferrell, Oscar winner Leonardo DiCaprio, famous singer Selena Gomez, and more... In short, a star-studded cast.
However, only one fan had a photo with Messi on the pitch - and it's wasn't any of the Hollywood celebrities. The daring fan made his way onto the pitch to the divine LM10. Judging by the fact that he was wearing a Barcelona jersey, he didn't want to attack the Argentine, rather hug him, maybe carry him back to Camp Nou... However, Messi's ever-present bodyguard intervened in time.
