Who Is Hot and Who Is Not in World Football After Weekend of Sept. 26-28
Another weekend of entertaining matches has gone by around the football world, with plenty of stars on the pitch once again showing their class in telling performances or becoming the villains of their respective pieces.
Our regular post-weekend look at the biggest leagues gives us those who are hot and not for their clubs after their most recent displays.
As always, feel free to leave your own suggestions in the comments section.
Hot: Xavi
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Barcelona boss Luis Enrique brought club captain Xavi back into the team for the weekend game against Granada and it paid off in style.
Xavi was one of the side's best players as they romped to a 6-0 win, orchestrating play in his familiar style and letting the Lionel Messi and Co. run riot.
He'll be used more sparingly this season as a result of the purchase of Ivan Rakitic, but if he puts in performances like this every time he comes back into the side, it will be hard to argue against Luis Enrique's use of him, keeping him fresh for big displays when required.
Not: Wayne Rooney
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Way to go from hero to zero.
Wayne Rooney tucked away a fantastic finish on the run to open the scoring for Manchester United against West Ham United at the weekend, before he later kicked out at Stewart Downing in entirely unnecessary fashion.
The new England and Manchester United captain received a straight red card as a result and will miss three games, including the Chelsea fixture.
Hot: Raphael Varane
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Real Madrid took a 2-0 lead away to Villarreal at the weekend, then put in a composed, organised and impressive defensive display in the second half.
That's right: Real Madrid, impressive at the back.
A big part of the change there is the selection of Raphael Varane in recent weeks, with the French centre-back coming in to provide assurance, good reading of the game and the ability to sweep up behind the more aggressive Sergio Ramos, giving Real better balance and more solidity. His work might go unnoticed while Cristiano Ronaldo et al clock up record scoring statistics, but Varane is vital to the European champions.
Not: Carlos Vela
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Real Sociedad have had contrasting fortunes in their matches this season, but they were the better side in their 1-1 draw with Valencia and were perhaps unlucky not to take victory.
While most of the team—especially the midfield and final-third players—were excellent, right-sided attacker Carlos Vela was well below his best, putting in a display that was petulant at best and wasteful at worst.
He was booked and ran a fine line for picking up a second yellow card on three separate occasions, spent much of the game berating the referee and was poor with his end product when moving forward. La Real need him focused and on his game quickly if they are to get back to challenging for European spots this season.
Hot: Jeremy Mathieu
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A second Barcelona player for the day, Jeremy Mathieu was monstrous in his performance against Granada as he helped his side to a sixth successive La Liga clean sheet.
Early on, while the game was open and a little end to end, the French defender went sliding into a number of tackles to keep the Granada front two at bay, while he was quick and aggressive in covering the opposition's counter-attacks.
Another top performance from the new signing.
Not: Donovan Ricketts
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Portland were looking good for a second successive win that would keep them in the Western Conference top five in MLS at the weekend as they took a two-goal lead at Toronto, but they couldn't hold on and lost 3-2.
Goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts was not directly at fault for the goals, but his lack of dominance and unimposing presence was certainly a factor during an out-of-sorts second half for his team.
He spent most of the game flapping about getting nowhere near the ball and being helped by a succession of blocks by defenders, offside flags going his way and the woodwork, before facing four shots on target in the second half—and just that four in the game total—and conceding three times. He also should have made a better attempt to deal with the late winner.
Hot: Michael Bradley
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On the flip side of Ricketts' performance, Michael Bradley was instrumental in Toronto's comeback and dragged his side from defeat to victory.
His set-piece delivery was on target throughout, and in open play he played some critical through balls that kept Portland on the back foot.
Bradley himself took the last-minute free kick that evaded everybody, bounced into the net and won the game for Toronto and earned a priceless three points.
Hot: Arda Turan
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A final choice from La Liga now, with Atletico Madrid's Arda Turan instrumental in his side's thumping 4-0 win over Sevilla.
The Turkish wide attacker was irrepressible on the ball, beating defenders at will and causing plenty of problems as he roved infield, looking for passes into the gaps between central midfielders and centre-backs.
Turan didn't score but was a great outlet for his side and helped keep up the pressure on Sevilla's back line on and off the ball.
