Top 10 Performances from Around the World for Weekend of Sept. 26-28
Another weekend, another glut of impressive performances from teams around the globe.
Our regular worldwide watch brings you all the best displays once again, with a selection of those from Europe's major leagues—La Liga, the Premier League, Serie A and so on—but also the best of those from both North and South America.
Here are our top 10 performances; feel free to discuss and leave your own below.
10. Fluminense
1 of 10
We begin over in Brazil's top flight, where Fluminense picked up their first win in four matches with a surprise 3-1 victory at Sao Paulo.
The home team had been looking to close the gap at the top, sitting in third place, but Flu pushed their own top-three credentials by taking the points.
Fred, Wagner and Dario Conca scored the goals—all in the second half—as Fluminense closed the gap to three points between themselves and Sao Paulo, who remain in third.
9. America
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Next we move to Mexico, where America continue their good form and sit atop the Liga MX after a devastating 4-1 win over Santos Laguna.
The hero of the day was four-goal left-back Miguel Layun, who provided close-range finishes off a set piece, a cut-back and a counter-attack, to add to a 30-yard first-time lob off a clearance.
America have taken seven wins from their opening 10 games and have established a four-point lead at the top.
8. New England Revolution
3 of 10
To MLS now and New England Revolution's vital late win over Sporting KC.
A good performance saw Revolution establish a two-goal lead in the first half, but they squandered that as their Eastern Conference rivals staged a quick comeback after the break.
Jermaine Jones scored five minutes from full time to move New England level with Sporting in the table, with a five-point gap between themselves and sixth-place Toronto in the extremely tight Conference as the end of the regular season looms.
7. Chelsea
4 of 10
Chelsea rolled on to another three points in the Premier League with an almost second-gear win over Aston Villa.
An early lead never looked like being given up and the Blues remain unbeaten at the top of the table after this 3-0 win given to them by Oscar, Diego Costa and Willian.
So far, only Manchester City have stopped Chelsea winning a domestic game this season.
6. Cagliari
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To Serie A now and the big shock result of the weekend.
Cagliari sat bottom of the table and winless before this latest round of games, and faced a trip to unbeaten Inter Milan on Sunday when they were not expected to get much of a result once more.
However, Albin Ekdal inspired Cagliari to a 4-1 win as he notched a hat-trick, taking advantage of the extra man after wing-back Yuto Nagatomo had been sent-off.
5. Schalke 04
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The Revierderby between Schalke and Borussia Dortmund took place in the Bundesliga over the weekend, with the home side emerging victorious by a 2-1 scoreline.
BVB might have had more possession and chances at goal, but in a game where the three points mattered above everything after both teams had made an indifferent start to the season, S04 had more in front of goal in the first half to bring a two-goal lead.
Even with the win, Schalke are still lingering down in 10th place, so continued good results are a must to get themselves back toward the Champions League spots.
4. West Bromwich Albion
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The biggest result of the Premier League weekend came for West Bromwich Albion, who pummelled newly promoted Burnley by a 4-0 scoreline.
Having not won a game in the season up until last week, WBA have suddenly taken back-to-back victories and surged up the table, with their dominant and clinical win this weekend a huge confidence booster ahead of a run of games which sees them play Liverpool next, followed by Manchester United.
West Brom moved up to 10th with the win.
3. Roma
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AS Roma put in a hugely dominant performance at the weekend to beat Hellas Verona and maintain their 100 percent start to the season.
Alessandro Florenzi and Mattia Destro—the latter with an outrageous long-range lob—scored the goals to seal a fifth win from five games.
Roma's team performance stole the show with 71 percent possession and 23 shots throughout the game, with only some good defensive blocks and wayward shooting stopping the scoreline taking on a more realistic reflection of the game itself.
[WhoScored.com for stats]
2. Atletico Madrid
9 of 10
Atletico Madrid gunned their season back into life with a resounding win over Champions-League-spot challengers Sevilla.
The most complete performance of the campaign so far saw them win 4-0 against the Andalucian side who came into the match unbeaten this season and in La Liga's top three—a place since taken by Atleti themselves.
Atleti are one of four La Liga sides still unbeaten this season and sit two points off the leaders as they seek to defend their title.
1. Barcelona
10 of 10
Our top performance of the weekend goes to La Liga leaders Barcelona.
The Catalan team swept Granada away with a complete and polished performance, showing aggression from back to front to press, win back the ball very quickly and be devastating in front of goal, scoring six without reply on Saturday evening.
Neymar got a hat-trick, Leo Messi scored twice and Ivan Rakitic scored his second Barcelona goal as Luis Enrique's team stayed top, without conceding a goal after six matches.
