World Football's Monday Morning Hangover: Wins for Every Major League Favourite

Welcome to world football's Monday Morning Hangover, an homage to the NFL section’s own Monday Morning Hangover, where we round up the key stories and important points from the last weekend in world football.

This time around we're looking at the top-end of La Liga after three match-days in a week, plus our regular look at the best of the rest.

Established Order...Re-Established

Three games in succession so early on in the season can help to give teams a big confidence boost if they string together form and results, and that's pretty much what has happened for the big three in La Liga.

Real Madrid put back-to-back defeats to one side to go all-out-attack against Deportivo and Elche, putting 13 goals past those two sides alone. The 2-0 victory against Villarreal on Saturday was altogether more impressive, though.

Real were incisive and clinical with their chances in the first half of the match, where Cristiano Ronaldo scored his 10th of the season after Luka Modric's top-drawer opener.

Villarreal are no mere cannon-fodder of the type of some of Real's previous victories; last season they battled for a top-four spot for some time and, although their squad isn't the deepest, they are a compact, hard-working unit who attack at speed and with numbers. Madrid, however, showed a far more resolute and organised side to their game in the second half, negating Villarreal's attempts to get back into the game and seeing out a 2-0 win.

Denis Doyle/Getty Images

As much as the likes of Raphael Varane should be noted for what he has brought to the team, Villarreal badly missed the direct running and creativity of Denis Cheryshev—on loan from Real and not eligible to play unless his temporary side shelled out a cool extra €250,000 for the 90 minutes.

Meanwhile, Atletico Madrid put in perhaps their best performance of the season so far to trounce Sevilla 4-0 on Saturday. With Koke and Arda Turan stealing the show from the wide areas of attack, the reigning La Liga champions continued their unbeaten start to the season and found some of the swagger missing in wins over the likes of Eibar and Almeria of late.

This was quality on the ball as well as their usual relentless, energetic and hard-working displays, and it bodes well for the team as Diego Simeone finishes his touchline ban, too.

The biggest performance though had to be Barcelona, who simply steamrollered Granada with a 6-0 scoreline.

David Ramos/Getty Images

To the casual observer it doesn't seem much—Barca routinely pick up huge wins—but this was a Granada side who had made an unbeaten start to the season until last midweek, and even then had only conceded three goals.

Xavi, Lionel Messi and Ivan Rakitic were all in irrepressible form going forward, while Neymar was opportunistic and lethal with his hat-trick, even if his all-round performance still left room to improve.

The Also-Rans, Dropping Points Together

Sevilla's 4-0 reversal has been mentioned, but their pain in defeat would perhaps be a little lessened by the fact that all of their serious top-four challengers dropped points this weekend.

Matt Dunham/Associated Press

Valencia's good run was ended by Real Sociedad, who were the better side but could only manage a 1-1 draw at home after Los Che had initially taken the lead. Aside from a 15-minute spell after scoring, Valencia looked sluggish and really failed to take hold of the ball for any length of time. Dani Parejo fleetingly showed his ability to make incisive passes and Paco Alcacer was a willing runner, but the rest of the midfield squandered possession too easily and it was arguably the first difficult game of the season for manager Nuno and his new-look side.

Elsewhere, Villarreal were of course defeated by Real Madrid, and Athletic Bilbao continued their very difficult start to the new campaign by being held to a home 0-0 draw by Eibar.

Fourth place in La Liga is very much open and up for grabs to whoever can show the most consistency this season, so improvements from all are required sooner rather than later.

You Can't Beat the Best

Real, Barca, Atleti—all won in Spain this weekend.

Tim Ireland/Associated Press

In England, the Premier League is being almost universally accepted as being a two-horse race this season, and both Manchester City and Chelsea picked up victories once more.

Italy? Check. Roma and Juventus both won, picking up clean sheets in the process, with both still enjoying 100 percent records in Serie A.

Bayern Munich also recorded another win in the Bundesliga, moving top of the table with a 2-0 win over Koln.

It's coincidental, but it also perhaps goes to show that the best are the best for a reason: whether challenging themselves or each other, they perform and pick up victories with such relentless consistency that it becomes second nature for opponents to look to avoid defeat against them, rather than trying to win themselves.

David Vincent/Associated Press

While we mention "the best," by the way, the Champions League returns this midweek. Barcelona play Paris Saint-Germain—who won't be highlighted as part of that group here after only drawing against Toulouse, their fifth draw in eight Ligue 1 games. The best?

Goal of the Weekend

This goal was the best. It's a barnstorming hit. And no, it's not Lucas Piazon. Step forward, Tomasz Brzyski!

Goal of the Weekend Runner-Up

Oh fine, go on then. Here's Lucas Piazon's immense late free-kick, another top-drawer strike.

"

#CFC loanee Lucas Piazon scores a stunning last minute free kick to win the game for E.Frankfurt. https://t.co/9mMojkcEC4

— SPORTSDEK (@SPORTSDEK) September 29, 2014"

Take Note(s)

• Wayne Rooney has taken a fair amount of flak for his ludicrous challenge and subsequent red card at the weekend, with many on social media claiming a captain should show a better example than the Manchester United man managed. Are they the same who claim captains need to be leaders, be aggressive, control games for their side? Nemanja Vidic was sent off eight times for United. Roy Keane saw red seven times in the league. It's Rooney's first league red for five years.
• With Bayern Munich going clear at the top of the Bundesliga, a defeat at Schalke couldn't have come at a worse time for Borussia Dortmund. The good news for them is that midfielder Ilkay Gundogan finally looks about ready to make a comeback, per Goal.com.
• It wasn't looking too clever for Alan Irvine a week ago, but the new West Bromwich Albion boss has picked up six points and two clean sheets in the last two matches. There's a long way to go, but the Baggies are suddenly not under scrutiny and it will mean preparing with a lot less pressure for the rookie Premier League boss.
• In Italy, Juve have yet to concede a goal. In Spain, Barcelona match that. Between the top flights in Italy, Spain, France and Germany, a total of 10 teams have conceded three or less goals so far this season, after a minimum of five games and up to having played eight. In England, not one single team can match that after six fixtures. Does the Premier League no longer defend?

Derby Defeat with a Point

Looking at the Premier League, two big derbies took centre-stage.

Liverpool-Everton was the first one, with both sides looking to offer improved performances and results than they had managed of late.

The Reds were the better side throughout and looked as though they were in for a controlled victory after Steven Gerrard's free-kick, before an injury-time rocket from Phil Jagielka stole a point for the blues and meant that in their last five league games, both teams have only won once apiece.

While an away point is no bad thing for Everton in such a game, Liverpool would have felt like the win was snatched away and replaced with a loss. Midfielder Jordan Henderson explained the side's frustrations, per LiverpoolFC.com:

"

That's football—you're going to get blows like that at times. You've just got to keep going and it's about how you react in the next game. Performance-wise, we can be very pleased. But we're really disappointed we haven't come away with the three points. I thought we dominated the game and deserved to win.

"

Liverpool now face Basel in the Champions League before domestic games against West Brom and Queens Park Rangers—matches they will absolutely be expected to take maximum points from.

Must-Not-Lose Rather than Must-Win?

The second derby of the Premier League afternoon saw the north London clubs do battle, with Arsenal and Tottenham similarly sharing the spoils with a 1-1 draw.

Tottenham were initially on the front foot and led for much of the second half, but rather than compounding that victory sought to sit and defend it as Arsenal reestablished control of the match. A late equaliser from Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain naturally then saw momentum shift entirely, with the Gunners going all-out for a late winner.

Spurs' approach and mentality as the game wore on, away from home especially, was no huge surprise, but it again bears questioning—perhaps especially in light of that stat above on Premier League defences—over whether protecting a lead is the right approach in this type of game rather than looking to seal the win itself.

Manager Mauricio Pochettino suggested, per BBC Sport, his side want to attack more, but felt they did well at the other end of the pitch, despite barely holding on at the end for the point.

"

I think it is a good result for us. Maybe Arsenal controlled the game and had the ball more than us but we played well and defended well. We scored a great goal. This is our philosophy, which is difficult to keep for 90 minutes at the moment, but we are on our way.

"

With Spurs only having managed eight goals in six so far, Pochettino still has work to do to get the players at his disposal showing the same levels of creativity and efficiency in the final third as will be expected of him as the season goes on.