Who Is Hot and Who Is Not in World Football After Weekend of October 24-26
The weekend fixtures are finished in domestic leagues all over the globe, with the football world once more awash with praise and criticism for those who performed exceptionally, failed to be even adequate or were perceived to be anything at all in between those extremes.
As usual, we've taken our look at the best and the worst of the weekend to bring you our Hot or Not choices, covering everything from the Eredivisie and Ligue 1 to Liga MX and, of course, the biggest game of the weekend.
Enjoy our choices, and leave your own thoughts below!
Hot: Jorrit Hendrix
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We kick off with another teenage talent emerging from PSV Eindhoven, Jorrit Hendrix.
The 19-year-old midfielder scored his first goal of the season in the weekend win over Utrecht in a 5-1 victory, putting in a fine all-round performance and building on his recent excellent displays.
He's still finding his way in the game, but Hendrix has shown plenty of promise and has more than played his part in PSV's ascension to the top of the table.
Not: Alexis and Juan Rodriguez
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In La Liga, Getafe decided that their only way to overcome Atletico Madrid on Sunday night would be by means of aggression.
It didn't work; they lost 1-0 and ended with 10 men after Alexis stupidly clattered Mario Mandzukic in the face, and they can count themselves lucky to only total a single red card in the match.
Juan Rodriguez was cynical, sly and dirty with his challenges and repeated stamps off the ball, and he could well face sanctions after the event as a result.
Hot: Camilo Sanvezzo
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Over in Mexico, Queretaro beat league-leaders America in the Liga MX, but the goalscoring hero wasn't Ronaldinho this time.
Instead, Brazilian forward Camilo Sanvezzo continued his recent good form in front of goal by plundering two in the 3-2 victory—including a last-minute winner for his side, who played most of the second half with 10 men.
Sanvezzo is now the league's top scorer with 10 this season, and Queretaro moved back into the top half.
Not: Vito Mannone and Co...Again
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Sunderland's dire defensive run of form continued apace at the weekend, with Wes Brown and Vito Mannone both contributing costly individual errors to gift Arsenal forward Alexis Sanchez a very straight-forward, and match-winning, brace of goals.
After the 8-0 humiliation by Southampton a week ago, Sunderland fans would have been hoping to see much more resilience and concentration by their players this time out.
It wasn't to be, and the club with the league's second-worst defence have slipped into the relegation zone as a result.
Hot: Carlos Eduardo
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Over in France and Ligue 1, Brazilian attacking midfielder Carlos Eduardo—no, not the Rubin Kazan one—hit the headlines with a five-goal salvo at the weekend.
The Nice attacker, on loan from Porto this season, had only managed one goal in his previous five games and scored four in 17 last season—but his most recent outing levelled the combined tally of the past season and a bit in 52 breathless minutes of action.
His side beat Guingamp 7-2 away from home to rise to seventh.
Not: Adrian Ramos
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It's still not happening for Borussia Dortmund. Their nightmare campaign continued at the weekend with a 1-0 home defeat against Hannover, a sixth loss in nine games, which leaves BVB just one place and point above the relegation play-off spot.
While last week we focused on the defence after it shipped five in three league games, this week the attack needs to come under the spotlight for failing to score for the second time in three fixtures.
Adrian Ramos will maybe draw the biggest critics; he didn't even hit the target with his shots—though Marco Reus managed only one on target from a hefty seven attempts. He generally looked to be suffering from the collective drop in confidence and was unsurprisingly subbed.
Per BBC Sport, coach Klopp said: "We have to keep going and ensure that we no longer feel like this after games. We aren't in a good situation in the Bundesliga and that's something we haven't come to terms with until now."
Hot: Saido Berahino
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Back to the English Premier League now and a nod of appreciation to the composure and consistency of West Bromwich Albion striker Saido Berahino.
The youngster endured an up-and-down time of things last year after making his breakthrough, but so far this season, he has been a key performer, importantly finding the net on a regular basis to help the Baggies to just one defeat in their last five games.
His 90th-minute penalty at the weekend rescued a 2-2 home draw against Crystal Palace, registering his seventh league goal of the season in the process. Only megastars Sergio Aguero and Diego Costa have managed more, with nine each.
Hot: Real Madrid's Attack
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We couldn't leave off without a word about El Clasico, of course, and since the overall pregame focus was all about the attacks, it seems appropriate to tip the hat toward the quartet wearing white on Saturday.
Isco, James Rodriguez, Karim Benzema and Cristiano Ronaldo all combined in one flowing move for the third and killer goal at the Santiago Bernabeu as Real ran out 3-1 winners over Barcelona, closing the gap at the top to a single point in the process.
Per BBC Sport, manager Carlo Ancelotti was pleased with the comeback:
"We didn't lose our heads after going behind. We stuck to our ideas and everything came off well. We wanted to attack, with possession, using the wings. In the second half, we won the game because we wanted to win it. This is a very important win for us because Barcelona were very strong, and we achieved our goal of cutting the points gap, so we are very satisfied.
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It was a move which showed all the best of modern attacking football: pressure high up the field, pace, intelligent use of space and positional interchanging between team-mates. It was a great, attack-minded goal from a great, attack-minded team.
The result leaves La Liga with just two points separating the top five sides: Barcelona, Sevilla, Real Madrid, Valencia, Atletico Madrid. It promises both an exciting battle for fourth place and a Champions League spot, and also of course for the title race itself.
With some of those sides facing off against each other as we head into November, points being picked up on a regular basis and teams showing consistency will be key to who emerges victorious.
