Top 10 Performances from Around the World for Weekend of Nov. 7-9
Our latest look at weekend performances around the world of football saw teams pick up big points in top-of-the-table clashes and rival fixtures, with some claiming a few surprise results against so-called better teams.
As usual, we've selected the the best displays and results from the past few days to compile the Top 10 performances from all the major leagues.
Feel free to leave your own suggestions below!
10. Queens Park Rangers
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We start our list with a team who didn't actually claim victory: Premier League side QPR.
Rangers pushed Manchester City all the way on Saturday evening, despite starting the game one place off the foot of the table and struggling for points.
The front two of Bobby Zamora and Charlie Austin, together with Eduardo Vargas, created plenty of danger, and QPR were unfortunate to only take a single point from a 2-2 draw. Without the magic of Sergio Aguero in City's attack, QPR would certainly have won the match—and deservedly so.
9. Stoke City
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Sticking in the Premier League, Stoke City moved up to ninth place with a deserved and hard-fought 2-1 victory at Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday.
Bojan Krkic and Victor Moses were the unlikely stars of the show as Stoke tore through Spurs in the first half, picking up a two-goal lead that ultimately proved enough to take the points.
Spurs, meanwhile, drop down to 12th after one win in four.
8. Real Madrid
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Real Madrid picked up a hugely impressive 13th win in a row in all competitions at the weekend, beating Rayo Vallecano 5-1 at home.
It wasn't anywhere near being Real's most polished display of that run, especially defensively, but the ruthlessness, speed and confidence of the Real attack was once again far more than any opponent could handle.
Gareth Bale was back from injury and scored within 10 minutes, while Sergio Ramos, Toni Kroos, Karim Benzema and Cristiano Ronaldo all also found the target.
7. Olympique Lyonnais
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To Ligue 1 now and Lyon picked up a fifth successive win with a 3-1 victory over Guingamp.
Their impressive attack once again saw Lyon to victory, with Alexandre Lacazette scoring his 11th goal of the season and Nabil Fekir adding two more. Lyon remain in third place, two points off the top.
Les Gones face Bastia next time out.
6. Real Sociedad
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Real Sociedad have managed to pick up a total of two wins in La Liga this term: against the reigning European champions, Real Madrid, and now the reigning league champions, Atletico Madrid.
Their 2-1 win over Atleti looked miles away after the opening 15 minutes, as the capital side took an early lead and looked by far the stronger team. However, La Real dug deep to get themselves back in the game and produced a superb performance to take the three points.
Aggressive, fast-tempo attacks and a rare display of solid defending combined to give Sociedad a much-needed victory—though too late for sacked boss Jagoba Arrasate.
5. Bayern Munich
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Bayern Munich remain top of the Bundesliga and four points clear of their nearest challengers after another thoroughly convincing win this weekend.
Thomas Muller netted a hat-trick and Xherdan Shaqiri added a late final strike as they overcame Eintracht Frankfurt with relative ease, moving to 11 league games and no defeats for the 2014-15 season.
It was also another clean sheet for the side, who have only conceded three so far this term.
4. Paris Saint-Germain
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Questions were being asked of Laurent Blanc not long ago, but his PSG side picked up their biggest win of the season against table-toppers and rivals Marseille in Le Classique at the weekend.
The three points on Sunday night came courtesy of goals from Lucas Moura and Edinson Cavani—a sixth of the season for each—which made it four consecutive league victories for PSG.
They closed the gap on Marseille to a single point and put Marcelo Bielsa's side under plenty of pressure by handing the leaders their second loss in three games.
3. LA Galaxy
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The MLS regular season is over and the play-offs have already proven exciting, with LA Galaxy putting in a top display this weekend.
Their second leg against Real Salt Lake was a very one-sided affair in terms of scoring chances and, of course, clinical edge—Landon Donovan and Robbie Keane inspiring Galaxy to a 5-0 win and passage to the regional final.
Donovan hit a hat-trick and one assist, with Keane reversing that to claim one goal and three assists.
2. Terek Grozny
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A week ago, Zenit were beating league rivals CSKA Moscow to go a dozen games unbeaten in the Russian Premier League. This week, they've unexpectedly lost at home to a Terek Grozny side that had won once in three games beforehand.
For Terek, it marks one of the best results anywhere in Europe this weekend, and we'll give them second in our rankings on the back of it, after their defensive fortitude and clinical ability in attack saw them beat the league leaders 3-1.
Ailton hit two and Igor Lebedenko scored a third before Zenit started to muster a response. Incidentally, Hulk missed a first-half penalty at 0-1.
1. Juventus
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Top of the pile for this week and top of the pile in Italy are Serie A champions Juventus.
They faced weak opposition in Parma at the weekend. Despite being one off the foot of the table, Parma recorded a win over Inter Milan last week, but Juve swept them aside by a 7-0 scoreline.
Carlos Tevez scored twice—one a fantastic solo dribble that ended with a composed finish—while fellow strikers Fernando Llorente and Alvaro Morata netted a brace apiece. They are three points clear at the top of Serie A and the top scorers in the league, while Parma sank back to the bottom.
