Top 10 Performances from Around the World for Weekend of Jan. 30-Feb. 1
Another weekend of action in the world of football has come and gone, with plenty of teams enjoying big performances and big results, yielding important points in their respective chases to avoid relegation, clinch a European spot or win silverware.
We've canvassed the top leagues around the globe for all the best 90-minute displays and scorelines of the weekend, ranking them in order of impressiveness by taking into account opposition, form and final result, among other factors.
Here are our top 10 as we head into February.
10. Newcastle United
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We start in the Premier League and with Newcastle United, who picked up just their third away win of the season as they blitzed a woeful Hull City side by a 3-0 scoreline Saturday.
Remy Cabella, Sammy Ameobi and Yoan Gouffran hit the target to make it a first win in four for the Magpies, keeping them in 11th place in the table.
Hull remain in the drop zone, while Newcastle can start looking up if they keep winning—they play the side directly above them next, Stoke City.
9. Freiburg
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The first half of our ranking is going to have a very Premier League/Bundesliga feel to it. Freiburg come next, with the side who were bottom of the table over the winter break starting 2015 with a bang.
They were behind within 60 seconds against Eintracht Frankfurt on Saturday, but a remarkable second-half comeback saw them score three times in eight minutes before Nils Petersen completed a debut hat-trick near the end of the game.
The result moved Freiburg from 18th to 14th and leaves Borussia Dortmund bottom of the Bundesliga.
8. Tottenham Hotspur
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Tottenham Hotspur headed to West Bromwich Albion on Saturday to face an opponent who have been more resilient of late after appointing Tony Pulis as manager. However, they left the Hawthorns with three points after dealing out a heavy defeat.
Harry Kane scored a brace to surge toward 20 goals for the season by notching two on the day, with Christian Eriksen also scoring in the 3-0 win.
Spurs are now sixth, two points off the top four, with a big game to come next time out. More on that shortly...
7. Mainz
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First, we're heading back to Germany and to Mainz, who started 2015 in the best possible way: a 5-0 home victory over Paderborn on Saturday.
The result saw them leapfrog their opponents and move into 11th place, also giving them a positive goal difference. Yunus Malli scored at the start of each half before two late goals in the final eight minutes gave the scoreline a polished look.
Mainz are away to Hannover 96 next time out.
6. Arsenal
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To the Premier League again and Arsenal now, with the Gunners completing the first half of our ranking for their 5-0 thrashing of Aston Villa at the Emirates Stadium on Sunday.
Mesut Ozil and Olivier Giroud teed each other up brilliantly for the opening two goals before Theo Walcott, Santi Cazorla and Hector Bellerin also got in on the action as Villa capitulated.
Arsenal were the better side throughout when they upped the tempo of their game, and there was no answer from Villa to the movement in attack. Arsenal stay in fifth, outside the top four on goal difference—but that received a handy boost here.
Next Saturday sees Arsenal travel to Spurs for the north London derby.
5. Real Madrid
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A different league! Real Madrid suffered defeat to Real Sociedad in the first half of the season in La Liga, but there were no mistakes this time around, as they fired to a 4-1 win Saturday.
That came after an early setback, with La Real taking a first-minute lead thanks to Aritz Elustondo. However, James Rodriguez and Sergio Ramos had the league-leaders ahead before half-time. Karim Benzema rediscovered his scoring touch last weekend and added a brace here to highlight his recent improvement.
Real Madrid stay top of La Liga, one point clear of Barcelona with a game in hand, which they play on Wednesday against Sevilla.
4. Porto
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To the Primeira Liga in Portugal now, where all the big three took victories this time out—but Porto's was the most impressive by far, romping to a 5-0 win over Pacos de Ferreira on Sunday.
Three of the goals came in the first half, with the fourth added just two minutes after the restart. Ricardo Quaresma netted a first-half brace, with Hector Herrera, Cristian Tello and Jackson Martinez also getting on the scoresheet.
Porto stay second, six points off Benfica, but consistency is everything now if they want to win the title.
3. Sassuolo
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Into the top three and two of our sides come from Serie A in Italy, starting with Sassuolo.
The Neroverdi turned over Inter Milan at the weekend, comfortably beating them, 3-1, thanks to strikes from star attackers Simone Zaza, Nicola Sansone and Domenico Berardi. Both teams ended with 10 men after a late clash saw Sansone sent off, along with Isaac Donkor of Inter.
The three points saw Sassuolo up into 11th; they play Sampdoria away next time out.
2. Torino
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Speaking of Sampdoria, they are presumably going to be out to make up for this weekend's debacle. Torino trounced them, 5-1, on Sunday.
Fabio Quagliarella stole the show, hitting a hat-trick with less than an hour between his first and third goals, before Amauri and Bruno Peres added gloss to the huge win against Champions League-chasing opposition.
Torino face Hellas Verona next time out, having moved into the top half with this victory.
1. Wolfsburg
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Top of our rankings this week could only be one side, and it's a third Bundesliga selection of the weekend: Wolfsburg inflicted the first defeat of the season on league-leading Bayern Munich, winning 4-1 on Friday night to start up 2015 after the winter break.
Bas Dost scored twice in the first half and Kevin De Bruyne repeated the trick in the second, as an emotional night became a memorable one, too.
Wolfsburg are still second, and the gap between themselves and Bayern remains big—eight points now—but both their performance and spirit deserve praising, for they did all they can to keep the league race alive.
