Erling Haaland is practically a cheat code. It hardly seems fair that perhaps the most dominant centre-forward of the modern game just so happens to play for arguably the most peerless Premier League team in history. He almost signle-handedly turned a 1-0 deficit to Brentford into a 2-1 Manchester City win.
One player who might have something to say about the battle to be today's greatest No. 9 is Kylian Mbappé . While he may have gotten off to a slow start in the Spanish capital, the France captain is beginning to look like the great Galactico signing Real Madrid have waited so long for.
Bayer Leverkusen have no such generational talent up front, but last year's historic Bundesliga crown demonstrated that they didn't need one. And after losing in domestic competition for the first time since May 2023, the German champions are again looking like title contenders, regardless of who leads their line. What else happened around Europe this weekend? ESPN's Weekend Review puts a bow on all the continental competition.
Premier League While it's true that Haaland has never scored for Manchester City in a semifinal or a final, he's more than just a flat-track bully. Pep Guardiola's team were in a hole against Brentford on Saturday, losing 1-0 thanks to Yoann Wissa's opener after just 22 seconds and looking like they were ready to concede more. Then up stepped Haaland.
He scored his first from a chance that wasn't even really a chance as the ball bounced around the penalty area, with.