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Harry Kane collected the Ballon d'Or at the Palladium Theatre on Monday night. On Saturday he walks into the Allianz Arena for a first-against-second Klassiker, with Bayern Munich's head coach in hospital, their best creator in a brace and Borussia Dortmund carrying the meanest defence in Germany.
The Lead · Munich
The two facts sit oddly together. On Monday night in London, Harry Kane became the first Englishman in 25 years to win the Ballon d'Or, an award built on the 73 goals in 65 games he scored for club and country across 2025-26. On Wednesday morning in Munich, the official Bayern Munich line on his head coach was that a diagnosis is still pending. Somewhere between those two sentences is the strangest week this club has had in years, and at the end of it comes Borussia Dortmund.
Start with the collapse, because everything else at Bayern is downstream of it. On Friday Vincent Kompany was watching the second team train when he went down. He was taken to hospital and kept there. Sporting director Max Eberl said his condition was stable and the headaches had stopped, but that doctors had not finished their work. Sport Bild reports heart attack and stroke ruled out, with the medical focus on a head problem. Assistant Aaron Danks took the team to Freiburg the next day and won 3-1. Kompany is not expected on the bench on Saturday.
What Bayern did in the 48 hours after that is why they are still top. At Freiburg they played without Luis Diaz (a muscle tear from the Arsenal draw), Jamal Musiala, Manuel Neuer, Aleksandar Pavlovic, and captain Joshua Kimmich, who is away from the squad after the death of his father. Dayot Upamecano headed in a Michael Olise cross, Serge Gnabry scored his 100th Bundesliga goal in his first league start of the season, and Olise finished it in stoppage time. Bayern's own numbers put them at 2.99 expected goals to 1.05.
Eberl was unusually candid afterwards. "I don't think we really understand what we've achieved this week," he said. "The win means three points, but it was a bigger win than just three points." Danks, asked about his absent manager's message to the squad, reported it verbatim: "Brilliant. Now get some rest." Bayern are 22 Bundesliga games unbeaten and lead the division for goals, shots, possession and distance covered.
Not burning yourself out in those circumstances is a special skill.Lars Ricken, Borussia Dortmund sporting managing director, on the demands on a head coach, via Get German Football News
The most generous words of the week came from the opposition boardroom. Borussia Dortmund's sporting managing director Lars Ricken wished Kompany "all the best and a speedy recovery" and then talked about the job itself: the match every three days, the 200-plus press conferences a season that Niko Kovac gets through. Chief executive Carsten Cramer went further. "I thought the way FC Bayern handled the situation was exemplary," he said, before noting that a head coach has at least ten difficult conversations with non-starters before every match. It is not often that Klassiker week opens with the two clubs agreeing about anything.
On the pitch this is the league's best attack against its best defence, and the gap in style is enormous. Dortmund have conceded four goals in seven games, kept five clean sheets, and allowed the lowest expected goals and only three clear-cut chances in the division. Kovac has them unbeaten away from home, and they arrive on the back of a 1-0 win over Eintracht Frankfurt and a DFB-Pokal night that showed both sides of them.
That cup tie is the one piece of evidence that Dortmund can be got at. They led Werder Bremen 2-0 inside 17 minutes through Serhou Guirassy and Carney Chukwuemeka, then Niclas Fullkrug came off the bench and scored twice in about three minutes. Marcel Sabitzer rescued it with a free kick at 90+3, and only because Kovac overruled his own defenders from the touchline. "I then shouted from the sideline, 'Sabi, please shoot!'" he told ZDF. "Because I know what kind of shot he has."
Which brings it back to Kane, and a small statistical joke. The man who just won the Ballon d'Or has four Bundesliga goals this season and sits behind Fullkrug, Olise, Patrik Schick and others in his own league's scoring chart. Against Dortmund, though, his record is 10 goals in 11 games, and Dortmund have won three of the last 23 meetings in all competitions and only once at the Allianz Arena in the Bundesliga since 2013-14. NBC Sports, which has the game in the United States, still went for 1-1, on the grounds that neither side has kept a Bundesliga clean sheet in four matches.
The stakes are simpler than the Bundesliga usually allows. Both clubs are on 17 points from seven games, with Bayern ahead only on goal difference. The winner goes clear; a draw leaves them locked together and leaves the rest of Germany where it has been for most of this decade. Fernando Carro of Bayer Leverkusen made that point this week in response to the news that the Viessmann Generations Group had bought about 6.7 per cent of FC Bayern Munchen AG for 250 million euros. "No, the next titles are not cemented," Carro said, which is the kind of denial that tells you what everyone is thinking.
Der Klassiker: Route and Key Facts
Sources: bundesliga.com, fcbayern.com, NBC Sports and Get German Football News, all October 24 to 28.
Ballon d'Or 2026: The Top Ten
Monday October 26, Palladium Theatre, London, the first time outside France. Rankings per Sky Sports.
Manchester United are 16th, winless in eight and were beaten 3-0 at home by Bournemouth with their captain dropped. Michael Carrick kept his job on Monday for one reason: the club has not settled on who replaces him.
The sequence is now familiar enough to be a genre. On Wednesday Manchester United lost 4-1 at Como in the Champions League, in a 10,000-seat stadium, to a club playing its first European campaign at this level. On Thursday their captain gave an interview to Sky Sport Italia. On Sunday they lost 3-0 at home to Bournemouth, with that captain sitting on the bench for 90 minutes. On Monday the executives met and decided to keep the manager anyway.
Bruno Fernandes said this, among other things, to Sky Sport Italia's Pierluigi Bagnulo: "At this club, we focus too much on what was achieved in the past, but we are no longer the same." And, on the run itself: "Unfortunately, it's one of those moments where it seems like we can't get out of it." Gary Neville on Sky Sports called it "a direct attack on the manager." Carrick left him out against Bournemouth and gave no public reason.
What followed was one of the bleaker afternoons Old Trafford has staged. Rayan scored at the far post from a Justin Kluivert free kick on 38 minutes, Marcus Tavernier added a second on 43 after a Leny Yoro slip, and Evanilson beat Senne Lammens to the ball on 71. The Stretford End turned its anger on the Glazer family, Sir Jim Ratcliffe and director of football Jason Wilcox, then sang Carrick's name as he walked off. Marco Rose, whose Bournemouth side have won four in a row, said simply: "We were just Bournemouth today."
Opta records seven points from eight games as United's worst start to a league season since 1986-87. They have also suffered seven home defeats by three goals or more in all competitions since 2023-24, more than any other Premier League club.
The decision not to sack him was a decision about the replacement rather than the incumbent. Chief executive Omar Berrada and Wilcox met at Carrington on Monday and gave Carrick at least one more game. Fabrizio Romano, speaking on Wednesday, put the order of preference as Eddie Howe first, then Julian Nagelsmann, then Antonio Conte, with Unai Emery admired but, as Romano framed it, very attractive and very difficult to get while he is under contract at Aston Villa. United have spoken to representatives, Romano said, but have not yet said "okay, let's go for this coach." The Athletic's reading is that the November international break is the realistic decision point, which gives Carrick Chelsea on Saturday, Roma on Tuesday and Aston Villa after that. Ratcliffe is reported to be flying in for Stamford Bridge, a ground at which he has never seen his club win.
The Carrick File
Sources: Sky Sports, ESPN, Opta via AfricaSoccer and Fabrizio Romano, October 25 to 28.
No window is open, so nothing here has been signed. What follows is the paper trail as it stood on Wednesday, with the stage of each deal stated plainly and the reporter or outlet named.
The most advanced January deal in Europe is also the least priced. Bournemouth's owner has admitted on the record that his midfielder has turned down the chance to become the club's highest earner.
Bill Foley, who owns Bournemouth, went on talkSPORT last week and said the quiet part out loud: the club "haven't given up" on a new contract for Alex Scott, that Scott has rejected several offers including one that would have made him the best-paid player at the club, and that talks will continue through the year. Foley also mentioned Manchester City as the kind of club players are drawn towards. For an owner, that is close to a concession.
On the Chelsea side, the furthest-reaching claim comes from the Chelsea journalist Simon Phillips, who said on his YouTube channel on October 19 that Scott has verbally agreed personal terms that fit Chelsea's wage structure and include a Champions League qualification bonus, and that Chelsea want to agree a base fee of 90 million pounds. Phillips added his own caveat: "it's not done until it's done." Football365, reporting it, labelled it honestly as coming from a journalist rather than a club. Nothing has been agreed between the two clubs.
The asking price is the part nobody agrees on. FootballTransfers put it at "over 100 million euros" on October 22; SempreMilan put it at 140 million euros on October 27, while reporting that AC Milan's interest is fading because, in its words, Chelsea are accelerating. Those two figures are five days apart and should not be averaged. ESPN frames Chelsea's motive as replacing Enzo Fernandez, and Liverpool are expected to compete, with Andoni Iraola reportedly keen to work with Scott again.
Monaco's chief executive has said publicly that Folarin Balogun is going in January, and explained why: the money is what lets the club keep Lamine Camara and Aleksandr Golovin until the summer.
Most January stories are built from anonymous sourcing. This one comes from Monaco's own chief executive. Thiago Scuro has confirmed on the record that Folarin Balogun is set to leave in the winter window, and tied it directly to French football's financial rules: selling the striker is what allows Monaco to keep Lamine Camara and Aleksandr Golovin to the end of the season. He also admitted there is no guarantee a buyer appears.
Juventus are the named interest, reported by beIN Sports on October 27, and ESPN's round-up has Saudi Pro League clubs circling. Balogun's summer move to Everton collapsed after a failed medical, and when Everton came back late on deadline day the player declined.
The second-order consequence is the interesting one, and nobody is writing it. Camara already had a move agreed once: the Evening Standard reported a fee of 47 million pounds settled with Chelsea and a six-year contract ready, before Monaco pulled out on deadline day. Monaco now want 70 million euros. But if no Balogun buyer materialises by late January, Monaco's own stated logic says the compliance money has to come from somewhere, and Camara is the only asset big enough to provide it.
AC Milan want Markus Krosche to run their recruitment. A buyout clause worth between five and seven million euros is in the way, and Gerry Cardinale wants the matter closed before the derby.
Markus Krosche has just left Eintracht Frankfurt, where he built a reputation for buying cheaply and selling high. He is Gerry Cardinale's preferred candidate to be AC Milan's head of football. According to Calciomercato's Daniele Longo, writing on October 27, Krosche and Cardinale agree on the project and on his remit, money is not the obstacle, and the thing holding it up is the buyout clause in his Frankfurt contract, which runs to 2028 and which Longo puts at five to seven million euros. Milan do not want to pay it, and Krosche is talking to his former employer about a solution.
Matteo Moretto reported as far back as June that Krosche had already reached an agreement with Milan; against that, SempreMilan carried a Sky Germany line that there are no advanced negotiations. The contracts, meanwhile, are nearly done. Corriere dello Sport reported on Wednesday that Christian Pulisic has a verbal agreement on an extension to 2031 worth around five million euros a year, with only the signature missing. Adrien Rabiot's renewal, per Gazzetta dello Sport, is roughly two years plus an option, and Cardinale wants it signed by Christmas. On the pitch, Longo reports Milan's January priority is defensive cover rather than a striker, with Goncalo Inacio, Kim Min-jae, Thiago Gabriel and Daniele Ghilardi named. Milan also want Endrick, where they are not alone.
Two buy-back clauses, both exercisable in 2027, sit over the two players who have made Como the surprise of Serie A. One of them is priced at nine million euros.
Nico Paz scored twice as Como beat Manchester United 4-1 last Wednesday and then headed in the 87th-minute winner at Torino on Tuesday. He belongs, commercially, to a structure Real Madrid designed. In June, Madrid activated a nine million euro buy-back on him and immediately sold him back to Como for 60 million, keeping a second buy-back worth 80 million euros exercisable in 2027. Madrid Universal, citing the Spanish journalist Ramon Alvarez, reported on October 24 that Madrid are considering activating it and want to exercise it. Como are not selling: TEAMtalk has them asking as much as 100 million euros if anyone approaches.
The less-noticed clause is the bigger bargain. TuttoMercatoWeb reported on Wednesday that Jacobo Ramon, the 21-year-old centre back Como bought from Madrid for 2.5 million euros in 2025 and who headed in their equaliser at Torino, is covered by a buy-back of nine million euros, exercisable in three separate windows, the next of which falls in 2027, plus a 50 per cent share of any future resale. Ramon's current valuation is put at 45 to 50 million euros. Chelsea and Manchester United are among the clubs named as interested, as is Arsenal.
Put plainly: the club that dragged itself into the Champions League and up to fourth in Serie A may lose both of the players who got it there, at prices it does not set.
Khvicha Kvaratskhelia has a torn cruciate ligament and is out for months. Paris Saint-Germain have approached two different left-sided forwards and bid for neither.
The injury is the whole story. Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, sixth in Monday's Ballon d'Or voting, faces many months out with a torn ACL. Paris Saint-Germain have since moved on two fronts without committing to either. Sky Germany reported, through three separate outlets between October 27 and 28, that PSG have made their interest in Bayer Leverkusen's Ibrahim Maza known directly to the player's camp and are considering a winter move, with Manchester City monitoring. Florian Plettenberg, quoted by Foot Mercato, says Leverkusen want to extend Maza beyond his current 2030 contract with a salary rise, and that PSG are one of several clubs on his shortlist. Maza is 20, cost 12 million euros a year ago, is valued at around 50 million now and has three goals and three assists in ten games. Leverkusen are not willing to sell.
The second approach is for Chelsea's Estevao, and Chelsea have set the price of a conversation. Per TEAMtalk, relayed by Sports Mole on Wednesday, a January loan would come with no option to buy, the borrowing club covering his entire salary, and assurances of significant playing time. The third condition is the awkward one for PSG. Estevao, who cost 38 million pounds in 2025, has played 172 minutes in eight appearances under Xabi Alonso. 90min has separately reported that Chelsea will only consider a loan.
Luis Enrique is publicly unbothered, saying an injury does not automatically mean a new player must be signed. There is a second contradiction behind him: Canal Plus reported on October 22 that PSG are not planning to sign a goalkeeper this winter, and Le Parisien reported on October 24 that they are open to it, with Matvey Safonov still first choice. Both cannot be right, and the disagreement is itself the news. Separately, RMC Sport reported on October 23 that PSG have opened extension talks with Desire Doue, whose contract runs to 2029, and made a first verbal offer.
Everything still simmering, with the stage it has actually reached. Treat anything marked single-sourced as exactly that.
Bruno Fernandes (Manchester United). Football Insider, relayed by The Peoples Person on October 26, reports United are weighing a sale next summer, triggering the one-year extension on his deal first so he does not leave for nothing. He is 32 and in the final year of his contract. TEAMtalk, through CaughtOffside, says Galatasaray have cooled and Al Hilal are the likeliest destination; that is aggregator to aggregator and should be read as such. Reported release-clause figures range from 57 million pounds to "less than 60 million" and date from January, so no single number is live. Stage: club intention reported, no talks.
Alexis Mac Allister (Liverpool). Get French Football News, carrying the Franco-Belgian reporter Sacha Tavolieri on Wednesday, reports Liverpool did not offer him an extension while other midfielders got one, that he was upset about it, that a summer departure is envisaged, and that his representatives have contacted clubs in La Liga, Serie A and Saudi Arabia. His deal runs to 2028. This Is Anfield reported this month that Liverpool have a new contract prepared, which points the other way. Stage: agent-side activity, named reporter, no destination, conflicting club intent.
Jarell Quansah (Bayer Leverkusen) is the under-reported mechanism of the week. Sky Germany, via Get German Football News on October 22, says Liverpool hold a buy-back worth 70 million euros that becomes active in 2027, after an earlier option at the same figure expired. Real Madrid are among those interested. Quansah: "I just have to concentrate on playing this season. I can't do more than that." Stage: clause reported by a tier-one German source; interest at link level.
Joshua Zirkzee (Manchester United) is wanted by Napoli, where sporting director Giovanni Manna has contacted the club and the player's entourage and talks could start in early November, per Area Napoli; wages of around 4.3 million euros a year are the obstacle, and Juventus are also interested. Ronald Araujo, on loan at Liverpool from Barcelona, is the subject of permanent-deal work according to the former Manchester United chief scout Mick Brown; a 47 million pound option has been reported but appears in neither club's official announcement. Jadon Sancho, a free agent, has an official proposal from Getafe.
Julian Alvarez (Atletico Madrid). The saga cooled in public this week. After the win over Deportivo A Coruna on October 24, Alvarez apologised to Atletico supporters for World Cup comments that had been read as an invitation to Barcelona: "It was a mistake on my part, both in the way and in the choice of the moment," he said, per Argentine outlets, with Diego Simeone publicly backing the apology. Atletico will not facilitate a sale and continuity to 2027 is described as the likeliest outcome. His release clause is 500 million euros. Stage: rumour. Club stance on the record.
Endrick (Real Madrid). Matteo Moretto, on Radio MARCA, says a January exit remains possible and that AC Milan and Roma both want him, Roma especially, and that Madrid rejected Milan's summer approach because Jose Mourinho wanted to keep him. Fabrizio Romano has named Milan, Aston Villa and Liverpool, and reported that Liverpool moved in the final hours of the last window. Mourinho, in mid-October: "Anyone interested will have to fight me hard." Stage: concrete interest from two clubs, manager publicly blocking.
Alejandro Balde (Barcelona). Calciomercato, citing Il Messaggero, reports Jorge Mendes has re-offered his client to Roma, who have not closed the door and have wanted a wing back for Gian Piero Gasperini since the summer window shut. Balde has played three matches all season and would accept a loan. Barca Universal says no formal approach has been made and Barcelona's valuation is around 50 million euros. The replacement is already named: per Sport, Andrea Cambiaso is a priority on Deco's list, and Juventus want at least 30 million for him, which is precisely the position Nicolo Schira reported Juventus plan to recruit. Buried in the same piece, and worth more attention than it has had: Sport reports Jules Kounde could leave Barcelona, with Bayern Munich interested.
Trent Alexander-Arnold (Real Madrid) has made four starts under Mourinho and played one minute of the Clasico, entering in the 94th. Football Today reports he has no interest in a January exit; Football365 has run the opposite framing. The sourcing on both sides is thin. Kylian Mbappe, for the avoidance of doubt, has no credible January story attached to him: the only named-journalist item is Daniel Riolo of RMC, three weeks ago, saying a summer departure should not be ruled out.
Finn Jeltsch (VfB Stuttgart) produced the week's cleanest contradiction. Calciomercato's Federico Zanon reported on Wednesday that Inter are working to sign the 20-year-old defender, that their scouts have watched him repeatedly and that contacts with his entourage have been frequent, with Stuttgart wanting close to 40 million euros. The same day Gianluca Di Marzio, speaking to Wettfreunde, valued him at 60 million, said no Italian club is in a position to sign him, that Juventus cannot afford him and that Barcelona are very interested but cannot pay a January fee, and predicted a summer move. Per Sport, Jeltsch is Hansi Flick's first choice and Flick has discussed him with Joan Laporta. Stuttgart are second from bottom in the Bundesliga, which has not softened the price. Stage: concrete interest from two clubs, no bid, summer likelier.
Michael Olise (Bayern Munich) is heading for a renewal. His contract runs to 2029, Real Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain wanted him in the summer and Bayern blocked it. Uli Hoeness, on the record: "During the season we will talk with him about whether he wants to extend." Ramy Bensebaini is the opposite case: Ruhr Nachrichten reports Borussia Dortmund have made no move to extend a contract that expires next summer. And Sport Bild published RB Leipzig's internal sale list on Wednesday, naming Castello Lukeba, Ezechiel Banzuzi, Antonio Nusa, Romulo and Tidiam Gomis, with the required income put in the triple-digit millions. The complication nobody has joined up: Leipzig's own managing director for sport, Marcel Schafer, is one of two finalists to replace Markus Krosche at Eintracht Frankfurt, per Florian Plettenberg.
In Italy, Niccolo Ceccarini of TuttoMercatoWeb set out Napoli's January priorities on Wednesday: at least one midfielder and a striker, with defence left for June. Inter are monitoring Romano Floriani Mussolini of Lazio, valued at around 20 million euros, with a view to approaching next June, while Lazio prepare a renewal starting at 500,000 euros net a season, up from 130,000. Atalanta's stated January plan is that the reinforcements will come from the treatment room. And one passing clause in Ceccarini's piece says Inter switched from Oumar Solet to Manchester City's John Stones as their alternative. It is a single mention with no standalone report behind it, and it would be a significant move if it holds.
The MLS roster freeze came in on October 9, so the past week produced contracts and retirements rather than signings. Emil Forsberg is the exception and the best American scoop of the week: the Swedish outlet Sportbladet reported on Wednesday, followed by amNewYork, that the 35-year-old captain will leave New York Red Bulls after the 2027 Sprint Season and is expected to return to Sweden. The club declined to comment. Philadelphia Union extended the 19-year-old centre back Neil Pierre through summer 2031, and the Philadelphia Inquirer reports he is already drawing major European interest.
Two benches are empty. Los Angeles FC sacked Marc Dos Santos in late September, nine months into the job, and are searching for both a head coach and a general manager at a club whose roster includes Son Heung-min and Denis Bouanga. LA Galaxy have also dismissed Guillermo Barros Schelotto, though we could not verify the date and will not guess it. Lionel Messi's situation, contrary to the recurring rumour, is settled: he signed through 2028 a year ago.
The round played across October 23 to 25 was matchweek 8, and it turned the title race on its head without quite changing the top of it. Manchester City went to Villa Park on Saturday lunchtime and lost 2-1, their first league defeat of the season. Nicolas Jackson scored both for Aston Villa, the first on six minutes after a loose touch by Marc Guehi, the second on 60 with a first-time finish that slid under Gianluigi Donnarumma. Erling Haaland had levelled with a header on 52, and Zion Suzuki denied Rayan Cherki and tipped a Josko Gvardiol shot onto the bar. Enzo Maresca, in his first season replacing Pep Guardiola, was gracious: "Unfortunately we lost but overall we did enough to deserve something more." Unai Emery was more interesting. "This is the level we want to achieve and keep. High demands," he said, before adding: "We are progressing but still under expectation."
Chelsea lost 2-0 at home to Tottenham Hotspur, which was both a bad afternoon and a historically strange one. Mike Penders, the 21-year-old deputising for the concussed Emiliano Martinez, punched a corner into his own net on 77 minutes to become only the second Chelsea goalkeeper to score a Premier League own goal after Petr Cech in 2009. Cole Palmer was sent off three minutes later, the first red card of his career, and Mathys Tel finished it on 87. It was Spurs' first clean sheet at Stamford Bridge in any competition since December 1986 and only their second league win there in 34 visits. Roberto De Zerbi, who has spent roughly 400 million pounds since arriving, allowed himself a verdict: "Now we are a complete team." Xabi Alonso's problems are stacking: a goalkeeping crisis, eight set-piece goals conceded this season, double any other club, and no focal point with Joao Pedro injured.
Elsewhere, Liverpool beat Brighton and Hove Albion 2-0 for Andoni Iraola's first home league win, a Florian Wirtz shot deflecting in off Pascal Gross before Alexander Isak added his sixth of the season. Fabian Hurzeler called it "a missed opportunity." Newcastle United won 2-0 at Crystal Palace through Will Osula and Harvey Barnes, easing the pressure on Matthias Jaissle and raising it on Pierre Sage, whose side have conceded 19 goals, more than anyone. Sunderland drew 0-0 with Leeds United to end a four-game losing run but stayed bottom, Hull City drew 1-1 with Brentford, Fulham won at Coventry City through an Oscar Bobb goal, and Nottingham Forest drew at Ipswich Town while continuing the division's most striking underperformance: six goals from 13.4 expected goals, one win in eight. "This is the question we've been asking ourselves in training every week," said Morgan Gibbs-White.
Off the pitch, two very large things are pending. On September 29 an independent commission found Manchester City guilty of all charges relating to serious breaches of the league's financial rules across nine seasons from 2009-10 to 2017-18, and guilty of three of four alleged breaches of the duty to cooperate. The published findings describe sham commercial contracts, schemes that inflated revenues and reduced costs by more than 900 million pounds, and a club that, in the commission's words, "clearly intended to circumvent the PL Rules." Chief executive Richard Masters called it the most significant case in Premier League history. Sanctions are to be decided separately at a private hearing and no penalty has been announced; we could not confirm this week whether City have appealed, and will not speculate on a points deduction. Separately, Everton were put up for sale on October 9 by the Friedkin Group, two years after it bought the club. And the league now operates a Squad Cost Ratio rather than PSR, allowing clubs to spend up to 85 per cent of their own revenue on squad costs against UEFA's 70 per cent, after a vote that passed by exactly the 14 votes required.
In the Women's Super League, Chelsea and Manchester City lead on 19 points after City were held 1-1 by Manchester United in the derby, Bunny Shaw scoring on her 100th WSL appearance before Elisabeth Terland equalised on 89. Charlton Athletic, in their first WSL season, have lost all seven.
Jose Mourinho went to Camp Nou six points behind the leaders and came away three behind them. Real Madrid won the 265th Clasico 2-1 on Sunday night in front of 62,055, Barcelona's biggest home crowd of the season in a stadium whose current capacity is 62,652. Kylian Mbappe scored both: the first on 41 minutes, when Gerard Martin's attempted clearance deflected off him and in, and the winner on 87, after Jude Bellingham released the substitute Eduardo Camavinga, who beat Joan Garcia to a through ball and cut back for an empty net. Raphinha had equalised on 61 from Pedri. They were Mbappe's 100th and 101st goals for the club and his fifth and sixth in two visits to Barcelona, more than any Real Madrid player has managed there since 2013-14.
Mourinho won it without Vinicius Junior, who is serving a four-game domestic ban after a straight red against Villarreal, without Rodrygo and Raul Asencio, both long-term, and without Thibaut Courtois, ruled out on the morning of the match; the club said flu, and Andriy Lunin started and made five saves. Mourinho's complaint was about a 57th-minute challenge in which Joao Cancelo put his studs into Yan Diomande's calf and was not punished. It was "a clear red card," he said, and the video technology "was asleep in the 60th minute." On Lamine Yamal, who took five shots and hit none on target, he was almost affectionate: "Lamine is an extremely talented player, but he is also smart," crediting Marc Cucurella for not biting. Hansi Flick offered only: "It's our first defeat in LaLiga." The Spanish press was less restrained, La Vanguardia marking Yamal five out of ten under the word "apagado."
The result leaves Barcelona on 27 points, Atletico Madrid on 25 and Real Madrid on 24 after ten matches. Barcelona had been trying to become the first club in a top-five European league to win its opening ten games, and it was their second defeat in five days after Paris Saint-Germain beat them 4-2 in the Champions League. Atletico's run is the quietest story in Spain: six straight league wins, 20 scored and eight conceded, with Julian Alvarez scoring the 1-0 winner over Deportivo A Coruna. Behind them, Real Betis are fourth and Real Sociedad have climbed to fifth having been on seven points at matchday seven.
At the bottom, Malaga are the only club in the division still without a win, on five points from ten, and Racing Santander sit 13th despite the worst defence in Spain, 26 conceded, largely because Yassir Zabiri has eight league goals. Valencia are 19th on six points under Javier Aguirre, appointed in late September after Carlos Corberan's sacking, and lost 2-1 at home to Villarreal from a winning position, Georges Mikautadze scoring in the 96th minute. Barcelona posted record operating revenue of 1.06 billion euros for 2025-26 and need roughly 300 million more to finish the Camp Nou rebuild.
Matchday 7 was the round that set up Saturday. Bayern Munich won 3-1 at SC Freiburg in the circumstances described above, and Borussia Dortmund beat Eintracht Frankfurt 1-0 through Maximilian Beier, so the two leaders stayed level. Everything interesting happened underneath them. TSG Hoffenheim were goalless at home to Bayer Leverkusen with eleven minutes left and won 3-0: Andrej Kramaric from the spot on 79, Alexander Prass on 89, Max Moerstedt at 90+5, with Prass sent off in between for taking his shirt off. Patrik Schick failed to score in a league game for the first time this season. Hoffenheim had beaten Lyon 3-0 in the Europa League three days earlier and are suddenly the most dangerous side in the bottom half.
Borussia Monchengladbach won for the first time, 3-2 at VfB Stuttgart, which says as much about Stuttgart as about Gladbach: Alexander Blessin's side had three points from seven games, while Stuttgart, who have Finn Jeltsch and a Champions League campaign, are 15th. RB Leipzig beat SV Elversberg 4-0, Werder Bremen won 3-2 at Mainz 05, and 1. FC Koln and the newly promoted FC Schalke 04 drew 0-0.
The individual story of the German week is Niclas Fullkrug, who at 33 leads the Bundesliga with eight goals in seven games, has scored in six consecutive league matches and is on 11 in all competitions after his double in the cup. Elsewhere on the Pokal's first night, 1. FC Koln beat 1. FC Union Berlin 5-0, Eintracht Frankfurt won 3-1 at Hamburger SV, Bundesliga side SV Elversberg went out at home to second-division SV Darmstadt 98, and Mainz 05 lost at VfL Bochum. Bayern Munich played 1. FC Magdeburg on Wednesday night, after this edition closed; the round of 16 draw is on Sunday evening in Dortmund.
Four clubs went into this week unbeaten. By Wednesday night there were three, and the leader was a man Italian football had spent six months writing off. Lazio won 6-2 at Sassuolo on Tuesday, their eighth win in nine games, Kenneth Taylor scoring inside two minutes and Gustav Isaksen, Romano Floriani Mussolini, Mattia Zaccagni and Tijjani Noslin adding to it, and they did it with two penalties saved by Stefano Turati. Twenty-five points from nine games is the best start in Lazio's Serie A history, better than anything under Sven-Goran Eriksson, and Gennaro Gattuso is the first manager to win six of his first seven league games in charge of the club.
He is doing it with a recruitment ban, no European football and an empty home stadium. Organised Lazio supporter groups have boycotted the Stadio Olimpico since January in a campaign against president Claudio Lotito, aimed at starving the club of matchday revenue; around 93 per cent of season-ticket holders reportedly did not renew, and the 1-0 win over Genoa on August 30 drew 6,058 people into a 70,634-seat stadium, the lowest crowd in Serie A this season. Sporting director Angelo Fabiani asked them to reconsider last week and was refused. Then, per Il Corriere dello Sport, roughly 10,000 of them travelled to Sassuolo. "Playing once a week gives us advantages because we can do heavy workloads," Gattuso said, and on the table: "We're not looking at the standings, otherwise we'll get vertigo." Hernan Crespo, in Gazzetta dello Sport, was blunter: "Anyone who criticised Gattuso will now have to change their minds and apologise to him."
Inter answered on Wednesday by winning 2-0 at Venezia to draw level on 25 points, ahead on goals scored, and AC Milan became the week's casualty. Bologna, under Raffaele Palladino, won 4-2 at San Siro with Samuel Mbangula scoring a hat-trick on his first start for the club, per Italian live coverage, ending Milan's unbeaten start and handing Ruben Amorim, who had eight players unavailable, his first league defeat in Italy. Parma and Udinese drew 0-0. Roma beat Cagliari 4-2 on Tuesday in the strangest shape of the week: pegged back to 2-2 on 81 minutes, they scored twice in two minutes through Rodrigo Mora and Donyell Malen. Gian Piero Gasperini called his academy teenagers Emanuele Lulli and Niccolo Pisilli "extraordinary lads" and defended goalkeeper Pierluigi Gollini, who made six saves: "He didn't play 112 games at the top level by accident."
And then there is Como, fourth, in the Champions League, managed by Cesc Fabregas and playing European nights in a 10,000-seat stadium. They beat Manchester United 4-1 there last Wednesday, Nico Paz scoring twice. "I hope that tomorrow all the boys and girls go to school wearing the Como shirt and feel proud," Fabregas said. On Tuesday they went to Torino a goal down with ten minutes left and won 3-1, through Jacobo Ramon, Paz and Martin Baturina. At the other end of the mood, Massimiliano Allegri's Napoli are tenth, Luciano Spalletti's Juventus sixth, Maurizio Sarri is 11th at Atalanta having been replaced at Lazio by Gattuso, and Fiorentina are 19th under Paolo Vanoli, brought back in September three months after leaving.
The most consequential thing in French football this week was not a result. It was a police request. Paris Saint-Germain versus Lyon was pushed back 24 hours because the Paris prefecture needed its resources for violent protests in the city, which put the match on the same night as the Ballon d'Or ceremony at which ten PSG players were nominees. Matchday 9 has been reshuffled too: Nice versus Rennes moved up to Friday, Lyon versus Angers back to Sunday. Two consecutive rounds rearranged for public-order reasons is a running story, not a coincidence.
PSG won the rearranged game 2-0 with two substitutes, Senny Mayulu driving in shortly before the hour after Mika Godts set him up, and Godts finishing on 84 after Quentin Ndjantou released him. It was an eighth straight win in all competitions and a fifth in Ligue 1, achieved without Ousmane Dembele, Nuno Mendes, captain Marquinhos and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia. Paulo Fonseca, in his first season at Lyon, said his side played tactically well and had plenty of good spells, and that if they had scored "things might have changed a bit." PSG lead on 17 points, one ahead of Rennes, who topped the table for 24 hours after beating Strasbourg 3-0 and whose Esteban Lepaul leads the division with seven goals.
Marseille produced the round's spectacle and its warning. They led Le Havre 4-0 by the 55th minute through CJ Egan-Riley, Timothy Weah, Igor Paixao and Himad Abdelli, and won 4-3. Le Havre, bottom with two points and no win, had 22 shots to Marseille's 11 and 3.22 expected goals to 1.63. Bruno Genesio's side have four wins and four defeats from eight games and not a single draw, having lost at Sturm Graz in the Europa League three days earlier. Marseille made no signings at all in the summer, uniquely in the big five leagues alongside Athletic Club, and supporters have spent the autumn demanding that owner Frank McCourt leave.
Monaco drew 1-1 at home with ten-man Lille while having 20 shots to four and 2.21 expected goals to 0.68; Ethan Mbappe scored before Kouassi was sent off, and Ansu Fati limped off after 14 minutes with no diagnosis published. Davide Ancelotti's Lille are third. And Lyon filed their 2025-26 accounts with the French market regulator on Monday, which make extraordinary reading for a club sitting fifth: revenue down 19 per cent to 222.3 million euros, a net loss of 87.3 million, financial debt of 409.8 million and consolidated equity of minus 248.3 million. Senior debt service is suspended until the end of 2027 and the going-concern assessment rests on staying in Ligue 1 and qualifying for Europe. Michele Kang is now chairwoman and president; John Textor has resigned.
Nashville SC won the Supporters' Shield on Saturday, their first, with a 2-0 win at CF Montreal, Sam Surridge opening on 51 minutes and captain Hany Mukhtar settling it on 76. They have 70 points from 31 games, 15 clear of the field, 21 wins and the fewest goals conceded in the league at 23, and have tied the league marks for home wins and consecutive home wins. The MLS record of 74 points, set by Inter Miami in 2024, is within reach with three games left. BJ Callaghan becomes the first manager since Oscar Pareja in 2016 to win the US Open Cup and the Shield inside two years. His verdict: "We know that we've got more work to do."
The Shield matters more than usual because of the calendar. MLS is moving from a spring-to-autumn season to a summer-to-spring one. The 2026 playoffs run from November 18 to MLS Cup on December 18, the top nine in each conference qualifying. Then comes a one-off 2027 Sprint Season from February to May: 14 games, top eight in each conference, single elimination. The 2027-28 season starts in July 2027 and ends in late May 2028, with no league matches in January. Inter Miami have clinched their place; Antoine Griezmann, now at Orlando City, is the season's quieter arrival.
All times Pacific. The United States moves to standard time at 2am on Sunday November 1, so Europe is eight hours ahead of Pacific on Friday and Saturday and nine hours ahead from Sunday. Wednesday's ties are listed because they kick off as this edition lands.
Europa League and Conference League matchday 4 fall on Thursday November 5, just outside this window. The headline ties there are Bayer Leverkusen against Marseille, Real Sociedad against Lyon, AZ Alkmaar against Juventus, Crystal Palace against Hoffenheim and AC Milan against Ferencvaros.
| Premier League, after matchweek 8 | P | Pts |
|---|---|---|
| Manchester City | 8 | 21 |
| Arsenal | 8 | 21 |
| Brighton | 8 | 16 |
| Liverpool | 8 | 15 |
| Chelsea | 8 | 13 |
| Nottingham Forest (18th) | 8 | 6 |
| Coventry City (19th) | 8 | 6 |
| Sunderland (20th) | 8 | 5 |
Manchester United are 16th on seven points, a point above the relegation places.