Rarely have we seen a player take a club and a championship by storm like this. And in this case, the player is only 20 years old and is establishing himself in one of the clubs where the pressure is the most intense in the world.
We are talking here about Jude Bellingham within Real Madrid. Yes, Hey Jude is already one of the supporters’ chants for the young Englishman. Because Bellingham has only conquered the hearts of Madrilenians since his arrival in the off-season.
He scored 16 goals in 18 La Liga and Champions League games. His first, on his debut, against Bilbao, even offering his celebration which would quickly become iconic. He did it again after his goal in Naples, in the Champions League.
But it was during the Clásico against FC Barcelona at the end of October that his legend was cemented early. He scored the equalizer in the 68th minute, but didn’t raise both arms in the air like he usually does. No not right now. We had to wait until the 92nd minute, when Bellingham allowed Real to take the lead, to celebrate properly.
If Real Madrid are second in the championship after 16 games, it is partly thanks to him.
But it’s not the only great story of the season. Who do we see in first place? A Catalan club… but not the one you think. Girona, a member of the City Group which also includes NYCFC and Manchester City, is defying all odds in La Liga in 2023. It is the team with the most goals this season (38). It is sailing at approximately the same pace as Madrid, with two points (41) and one victory (13) more. The season is long, but if Girona can persevere, it would breathe new life into this championship caught in the hegemony of its greats.
One look at the Ligue 1 standings, and it seems to be business as usual in France: Paris Saint-Germain are well on course for a sixth title in seven years. But it is the bottom of the ranking that arouses astonishment. But what is Olympique Lyon doing in very last position?
OL was at the center of an infamous episode reflecting the issues plaguing French football last October. Before a match against Marseille that was finally postponed, the bus transporting the Lyon players and staff was stoned. Coach Fabio Grosso, since abruptly dismissed, was seriously injured in the face. Some Lyon supporters were also accused of racist insults and Nazi salutes that evening.
Autumn is hot in this regard in France. On October 9, the Montpellier-Clermont match was interrupted due to violent events, including a firecracker thrown near the Clermont goalkeeper. He was evacuated on a stretcher. At the end of November, another coach was attacked by opposition supporters. At the beginning of December, a Nantes supporter was killed during an altercation.
This latest event was the last straw: to calm things down, the French authorities asked the clubs to crack down and more widely block the sale of tickets to opposing supporters.
Thus, for the resumption of Marseille-Lyon last Wednesday, the Lyonnais were unable to witness yet another defeat for their club (3-0), which has only obtained 10 points in 15 matches this season. OL were able to breathe a little with a 3-0 victory against Toulouse on Sunday. Alexandre Lacazette’s hat trick allowed the Lyonnais to sign only their second victory, and their first at home.
Is the recovery underway?
What makes the Premier League great this season is also what makes it difficult to point to a key story at the moment: a lack of a clear leader. Liverpool are first, but there are only four points that separate them from fourth. Manchester City have the talent and depth in their lineup, but they too often drop valuable points, like against surprising Aston Villa last week. Manchester United remains too inconsistent, while Liverpool must juggle a staggering number of injuries to important players.
This is also the case for Tottenham, who caused a surprise at the start of the season. This year, Spurs had to rebuild after the eras of José Mourinho and Antonio Conte. In 2023, the arrival of Ange Postecoglou at the helm changed everything. The Australian’s style of play, strong on pressing, on positive offensive play and unwavering in his convictions, accelerated Tottenham’s reconstruction process by several years. But since then, James Maddison and Micky van de Ven, two of the big players in these successes, have suffered long-term injuries. Several other Spurs players are also missing. This reflects a strong trend in European soccer, where too many matches are detrimental to the health of players.
Will we finally be able to put away the nickname of Bayer Leverkusen, which is often referred to as Bayer Neverkusen, at the end of this season? Never, as in never, as in no title in its history in the German Bundesliga. Like no trophy since 1994, although it smelled of metal on a few occasions.
The Spaniard Xabi Alonso is carrying out a small revolution with his Bayer, which he has been coaching since October 2022. Since the start of this season, it is 20 victories in 23 matches, in all competitions, a crazy sequence which does not include any defeats. His only draws? Against Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund and Stuttgart.
In the Bundesliga, after 14 games, Leverkusen is first, 4 points behind Harry Kane’s Bayern. The club is still involved in the Europa League and the DFB-Pokal, the German cup equivalent to the FA Cup, in England.
How can we explain these sudden successes? We could tell you about the 3-4-2-1 formation, the brilliance of players like Victor Boniface, Florian Wirtz and Jeremie Frimpong. But it is also the rigor of Alonso at the helm, he who won everything as a player with Spain and Real Madrid, which currently makes the difference.
So much so that it could spoil the eternal quest for trophies of Harry Kane (18 goals), who left Tottenham for Bavaria with this goal in mind.
A quick word on the Italian Serie A in closing. Inter Milan are currently flying high (38 points, 1st), building on their emphatic 3-0 victory over Napoli, defending champions, last week. He also made short work of Udinese (4-0) this weekend. Inter can particularly say thank you to Marcus Thuram, replacement for Romelu Lukaku, who left to play under José Mourinho at AS Rome.
The Frenchman, who arrived on a free transfer from Borussia Dortmund last summer, has scored 7 goals and 9 assists this season in Italy. But be careful, the first misstep will benefit Juventus (36 points, 2nd), back in the race for the Scudetta after three years of wandering.