European football talking points: Borussia Dortmund's spirited fightback, Juventus' class stand out in week of heavyweight clashes

Manchester City passed arguably their biggest test so far in the season – Manchester derby – with flying colours to establish their Premier League title retaining ambitions though rivals Liverpool managed to keep pace with them with a comfortable 2-0 victory over Fulham. London clubs Chelsea and Arsenal slipped up in the pursuit of the top two after stumbling to draws at home. Meanwhile, in Bundesliga, league toppers Borussia Dortmund opened up a seven-point lead over rivals Bayern Munich with a victory in the Der Klassiker.

Let’s get straight to the talking points from a Gameweek of heavyweight clashes.

Der Klassiker — A game of two halves and a momentum shift

Nothing better summed up the season’s first Der Klassiker than the shake of the head in dismay by Mats Hummels – former Borussia Dortmund star – after an injury-time equalizer by Robert Lewandowski – another former Dortmund hero – was disallowed by the assistant referee who rightly deemed it offside. Hummels was already on the bench by then, after having played an uncharacteristically poor 65 minutes, which he later said was due to a Cold he was carrying.

Nevertheless, that was a moment where two former Dortmund stars who jumped to Bayern Munich to win silverware, acknowledged their side had been outplayed by a young, aggressive Dortmund side, who now look favourites to clinch the Bundesliga trophy, regardless of coach Lucien Favre’s insistence that the title race is wide open.

Bayern were the best side in the first half though and deserved to be leading the match. Frank Ribery and Serge Gnabry had a good run at the Dortmund defence and for a while, it looked like Favre’s love for the beautiful, open football game in a 4-2-4 formation would get exploited by a motivated a Munich side. Leon Goretzka and Thomas Muller gave ample support to a motivated Lewandowski who scored the goals for Bayern. But Dortmund clawed their way back in the second half and totally outclassed their arch-rivals to clinch the match 3-2.

Dortmund (27 points) have a seven-point lead over Bayern in the points table, but Borussia Monchengladbach and RB Leipzig are hot on their tails with 23 and 22 points respectively.

There is a gulf in class in Manchester

Manchester United had one shot on target in the match – a penalty – against the arch-rivals Manchester City. Never has a statistic summed up a game so perfectly. The red side of Manchester was totally outclassed in the season’s first Manchester derby and the causes of concerns for United shall go well beyond the three points they lost.

12 games played and @ManCity are 12 points ahead of @ManUtd. Huge gulf in class between the 2 sides at present.

— Gary Lineker (@GaryLineker) November 11, 2018

The only thing surprising about the match was that it was the first time Pep Guardiola won a derby at the Etihad. The Sky Blues dominated the match and the scoreline could have been way bigger than 3-1 had the Guardiola’s men not decided to slack off for long periods in the match.

Some might argue that the difference in class is due to the wealth that Sheikh Mansour brought in from the Gulf but Manchester United can have no excuse considering their own investment in the same period. Even though United have invested lesser than City in the last five years, they are still head and shoulders above their nearest competitions. Yet, United, like Jose Mourinho reminded in the post-match press conference, is struggling to make it to the top four in the league.

The problem is also largely due to the mismatch in transfer policies and game strategy. Mourinho is a manager that relies heavily on defence but his players are of the opposite mould. United have just three clean sheets in 17 games this season which is uncharacteristic for a Mourinho-managed side. His strategy of sitting back and hitting the opposition on the counter can only work if his defence is watertight, which unfortunately is not the case. His midfield, occupied by Ander Herrera, Nemanja Matic and Marouane Fellaini in the absence of Paul Pogba, was static and didn’t contribute is defence or attack, as diminutive City midfielders ran past their bulky counterparts with ease.

Mourinho likes to sit deep and defend, especially in matches against good sides, but unfortunately for him, this Manchester United side is best suited to attack than defend. United, currently eighth in the table, has a negative goal difference, and the Portuguese manager will have to pull one out of the hat if he is to salvage this season.

Milan no match for Juventus

Is there a better big match player in the world than Cristiano Ronaldo? The Portuguese superstar was again the catalyst for a Juve victory, this time against rivals AC Milan. Ronaldo scored the all-important second goal for Juventus to make it eight goals in 12 league appearances since making the move from Real Madrid.

Unlike Ronaldo, former Juve striker Gonzalo Higuain is owning up his ‘choker’ tag as Argentina forward missed a penalty and a chance to draw level, and then got sent off to make things even more difficult for a struggling Milan side.

Milan weren’t the only side from the city who had a bad weekend though with Inter’s seven-match winning streak coming to an end at the hands of Atalanta. The 4-1 loss means Napoli climbed to second in the table with a narrow 2-1 comeback win over Genoa.

Messi’s brace not enough for Barca

Lionel Messi has added an unwanted record into the history books after his brace counted for nothing as Barcelona stumbled to a 3-4 loss against an attractive Real Betis side. This is the first Messi has scored two goals and ended up in the losing side.

1 - Barcelona have lost a game in which Lionel Messi has scored two or more goals for the first time ever in all competitions. Kryptonite. pic.twitter.com/bgjC1NtDMD

— OptaJose (@OptaJose) November 11, 2018

The Argentine’s return from injury wasn’t enough to spark life into a Barcelona team that were 2-0 down against Betis by half-time. While Messi is enjoying a productive campaign, Barcelona have struggled to find the creative stability, with the team performing only in patches.

Real Madrid, meanwhile, is slowly clawing their way back into the reckoning. The Los Blancos secured a 4-2 win over Celta Vigo in the weekend, even though they had lesser possession of the ball and lesser passes completed.

But for all the talk of Real Madrid’s nightmare start to the season, they are still just four points away from Barcelona, though there are four teams, including Atletico Madrid, between them. A really closely fought La Liga on the cards?