“Winners & losers”: Here are the highlights of the second weekend of European football

After the Bundesliga returned this weekend, European leagues are back to normal. Daily Stand Nigeria looks at the highlights and lowlights from around the world and our weekly ranking of winners and losers.

Winner – Bayer Leverkusen

Bayer Leverkusen, last season’s Bundesliga champions, have made a habit of scoring late goals which has helped them remain unbeaten in the league and reach the Europa League final – the only competitive game they have lost in 2023/24.

Florian Wirtz scored the winning goal in the 101st minute, giving Bayer a 3-2 win over Borussia Mönchengladbach. Wirtz, who also scored in the first half, missed his penalty late on but was there to score on the rebound.

The question is how long Xabi Alonso ‘s men can continue to play the heroes. Incredibly, they are now unbeaten in 35 Bundesliga games.

Loser – Joshua Zirkzee

From hero to zero, Manchester United’s new signing Joshua Zirkzee came on to score the winning goal on the opening day of the Premier League, but he was unlucky against Brighton on Saturday.

It looked like Alejandro Garnacho had scored the decisive goal to make it 2-1, but Zirkzee ‘s perhaps unintentional offside meant to score was quickly ruled out.

In the end, Brighton won 2-1 thanks to a 95th-minute goal from Joao Pedro , giving the Seagulls their second win of the season, while United and Zirkzee were brought back down to earth after an encouraging start to the season.

Winner – Galeno

In Portugal, FC Porto continued their excellent start to the season with a 2-0 win over Rio Ave. Porto are now on a three-loss run, with seven goals scored and none conceded.

One man has shone for Porto, however, and that is Brazilian Galeno, who has scored in every league game so far, following his two goals in Porto’s Super Cup win over Sporting.

Galeno ‘s three league goals have all come from defence, with the forward having moved to full-back this season. His latest goal came after just 18 seconds – the fastest goal ever scored at the Dragao – and what a finish! From winger to full-back, could we have a new Gareth Bale?

Loser – Aston Villa

Aston Villa did the double over Arsenal last season, finishing in the top four and qualifying for the Champions League under Unai Emery.

But Mikel Arteta’s side scored twice in the second half to silence the Villa Park faithful and return to London with a 2-0 victory and bragging rights.

Winner – Viktor Gyokeres

We’ve already talked about FC Porto, but they’re not the only in-form team in La Liga Portugal and Galeno isn’t the only in-form player either.

Defending champions Sporting have also started the new campaign with three wins in three games and 14 goals scored.

On Friday, a hat-trick from Viktor Gyokeres helped Sporting thrash Farense 5-0. The Swede also scored twice in the 6-1 thrashing of Nacional the previous day, as well as once on the opening day of the league.

Six goals in three starts is not bad for someone who scored 29 in the league last season.

Loser – Luis Rioja

Luis Rioja loves losing in Vigo . After starting the season in the colours of Alaves, the player was beaten 2-1 at the Balaidos stadium with the Basque club on the opening day of La Liga.

Rioja was then transferred to Valencia and guess what his next match was? That’s right, he moved again to Celta Vigo.

On Friday, Rioja were beaten 3-1 by Los Che and can be forgiven for not wanting to return to Galicia any time soon.