Son sizzles for Spurs, Neymar and Messi star for PSG

Son Heung-min scored a hat-trick in Tottenham Hotspur’s 6-2 win over Leicester City. In Bundesliga, Youssoufa Moukoko became the youngest scorer in a Revierderby.

It was the last week of European football before the international break. During the break, footballers will spend valuable time with their national colleagues before the fast-approaching Qatar World Cup 2022.

Manchester City’s Erling Haaland continued to score goals in the Premier League. His goal against Wolverhampton Wanderers made him the first Premier League player in history to score in his first four away matches.

In Spain, Real Madrid secured bragging rights over city-rival Atletico Madrid with a win in the Madrid derby.

Here is a look at what has been happening in the top five leagues of Europe.

Premier League goal of the fortnight

The goal of the week came from Tottenham Hotspur’s 6-2 drubbing of Leicester City at home. Son Heung-min, on a goal drought, silenced his critics with a hat-trick. It was his second goal that stood out.

Leicester did not close down quickly enough which gave Harry Kane ample time to pick a pass out to Son. Son took a touch, looked up and curled the ball to the top-left corner from the edge of the box in the ■4th minute.

Premier League save of the fortnight

Newcastle United was held to a 1-1 draw by Bournemouth at St. James’ Park. In the 42nd minute, Aleksander Isak swung an accurate cross at the far post to Joelinton. Joelinton went for a first-time volley and connected really well but Bournemouth keeper Neto got down in lightning speed, pushing the ball away from goal. Moments later, Ryan Fraser took another shot from outside the box and Neto showed good reflexes to tip that over the bar.

For Her Majesty, the Queen

England is still coping with the death of its longest-serving monarch, Queen Elizabeth II. It was a known fact that her funeral service would take up a massive police force so the biggest games were postponed due to the lack of availability of resources.

Two matches — Manchester United v Leeds United, and Chelsea v Liverpool —

were postponed to a later date.

La Liga goal of the fortnight

There were many well-taken goals in Spain, but Radamel Falcao of Rayo Vallecano topped the list with his lovely finish against Athletic Bilbao. Fran Garcia delivered a pin-point cross from the left flank into the box and Falcao got ahead of his marker and used the outside of his boots to guide the ball inside the net with a first-time shot.

The match, however, ended in a 2-3 defeat for Vallecano.

The Real supremacy and the bullish Blaugranas

White was the colour of Madrid after Real Madrid beat Atletico Madrid 2-1 in the Madrid derby courtesy of goals from Rodrygo and Federico Valverde. With the win, Real continued to be on top of the points table.

Barcelona continued its impressive run with a commanding 3-0 win against Elche. Robert Lewandowski scored a double and was on top of the league scoring charts with eight goals.

La Liga save of the fortnight

Jeremias Ledesma’s double save at Valladolid was crucial in Cadiz securing its first win of the season after Alvaro Negredo scored in the 92nd minute to clinch a win for the team. After a bland first half, Valladolid came out all guns blazing and Ledesma had to be at his best. He first denied Kiko Perez at his near-post with a solid left-handed stop and then saved Shon Weissman’s shot on the rebound.

Bundesliga goal of the fortnight

Bayer Leverkusen, which grabbed headlines for its Champions League win against Atletico Madrid, managed a 1-1 draw against Werder Bremen. But it was Leverkusen’s Kerem Demirbay who scored the Bundesliga goal of the week.

With the match locked at 0-0, Demirbay got the ball at the edge of the box and tucked the ball in the top-left corner to make it 1-0 for Leverkusen.

Bayern shocked

Bayern Munich clinched a 2-0 win against in-form Barcelona in the Champions League but could not replicate the same performance in the league against Augsburg and suffered a 1-0 defeat. Bayern is now without a win in its last four matches.

Borussia Dortmund’s 17-year-old for

ward Youssoufa Moukoko made history after his header guided Dortmund to a 1-0 win against bitter-rival Schalke FC. Moukoko became the youngest scorer in the history of the hallowed Revierderby.

Bundesliga save of the fortnight

Rafał Gikiewicz played a crucial role in Augsburg’s 1-0 win against Bayern. After some important saves in the late stages, his most crucial one came in the 95th minute when Manuel Neuer came forward for the last-minute corner in the hope of an equaliser. And Neuer would have got it too had his towering header not been kept out by Gikiewicz.

Serie A goal of the fortnight

Jonathan Ikone of Fiorentina opened the scoring for his team in the 2-0 win against Verona with a wonderful solo goal in the 13th minute. Receiving the ball on the right flank, Ikone had marvellous control of it despite being under pressure. He cut into his left and once inside the box, slotted the ball home at the keeper’s near post.

Serie A save of the fortnight

Vanja Milinkovic Savic of Torino conceded a goal in his team’s 1-0 loss to Sassuolo but he also made a terrific save. Davide Frattesi of Sassuolo dispatched a well-taken first-time volley at Savic’s nearpost but the Torino keeper, who was at the centre of the goal, quickly made some ground and palmed the ball off the line to deny Frattesi.

Ligue 1 goal of the fortnight

Nabil Bentaleb’s stunning goal secured a 1-0 win for Angers against Nice. Nice was on the backfoot from the start as Jean-claire Todibo was sent off in the first minute.

It was a good team move consisting of some slick passing and Bentaleb, who was stationed just outside the box, received the pass and lashed the ball to the top-right corner of the net to score the winner.

Messi proves to be enough

The highly-anticipated clash between Paris Saint-germain and Lyon turned out to be a low-scoring affair with PSG clinching a 1-0 win.

In the fifth minute, Neymar found Lionel Messi with a short pass inside the box and the Argentine took a first-time shot to find the bottom-left corner to score the only goal of the match.

Ligue 1 save of the fortnight

Ghjuvanni Quilichini of Ajaccio replaced first-choice keeper Benjamin Leroy in the eighth minute against Brest after Leroy had to be stretchered off due to an injury. But the change between the sticks proved to be beneficial to Ajaccio.

Quilichini’s double save in the 37th minute proved to be crucial in Ajaccio’s 1-0 win against Brest.

First, Mathias Lage curled a shot from outside the box, which Quilichini got down to save but the rebound fell to Islam Slimani who shot at goal from the right of the sixyard box. But Quilichini showed tremendous recovery pace to make the second save in quick succession.

GETTY IMAGES One for the cameras: Son Heung-min celebrates after scoring Tottenham’s fourth goal during the Premier League contest against Leicester City on September 17. Son silenced his critics by ending his goal-drought with a hat-trick.

AP Goalscoring spree: Barcelona’s Robert Lewandowski (left) attempts a shot at goal during a La Liga match between Barcelona and Elche at Camp Nou. Lewandowski, who scored two goals, stands atop the league scoring charts, with eight goals.

AFP Top strike: Nabil Bentaleb (right) scored an excellent goal to hand Angers a win over Nice in Ligue 1. Bentaleb, who was stationed just outside the box, received a pass from one of his team-mates and lashed the ball to the top-right corner of the net.