It was a day when Cristiano Ronaldo showed his class yet again and made winning the Ballon d’Or for the fourth time a mere formality. After missing out on Real Madrid’s initial run of games because of an ankle injury suffered in the Euro 2016 final, Ronaldo was back to his very best, making aggressive runs and putting the ball into the back of the net.
The goal-machine of the Bundesliga, Pierre-Emrick Aubameyang, scored the only goal of Der Klassiker to help his side Borussia Dortmund beat Bayern Munich 1-0. In England, Olivier Giroud rescued a point for Arsenal despite his side coming off as second best against a lively Manchester United.
Aubameyang’s slick finish
The Gabon striker, Aubameyang, continues to build on his burgeoning reputation as one of the top strikers in Europe with crucial goals. He got Dortmund off to a dream start, scoring in the 10th minute of the game. Despite missing their talisman, Marco Reus, Dortmund pulled off a slick move, which found Mario Gotze on the right wing, who drilled in a sharp low cross for Aubameyang, who made a cool finish.
Giroud piles on the misery for United
It looked as though Jose Mourinho finally landed on a winning formula after a string of under-par displays by Manchester United in the league so far. In came Olivier Giroud, who rose to meet Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain’s delivery in the box to power a header in with one minute left for the end of normal time. The Red Devils were clearly the superior side and went ahead through a well-taken goal from Juan Mata, 20 minutes from time.
Catch Ronaldo if you can
Real Madrid are pace-setters in the Spanish La Liga and are getting results despite having a number of players out injured. Cristiano Ronaldo nursed an injury in the first few games of the season but if the last two months are anything to go by, the Portuguese goal-machine is back to his very best.
Atletico Madrid have earned a reputation of being stingy at the back but the wheels came off completely here at the Vicente Calderon as a deflected free-lick got Los Blancos the opener. The second goal came from the penalty spot and the impressive Isco teamed up with Gareth Bale to set up the hat-trick goal for Ronaldo.
Toure’s dream comeback
There was a time early in the season when Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola stated that Yaya Toure would not feature in a single game after falling out with his agent. Dramatically, the Ivorian legend found himself back in the starting line-up for and scored two goals to setup City’s win and a provisional berth at the top of the table. Class is indeed permanent.
