Non-stop action. Great goals. Controversies galore. Sensational passes. Unreal drama. European football rarely lacks for talking points after any given weekend of football, but with so much happening it can often be hard to focus on the biggest moments.
ESPN India attempts to single out one moment from all the action across Europe's top 5 leagues (league action only) that lit up the weekend.
This weekend, despite plenty of deserving candidates, we pick Samuel Chukwueze's Robben-esque goal at Santiago Bernabeu that ended Real Madrid's unbeaten LaLiga streak at home.
It started with him sending Nacho Fernandez into the shadow realm and it ended with him channeling a childhood hero. 'Arjen Robben is the king,' Samuel Chukwueze used to say as a youngster. And here he was at the Santiago Bernabeu, ending Real Madrid's 17-LaLiga-games-unbeaten-at-home run with a goal of Robben-esque wonder.
Chukwueze is one of the great talents of the game, but he's also one that most file under 'oh, what could have been'. On his day he's unplayable, but those days do not come as frequently as most predicted when they first caught a glimpse of his talent.
Plagued by injury and inconsistency, he struggled to make a tangible, sustainable impact in his first five years at Villarreal. It's changing this season, though - as a return of 13 goals and 11 assists (in all competitions) shows - and on Saturday night he put in one of those career-arc-defining performances.
Before we get to the Robben-goal, though, we must take a pit stop at the exorcism of Nacho.
A right winger by trade, Chukwueze had drifted inside to the centre forward channel during one of those Quique-Setien-fluid-movement-attacks™ when he received the ball on the edge of the Real Madrid box, inside the D. He trapped it with his right foot on the half turn, before dragging it to his right side with his left boot.
Nacho followed the drag and was left completely floundering, his body twisting around helplessly, when Chukwueze immediately jagged back onto his left... leaving him one-on-one with Thibaut Courtois. He gave him the eyes and calmly thumped it past the wrong-footed Madrid keeper. High-value skill executed at a rapid pace while giving the impression he's out for a leisurely stroll. As equalisers at the Bernabeu go, this was right up there.
Vinicius Jr. restored Madrid's league with a goal of dazzling skill before Chukwueze breathed life into Villarreal once again. Dribbling down the byline, he cut inside through two Madrid defenders and forced the ball into the six-yard box where Manu Trigueros and Jose Luis Morales combined for the latter to equalise.
In an even match where both teams created (and missed) quality chances, 2-2 seemed a fair result. Until, in the 80th minute, Chukwueze decided it was not.
Played in by Alex Baena into the top right corner of the box, Chukwueze was initially closed down almost immediately by Eduardo Camavinga and Nacho. He played it back to Baena who immediately returned it before motoring forward himself, taking Camavinga off Chukwueze's tail. Nacho, already scarred by the Nigerian, didn't close him down in that very instant - and that was enough.
Two touches and Chukwueze had raced across the face of the box at a pace Nacho could simply not match. Seeing Luka Modric close in out of the corner of his eye, Chukwueze's third touch was to bend it around the diving Nacho (and the stationary Antonio Rudiger behind him) and into the side netting at the far top corner. A shot so powerful, so well curled, so impeccably placed that even a well-positioned Courtois at full stretch couldn't get close to it. Cut in from the right, shoot into the far corner with your left -- if imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, Robben should feel seriously flattered right now. The stats showed just how close this match had been - 49% possession to 51%, 18 shots to 17, 383 passes to 382. It took a special goal from a special player to crack it open.
And so Samu Chukwueze's footballing journey, one that started with his family burning his boots to stop him from playing the sport, takes a new turn. Now a match winner at the Bernabeu, he wants the world to know that there's a lot more to come.