We have a title race on our hands in LaLiga. For now, the two teams in the Spanish capital are still best positioned, but Real Madrid's shock defeat on Saturday has opened the door for their rivals in Catalonia, too.
In the Premier League, Tottenham Hotspur earned their first league win since December, stringing together back-to-back clean sheets for just the third time this season. Is it the start of a turnaround?
Meanwhile, in the Bundesliga, RB Leipzig's winless streak reached four games. The club that as recently as December looked like Bayern Munich's closest challenger is suddenly 18 points behind the leaders.
Sam Tighe, Sam Marsden and Constantin Eckner make observations from across Europe to bring you up to speed on what you might have missed this weekend.
English Premier League
Top takeaway: Spurs show some steel. Is it a turning point?
The Gtech Community Stadium has been a fierce place to visit this season, and while Brentford's form there has sloped off a little of late, that can largely be attributed to a run of horror fixtures: Nottingham Forest, Arsenal, Manchester City and Liverpool in a row. On paper, the visit of Tottenham Hotspur completed a quintet of extreme challenges, but in reality, this season's Spurs have often been a soft touch and an easy win.
Well, they were no soft touch here, despite what the team sheet may have suggested. Spurs once again rocked up with a defense that looked completely out of sorts -- there wasn't an established center back to be seen, while the left back was in fact a right back -- plus Dominic Solanke and James Maddison were missing, too. Put simply, this did not look like a team capable of dealing with the Brentford barrage.
But deal with it they did. They made clearance after clearance, tackle after tackle, and when all else failed, Djed Spence blocked one on the line. At the other end they scored via a set piece and an incisive transition move. Son Heung-Min was hugely influential in both goals and worked his socks off tracking back, epitomizing a true team display in the 2-0 win.
Including the midweek win over Elfsborg in the UEFA Europa League, that's two clean sheets on the bounce for Ange Postecoglou, plus defensive help is on its way courtesy of the transfer window. Is this the turning point he has no doubt been longing for?
Best match: Arsenal 5-1 Manchester City
A clash between these two is appointment viewing these days, and while the score ended up a little one-sided, it was a great battle with just the right amount of needle in it. To sum it up: Gabriel Magalhães celebrated Arsenal's opener in Erling Haaland's face; the striker's equalizing goal brought a pointed response; 18-year-old Myles Lewis-Skelly then scored his first Arsenal goal and crowned it with Haaland's "zen" celebration; and Kai Havertz completed his own redemptive arc with the final goal as signs that read "stay humble" were held aloft around the stadium -- a reference to Haaland's jibe directed at Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta in the reverse fixture back in September.
This is a proper rivalry!
Luis Miguel Echegaray praises Arsenal after their impressive 5-1 win over Manchester City in the Premier League.
Best goal: Matheus Cunha vs. Aston Villa
Cunha saved his best for the last minute against Villa, where he scored a spectacular solo goal to seal the win. Beating Ezri Konsa one-on-one is not easy, yet he did it twice in the space of 10 seconds before smashing into the net from a position that did not look possible. The celebration -- "I'm staying right here" -- was epic, too.
MVP of the weekend: Mohamed Salah, Liverpool
It's no exaggeration to say AFC Bournemouth represent one of the trickiest opponents in the Premier League right now, and the difficulty Liverpool had in overcoming them this weekend proved it so. In a game in which the Cherries created -- but missed -- their chances to win it, the value of having Salah was hammered home ever harder. He scored twice in a 2-0 win, giving him 34 goal contributions for the season. -- Tighe
LaLiga
Top takeaway: Madrid let Barça, Atléti back into title race
Real Madrid's daylight at the top of LaLiga disappeared this weekend as they suffered a shock 1-0 defeat to struggling Espanyol, which left coach Carlo Ancelotti blasting the "inexplicable" decision not to send off match winner Carlos Romero.
As Atlético Madrid and Barcelona have slipped up in recent weeks, Real had pieced together a four-game winning streak that had seen them open up a four-point lead at the top of the table. That run ended on Saturday as Espanyol blunted Kylian Mbappé, Vinícius Júnior, Rodrygo and Jude Bellingham before snatching all three points on the break through Romero inside the final 10 minutes.
The win took Espanyol out of the bottom three, but it left a sour taste in Ancelotti's mouth. As chants from the home fans of "Yes we can [stay up]" seeped through the press room walls, the Italian coach complained Romero had not been dismissed early in the second half for a high, lunging challenge on Mbappé to stop a counterattack.
"Fortunately nothing happened in terms of an injury, but VAR is there for that," Ancelotti said. "It's inexplicable to us that there wasn't a red card."
He may have had a point, but it was also a handy deflection from the continued debate about whether a front four of Mbappé, Vinícius, Rodrygo and Bellingham takes too much away from the team defensively.
Meanwhile, Atlético are now within one point of Madrid after beating Mallorca 2-0, while Barça are four points back after a hard-fought 1-0 win over Alavés on Sunday.
Best match: Villarreal 5-1 Real Valladolid
The best performance of the weekend came from Villarreal, who put five past Real Valladolid to keep within touching distance of the UEFA Champions League places. The pick of the goals were the opener from top scorer Ayoze Pérez and a clean strike from 20 yards from Pape Gueye. "The fans shouldn't get used to seeing five goals every match," coach Marcelino joked after the win.
Best goal: Antoine Griezmann vs. Mallorca
The Frenchman produced a fine lobbed finish from outside the box to seal Atlético's 2-0 win over Mallorca as they got back to winning ways after two outings without victory in LaLiga.
Antoine Griezmann scores in the 90 + 3'
MVP of the weekend: Joan García, Espanyol
To beat Madrid, you need to take the few chances that come your way, a little bit of luck and a goalkeeper on form. Espanyol had that on Saturday, with García producing seven saves to keep the league leaders out, including a fine double stop from Bellingham and Mbappé early in the second half. Espanyol may struggle to keep the 23-year-old for long. -- Marsden
Bundesliga
Top takeaway: Leipzig continue to spiral
RB Leipzig manager Marco Rose was openly disappointed by his team's performance at Union Berlin on Saturday. The uneventful 0-0 draw against the team sitting 14th in the Bundesliga table came off a 1-0 loss to Sturm Graz in the Champions League, ending a disappointing European campaign for Rose's side.
It's not all bad, though. Leipzig were able to sign Xavi Simons on a permanent deal from Paris Saint-Germain for a transfer fee that could rise to €80 million, despite serious interest from big-name clubs in the 21-year-old midfielder.
Leipzig don't lack individual quality, though, but remain strikingly limited when in possession. Rose has not found a way to set up his team to allow Simons, Loïs Openda and Benjamin Sesko to score on a constant basis. Paired with defensive woes that have only slightly improved since the return of centre-back Willi Orbán, Leipzig have spent much of this season behind the eight ball.
Following the goalless draw at Union, sporting director Marcel Schäfer pointed out the lack of offensive productivity, saying, "One can expect from us that we create chances, find better solutions in the buildup and retain possession of the ball down the field."
Julien Laurens believes Xavi Simons's permanent deal with RB Leipzig will greatly benefit Paris Saint Germain moving forward.
We will see how many more lackluster performances have to happen before Rose might fear for his job.
Best match: Bayern Munich 4-3 Holstein Kiel
The score line looks much closer than the game was for the most part. Bayern were leading 4-0 at the hour mark but almost managed to fumble three points, as Kiel's Steven Skrzybski scored two late goals.
"We cannot lose our principles," Joshua Kimmich said. "If we lose them, then we are a normal team. Then we are vulnerable against every opponent."
Best goal: Serge Gnabry vs. Holstein Kiel
Bayern's fourth goal was a real beauty thanks to Gnabry, who had come on at half-time. He initiated the attack from the right wing and then capitalized from a deflected Kingsley Coman shot inside the box with great control from his right foot to make Marco Komenda miss, before crashing in a volley with his left.
MVP of the weekend: Waldemar Anton, Borussia Dortmund
Let's praise a Dortmund defender for once this season. In what was interim manager Mike Tullberg's final game in charge of the Bundesliga team, Anton had an impressive showing, as Dortmund beat Heidenheim 2-1. He completed 97% of his passes, won all of his four dribble attempts and all of his defensive aerials. -- Eckner
What else you missed this weekend
Milan's derby dent to Inter's Scudetto charge
Derby days don't get much more frustrating than the one Inter Milan experienced against fierce rivals AC Milan on Sunday -- but credit to them, they absolutely refused to be beaten.
For a long, long time -- 93 minutes, in fact -- it looked like "one of those nights" for the Nerazzurri. Manager Simone Inzaghi watched on in horror as his team had three goals disallowed and hit the post three times, failing to respond to Tijjani Reijnders' goal on the stroke of half-time.
With every Inter chance missed, Milan's chests puffed outwards a little more. Fikayo Tomori led a determined, gritty effort that did so well for so long, and also saw Kyle Walker make his debut in red and black.
In the end, though, the pressure told. Inter pushed and pushed, bombarded the box, and another debutant, Nicola Zalewski -- signed on loan from AS Roma on Saturday -- chested a ball back across goal for Stefan de Vrij to stab home and rescue a 1-1 draw.
A point was nothing short of what Inter deserved, but it still opens the door for Napoli to move four points clear at the top of Serie A. -- Tighe
Piatek has been reborn in Turkey
There was a time when Krzysztof Piatek looked like the next great Poland striker, ready to follow in Robert Lewandowski's footsteps. Suffice it to say, things did not exactly work out as hoped. He moved from Hertha Berlin to Turkish side Istanbul Basaksehir in 2023, where he impressed in his first Super Lig season but has been completely on fire since November, scoring 12 goals in eight league games and four goals in four UEFA Conference League games.
Piatek's hat trick against Samsunspor on Saturday was his fourth since coming to the Super Lig.
"Piatek is no longer just a penalty area player," former Poland international Artur Wichniarek commented after Piatek's three-goal performance put him top of the Super Lig's goal scoring charts. "He also plays outside of it."
It is quite unrealistic that, at 29, he will get another shot at a big club as he did when AC Milan signed him in 2019, but his resurgence in Turkey has been great to see. -- Eckner