European Round-up: Benfica shock, Maja treble, Salzburg hit five

WELCOME to the new-look weekly European round-up for the 2024-25 season. The EFL kicked-off this weekend with the Championship, League One and Two all providing some interesting results. Leeds United were held to a 3-3 draw by Portsmouth and Plymouth began the Wayne Rooney era with a 4-0 defeat at Sheffield Wednesday. Meanwhile, across continental Europe, a number of leagues were starting their programmes. In Turkey, José Mourinho was booked for arguing with the referee in his first Fenerbahçe league game, won 1-0 against Adama Demirspor with a goal by veteran big-man Edin Džeko. Nothing much changes, it would seem.

Result of the week: Famalicão 2 Benfica 0

WHO would have thought that Benfica would lose to the club from Braga district for the second season running? Famalicão repeated their win from the end of last season with goals from Sorisso (12 minutes) and Youssouf Zaydou (90) in front of 5,000 people. Benfica coach Roger Schmidt will doubtless get criticised for his decision to leave out David Neres, who may be heading for Napoli. Benfica did field recent signings Leandro Barreiro, Gianluca Prestianni, Jan-Niklas Beste and Vangelis Pavilidis. Elsewhere, champions Sporting beat Rio Ave 3-1 with two goals from Pedro Gonçalves and one from Viktor Gyökeres. Porto, under new coach Vítor Bruno, beat Gil Vicente 3-0.

Marksmen on form

WEST Bromwich Albion’s Josh Maja netted a hat-trick as his side beat Queens Park Rangers 3-1 at Loftus Road. Maja, 25, actually made his professional debut on the same ground. Capped once by Nigeria, Maja joined Albion in 2023 from Bordeaux. Red Bull Salzburg’s Oscar Gloukh also scored a treble in a 5-1 victory against FC Blau-Weiss Linz. Gloukh is an Israel international and just 20 years old. He joined Salzburg in 2023 from Maccabi Tel Aviv. He played in all three of Israel’s games in the 2024 Olympics. Antwerp won 6-1 against Sint Truidense, with Swedish striker Jacob Ondrejkanetting a hat-trick. 

Big crowds

TeamOpponentsCrowdAv. 2023-24AjaxHeerenveen54,34650,568RangersMotherwell48,52949,315FeyenoordWillem II47,50046,794PortoGil Vicente46,81337,913SportingRio Ave38,51340,102LeedsPortsmouth36,43235,989

Central Europe

THERE’s a familiar name on top in Austria in the form of RB Salzburg, who won 5-1 against FC Blau-Weiss Linz after going a goal down. Austria Wien also came from behind to win 3-1 against Wolfsbergerm while champions Sturm Graz were 2-0 winners at the Merkur Arena against Hartberg, the goals coming from Dimitri Lavalée and Mika Biereth. FC Zurich are top of the Swiss Super League and remain the only unbeaten side after beating Lausanne Sport 2-0. Basel thrashed Servette in Geneva 6-0 including five second half goals. Servette face Braga this week in the second leg of their Europa League tie with the aggregate score currently 0-0. Young Boys Bern are still without a win after their 2-2 draw with Yverdon Sport. Sparta Prague are top of the Czech First League with a 100% record following their 2-1 win at Prague rivals Bohemians. Viktoria Plzen are just behind them after beating Karviná 5-0. Slavia are also unbeaten, they won 2-0 against Sigma Olamouc and drew the biggest crowd of the weekend, almost 18,000. 

Scotland

CELTIC maintained their 100% record with a 2-0 win at Hibernian with goals from Nicolas Kühn and Callum McGregor, the latter having just called time on his international career. Aberdeen are also at 100% after winning 3-1 against St. Mirren. Rangers beat Mortherwell 2-1, with all the goals coming in the first half. Rangers’ two were scored by Cyril Dessers and Vaclav Černy, while the visitors benefitted from an own goal by Propper. St. Johnstone enjoyed an impressive 3-0 win at Kilmarnock with Adama Sidibeh grabbing two of their goals. 

Watch out for…

The EFL Cup round one… Champions League, Europa League, Conference League third qualifying round… Premier openers, Manchester United v Fulham, Ipswich Town v Liverpool, Arsenal v Wolves, Chelsea v Manchester City. La Liga kick off, Valencia v Barcelona.

Published by Neil Fredrik Jensen

Game of the People was founded in 2012 and is ranked among the 100 best football websites by various sources. The site consistently wins awards for its work, across a broad range of subjects. View all posts by Neil Fredrik Jensen