Winners and Losers: Highlights from opening weekends across Europe
In a new weekly feature, Flashscore has decided to look at the biggest winners and losers from the weekend’s matches - from top comebacks to huge mistakes, here are the biggest talking points from the last few days.
Winner – Joshua Zirkzee
What better way to begin our new feature than with a late debut winner for one of the biggest clubs in the world?
Manchester United striker Joshua Zirkzee joined the club from Bologna over the summer as part of a youth-driven recruitment plan for the Red Devils.
The 23-year-old wasn’t trusted to start from the off against Fulham but, after being subbed on, grabbed his opportunity with both hands late in the match.
Zirkzee ghosted into the penalty area in the 87th minute and managed to get a toe onto Alejandro Garnacho’s cross, poking the ball home to send Old Trafford wild with a late winner to ensure their Premier League campaign started with victory.
Flashscore took a look at the signing of Zirkzee in our latest FlashFocus player piece, which you can read here.
Loser – Antonio Conte
Antonio Conte arrived at Napoli in June 2024 with the task of propelling the Italian side back toward the top of Serie A after a terrible title defence last season.
His tenure couldn’t have gotten off to a worse start, with his team on the wrong end of a 3-0 thrashing at the hands of Verona – losing their opening-day fixture for the first time in nine years.
The absence of star man Victor Osimhen was clear to see, with Conte’s side failing to convert any of their five attempts on goal as they slumped to a shock defeat, leaving them bottom of the league.
Winner – AC Milan
On the face of it, AC Milan drawing 2-2 with Torino is hardly a ‘winner’ of a result.
However, things change when you are 2-0 down heading towards added time.
Milan found themselves in that exact position before an 89th-minute debut goal from Alvaro Morata gave them a slither of hope.
It seemed to have been just a consolation approaching full-time before Noah Okafor popped up in the 95th minute to seal a dramatic late comeback for his side.
Loser – Bento
Bento started between the sticks in Al Nassr’s Saudi Super Cup game against Al Hilal.
The Brazilian enjoyed a solid first half with his side heading into the break 1-0 up.
In the space of just over 15 minutes, however, Bento conceded four – much to the annoyance of star man Cristiano Ronaldo.
The fourth was particularly horrific after the goalkeeper’s awful first touch gifted the opposition another easy goal.
Winner – Levante Bosze
What were you doing at 15 years old?
Well, Levante Bosze was making his professional debut over in the Slovakian league.
Aged 15 years and 181 days he became the youngest ever footballer to feature in the division, and also picked up an assist as his side won 3-0 – remember the name!
Loser - Barnabas Lacik
Barnabas Lacik was subbed on in the 86th minute of Vyskov’s Czech second-tier match against Opava.
By the 87th minute, he was off the pitch again after picking up two yellow cards in what must be a new record.
This is a pretty self-explanatory entry for our final ‘loser’ of the weekend – even if you don’t follow the Czech second division.
It was a bad weekend for red cards in general, with Real Madrid's Ferland Mendy dismissed for an awful late lunge in their 1-1 draw with Mallorca.
What really caught the eye, though, was a sending-off over in Peru where Sebastian Munoz saw red for urinating at the side of the pitch before taking a corner.