Weekend Review: Noni Madueke, Lando Norris and Endrick steal the show
It was a brilliant weekend for Madueke, Norris and Endrick as they left their mark following an exceptional display.
Another weekend of sporting activities is over, but it is one to savour after an incredible display of individual brilliance.
The action started on Friday night with Bayer Leverkusen getting off their Bundesliga defence to a magnificent start following a thrilling 3-2 win over Borussia Monchengladbach at Borussia-Park.
Following Friday’s action, the attention shifted to Saturday’s round of football across Europe’s top leagues before the thrilling weekend concluded on Sunday night with games in Serie A, LaLiga and Ligue 1.
However, in all these, some individuals made a name for themselves. We review some of the best performances from last weekend.
Noni Madueke stars in Chelsea’s win
Chelsea are up and running under Enzo Maresca in the Premier League after a superb 6-2 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers at Molineux on Sunday afternoon.
Noni Madueke was the star of the show as his first Premier League hat-trick gave Maresca his first league win as Chelsea manager.
Madueke was public enemy number one at Wolves as Chelsea went into the game seeking their first league win after starting their season with a 2-0 loss to Manchester City.
The former PSV winger was subject to a chorus of boos from the home supporters after criticising the town on social media a day earlier.
The first half of the match was a thriller as Nicolas Jackson put Chelsea ahead after 90 seconds. However, Wolves responded through Matheus Cunha before Cole Palmer restored Chelsea’s lead.
It looked like Chelsea would head into the break with the lead but Jorgen Strand Larsen's effort from close range ensured Wolves went into the break with the scores tied.
But the second half turned out to be a different story as Madueke turned it to his show, putting Chelsea ahead immediately after the restart before scoring another two to put Chelsea 5-2 up.
Substitute and new signing Joao Felix then came on to score the second and put Wolves out of their misery.
Lando Norris dominates Max Verstappen’s home race
Formula 1 made a return from its summer break with the Dutch Grand Prix taking centre stage on Sunday afternoon.
Max Verstappen was the favourite in what was his home race, having won the last three editions of the race.
However, Verstappen could not repeat the trick as Lando Norris took home the win following a brilliant recovery.
The warning signs were there for Verstappen going into the race after Norris took pole position on Saturday.
But despite that, it was Verstappen who jumped off the line to claim the early lead, with Norris falling behind.
It looked like the Dutch driver would cruise to a fourth consecutive victory at his home race but a case of tyre degradation around lap 14 allowed Norris to close up.
Four laps later, Norris took control of the race and never looked back to take home his second F1 victory.
As for Verstappen, the Dutch driver is now winless in his last five races, which is now a concern ahead of the Italian Grand Prix.
Endrick off the mark in Real Madrid’s win
The Endrick era has started in Real Madrid. The Brazilian youngster got off the mark in Real Madrid’s 3-0 win over Real Valladolid at the Santiago Bernabeu.
Despite fielding a star-studded attack which included Vinicius Jnr, Rodrygo and Kylian Mbappe, it was Endrick who grabbed the headlines in Madrid’s win.
The former Palmerias star came off the bench to outshine the more established players in Madrid’s attack.
Carlo Ancelotti’s men were lacklustre in the first half, but they stepped up the gear in the second half.
Federico Valverde put the home side ahead in the 50th minute before substitute Brahim Diaz doubled the advantage two minutes from time.
Diaz then went from scorer to provider as he set up Endrick in the sixth minute of added time to cap off a dream debut.