Canadians in Europe: David stays hot in Lille win
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Jonathan David, Lille - Last season, Lille experienced a title hangover, finishing 10th in the table and 11 points out of Europe. It was a far cry from the lofty days of 2020-2021 when LOSC won its first Ligue 1 title in a decade. This season, while Lille might not be able to keep pace with the juggernaut that is Paris Saint-Germain atop the table, the club intends to make a push for another European place. Paulo Fonseca's team kept the push on this past Saturday with Ottawa's Jonathan David once again playing a key role early in the season at home to Toulouse. Lille opened the scoring in the fifth minute with David's fine individual effort finishing off a pretty team move. Coming out from the back, Lille sprung at midfield. A give-and-go with Jonathan Bamba and Bafodé Diakité freed up Angel Gomes to sprint into the Toulouse end. The former Manchester United youth player sent a through ball into the area for David, who got in behind the defence. Undressing his marker, David put the ball on his left foot and curled a fine effort inside the far post with goalkeeper Maxime Dupé standing still, knowing that he had no chance to intervene. It was David's fifth goal through eight matches this season. The visitors were handed a lifeline at the second half opened thanks to some sloppiness from Lille. A poor clearance from Leny Yoro was pounced upon by Branco van den Boomen. The Dutchman played in Thijs Dallinga, who should have scored, but his effort was bounced around the box by scrambling Lille defenders. Finally, Toulouse would get their goal in the 48th when Fares Chaïbi ended the madness by hammering home to make it 1-1. But the deadlock wouldn't last long. Only minutes later, Benjamin André played in a beautiful looping cross to Adam Ounas, who had slipped in behind the Toulouse defence. While André's service was pretty, Ounas's finish was even nicer, one-touching home with a left-footed drive to make it 2-1 in the 53rd and claim the three points for Lille. The win put LOSC in seventh on 13 points, just one back of Monaco for the final European spot.
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Kadeisha Buchanan, Chelsea - Kadeisha Buchanan's debut in the Women's Super League was a memorable one, but not for the right reasons. The Toronto-born centre-back signed with Chelsea in June following six seasons at Lyon that saw her win five Division 1 Féminine titles, three Coupes de France and five Champions League crowns including this past spring's. Buchanan was handed a start on Sunday as Chelsea, the defending champions, opened up their title defence at Liverpool in front of record crowd at Prenton Park. The match couldn't have started better for the Blues. Norway midfielder Guro Reiten was taken down in the area by Gilly Flaherty during a clumsy clearing attempt just after the two-minute mark. After the referee pointed to the spot, England midfielder Fran Kirby made no mistake and gave the Blues a 1-0 lead in the third. The match would stay that way until just after the hour-mark following quality chances by both teams and more than just a little bit of wastefulness. It was Flaherty who helped the Reds level the match by winning a penalty of her own. As the ball pinged around the Chelsea box, Flaherty's attempted flick-on clipped Millie Bright in the arm and the referee awarded a penalty for handball. Former United States U-23 midfielder Katie Stengel stepped up for Liverpool to pull the hosts even at 1-1 in the 67th. Twenty minutes later, the Reds would find a winner again from the spot. Trying to get in alone on Zecira Musovic, Stengel was taken to ground in the area by Buchanan and another penalty was given. Another professional penalty from Stengel gave Liverpool a 2-1 win and three points to open the season with the Blues feeling hard done by after being unable to do anything with their 69 per-cent possession. Buchanan played the full 90 in her debut, drawing three fouls, winning two tackles and making an interception.
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Alphonso Davies, Bayern Munich - Julian Nagelsmann's side have hit the kind of rough patch that we're not accustomed to seeing from the team that has won 10 straight Bundesliga titles. Coming off of three straight draws, Alphonso Davies and Bayern Munich experienced another setback on Saturday away to Augsburg. The trip to Augsburg hasn't always been kind to Bayern with the hosts picking up a 2-1 win in this fixture last fall, but Augsburg hadn't exactly turned the WWK Arena into a fortress so far this season. In three previous home dates thus far, Augsburg had been outscored 8-1 in three defeats. It was the visitors who appeared most likely to open the scoring in the first half with Bayern having no shortage of early chances. The best of the bunch might have been the one Sadio Mané, no goalless in his last five matches after a torrid start, had when he broke in alone on Rafal Gikiewicz, but the Polish 'keeper was up to the task, coming out to cut the angle and nick the ball away from the Senegal forward before he could get a shot off. The hosts would get the only goal of the match in the 59th on a set piece and it came far too easily if you're Nagelsmann. A deep cross from a free kick in the Augsburg half was met by Iago, who casually slipped behind his marker Leroy Sane, and directed the ball almost to the penalty spot where Mergim Berisha beat Manuel Neuer for his first ever Bundesliga goal. On loan from Fenerbahce, it was Berisha's third goal against Bayern in his career, having previously scored twice against the team in the Champions League as a member of Red Bull Salzburg. Bayern enjoyed 76 per cent of the possession over the course of the match, but no goal was coming. Davies played the entire 90 minutes with 71 touches, 47 passes and an interception. With the loss and Sunday's matches, Bayern now sits fifth in the table, five points back of surprise leaders Union Berlin.