Mason Greenwood and Jean-Phillip Mateta lead the way.
The European football marked the return from the October 2025 international break with a sensational weekend of individual brilliance and thrilling comebacks, with standout performances across the continent’s top five leagues setting the tone for the challenges ahead.
From Selhurst Park to Seville, the action was defined by players rising to the occasion, often turning the tide single-handedly after their teams had fallen behind. The results saw movement at the top of several tables, underscoring the immediate impact these star players had on their clubs’ fortunes.
From historical Mason Greenwood to the mesmerizing Jean-Phillip Mateta, here are the most standout players in each of Europe’s top five leagues during the weekend.
Premier League: Jean-Phillip Mateta of Crystal Palace
In the most thrilling game of the weekend, Jean-Phillip Mateta scored a hat-trick for Crystal Palace, who battled back to secure a point against visiting Bournemouth in Selhurst Park.
The visitors led 2-0 through Eli Junior Kroupi’s brace, but Mateta drew them level with a brace of his own, and completed his hat-trick in added time to restore parity for the second time in the game after Bournemouth had retaken the lead.
By scoring his second hat-trick for Crystal Palace, the French striker has now scored more Premier League hat-tricks than all the other players combined in the history of the club, 1.
Mateta blew the chance to win it at the death but his outstanding display was enough to beat Erling Haaland, Daniel Munoz, Eli Junior Kroupi, and Bukayo Saka to the best player of the Premier League round eight.
LaLiga: Mateo Joseph of Mallorca
Mallorca were a goal down at Sevilla before the introduction of their summer signing from Leeds United on loan, and he inspired a comeback with two goals in a 3-1 win.
Mateo Joseph scored the second and the third after coming on after the hour mark, his first two goals in the colours of Mallorca to help them to a first away win over Sevilla since January 2013.
The Spanish striker beat the likes of Jorge de Frutos and Kylian Mbappé to the best player of LaLiga round nine, making huge impacts with his first goals since February.
Serie A: Rafael Leao of AC Milan
Rafael Leao inspired AC Milan to a comeback win over Fiorentina with a second-half brace, which takes them to the top in Serie A standings after seven games.
The Portuguese had missed the start of the season due to injuries and was making his first competitive start for Massimiliano Allegri, who became the new manager in the summer.
After Robin Gossens put the visitors ahead just before the hour mark, Leao went on to score two goals, including a late penalty to secure the Rossonerri’s first win in this fixture since March 2024.
He managed to beat Nico Paz to the nomination of the most standout player in the Italian top-flight during the weekend.
Bundesliga: Alejandro Grimaldo of Leverkusen
Alejandro Grimaldo has been Bayer Leverkusen’s star this season, after losing the majority of their best players in the summer. He has so far stood up and taken responsibility to take the team forward.
He recently bagged a brace in a 4-3 win away to Mainz, which helped them move into the top five, level on points with second-place Borussia Dortmund, after seven games into the season.
Grimaldo scored the first and the third, while playing a part in the fourth to ensure all three points for Kasper Hjulmand’s charge, taking his goal tally to six across all competitions so far. He is our Bundesliga player of the round.
Ligue 1: Mason Greenwood of Marseille
Mason Greenwood became the first Olympic Marseille player to score four goals in a Ligue 1 game since Jean-Pierre Papin in 1991 as the club capitalized on slip-ups to assume the league summit.
After watching their main competitors drop points, Roberto De Zerbi’s charge fell behind after the first quarter against visiting Le Havre, but Greenwood inspired a comeback with an astonishing four-goal haul to turn it around.
Marseille went on to win 6-2, and Greenwood, who also equaled the record for most Ligue 1 goals scored by an English player (27), is our best performer in the French topflight in round eight.
Kehinde-Hassan Afolabi
