Putellas Arrives, Isak Strikes Twice, and Lautaro Seals a Stunning Comeback

The opening weekend of the Women's Super League season delivered its headline moment early. Alexia Putellas, the two-time Ballon d'Or winner, marked her London City Lionesses debut with a winning performance as the home side beat Manchester United 2-1, announcing themselves as a serious force in the new campaign. Across the women's game, Chelsea were held to a 1-1 draw by Aston Villa, leaving Sonia Bompastor's side without a winning start.

In the Premier League, Alexander Isak gave Andoni Iraola the perfect beginning to his Liverpool tenure, scoring twice in nine minutes to settle a 2-0 win at Ipswich. The result was somewhat overshadowed by the confirmation that sporting director Richard Hughes has left Anfield for Al-Hilal, leaving FSG searching for a fourth sporting director in four years. Erling Haaland, meanwhile, reached 300 club goals as City beat Coventry, while Newcastle rescued a point through Jacob Ramsey's late equaliser against Bournemouth.

In Serie A, Lautaro Martínez scored a stoppage-time winner to complete Inter's 3-2 comeback over Napoli — a result Beppe Marotta will have savoured given his confirmation earlier in the day that Barcelona had enquired about the striker. The Bundesliga, too, offered drama: Dortmund overturned a two-goal deficit against Hoffenheim, Füllkrug marked his Werder Bremen return with a goal, and Loris Karius produced a man-of-the-match display to earn newly promoted Schalke a goalless draw against Bayern Munich.