Euro weekend round-up: Martinez hat-trick, De Bruyne masterclass, Toney penalty record

After a busy few days of football, we’ve picked out the major talking points from the weekend and highlighted some interesting stats from around Europe.

Manchester City bossed the Manchester derby, Ivan Toney continues to deliver from the penalty spot, and we saw Inter Milan return to goalscoring form.  

 

Lautaro Martinez hat-trick 

Heading into their Champions League second leg tie with Liverpool in midweek, Inter Milan are in fine goalscoring form after putting five goals past Salernitana. Lautaro Martínez had been having a frustrating time in front of goal recently, with him failing to hit the back of the net in his previous 10 matches, but this weekend looked like a return to form.  

Inter themselves had only scored one goal in their last five matches and so this weekend’s result will do their confidence the world of good.  

Martinez took just 56 minutes to seal his hat-trick, which was followed by an Edin Dzeko brace. The Argentinian forward has pretty much matched his xG throughout the season as he has scored 14 goals from an xG of 13.9.  

Nicolo Barella also put in a notable performance for Inter as he grabbed two assists from the five key passes he produced. The Italian midfielder also won seven ground duels and won four tackles, as Inter got back to winning ways.  

Inter will have a tough job of turning around their 2-0 first-leg defeat to Liverpool, but if they can be just as clinical in front of goal, they might stand a chance.  

 

Ivan Toney’s penalty record 

Brentford returned to winning ways this weekend with a much needed three points against Norwich and Ivan Toney grabbed all the headlines.  

The Bees had endured an eight-game winless run that had seen them drop worryingly close to the relegation zone. After Ivan Toney’s hat-trick against Norwich, he has now scored 30% of Brentford’s Premier League goals this season and his role in keeping them up will be absolutely vital.  

Two of Toney’s goals this weekend came from the penalty spot, which prompted Brentford manager Thomas Frank to claim he is the best penalty taker in the world. The 25-year-old striker has scored all 16 of the penalties he has taken for Brentford, including four this season in the Premier League.  

In his entire career, Toney has only ever missed one penalty, for Peterborough back in 2018, which gives him an astonishing conversion rate of 95.6% from the spot.  

 

Kevin De Bruyne’s Manchester derby masterclass 

As Kevin De Bruyne hasn’t played week in week out for Manchester City for the past couple of seasons due to injuries, it would be easy to overlook just how good he still is. The Belgian playmaker now has 10 goal contributions in his last nine appearances for City and his brace at the weekend highlighted how much of a big game player he is.  

As well as scoring a brace, De Bruyne also set up Riyad Mahrez for his goal and produced five key passes, more than any other player on the pitch. The 30-year-old also completed five accurate long balls, won six ground duels and had a pass completion of 92.9%.

Next up for Man City is a trip to Crystal Palace, who De Bruyne has enjoyed playing against in the past. In his 13 career appearances against Palace, De Bruyne has 11 goal contributions.  

 

Barcelona's second half turnaround  

Barcelona stretched their unbeaten run in La Liga to 11 matches as they came from a goal behind to beat Elche 2-1.  

When Xavi took over, Barcelona were languishing in ninth in the table and they looked a far cry away from a top-four side. Since his arrival, the turnaround has been obvious to see and they now find themselves third in the table and heading into the Europa League Round of 16 against Galatasaray.  

Against Elche at the weekend, Barcelona’s second half substitutes Ferran Torres and Memphis Depay both scored to ensure the unbeaten run goes on for another week.  

Despite missing a chunk of the season through injury, Depay is Barcelona’s top scorer in La Liga with 10 goals. The 28-year-old averages 2.56 shots per 90, which is the second highest in the Barcelona squad behind Ferrán Torres with 3.27.