Hat-tricks and faltering title races

So far, 2025 has been all about Ousmane Dembélé. It’s taken a while, but he may finally be making good on his superstar potential.

He began the season in good, but far from world-beating, form, registering 15 goal contributions for PSG through their first 20 games. Then he came back in January and scored in a 1-0 win against Monaco to secure the Trophée des Champions, and then scored again, and again, and again…

He started 2025 with an 8 game scoring streak, but, as impressive as that is, it only tells half the story. He plundered goals, 15 in total through that 8 game stretch, which included back-to-back hat-tricks, followed by back-to-back braces. He’s added a further 2 goals since to take his 2025 tally to 17 goals and his season total to 30 goal contributions (25G + 5A). He’s scored 3 more goals than Kylian Mbappé and 7 more than Mohamed Salah in 2025.

He’s never been shy in the attacking third, registering 147 goal contributions over the past 9 seasons, but prior to his goals flourish that started in mid-December (20 goals in 15 games), it had taken him 105 games to score his previous 18 goals.

He’s already surpassed his previous best of 29 goal contributions from his standout season at Borussia Dortmund and he’s doing so now as an out-and-out goalscorer, much more focused now on scoring goals than being the creator.

In Spain, Real Madrid had a 4 point cushion over Atlético Madrid at the top of La Liga coming into February with Barcelona a further 3 points back. But a defeat, 2 draws and a single win through February has blown the title race wide open. Atléti failed to fully capitalise, winning only 2 and drawing their other 2 matches during the same time period, enough to close the gap to just a single point. Barcelona meanwhile strung together 4 wins from 4 through February to pull level on points at the summit of the table. This title race promises to be very, very good. Athletic Club threatened to join the foray too, still unbeaten in La Liga since October, but a few too many draws sees them still 6 points back.

In Italy, league-leaders Napoli faltered big time. Following 7 straight wins through December and January, Napoli picked-up a total of 3 points through February following 3 straight draws and a defeat at Como, ceding 9 points in the title race. But title rivals Internazionale also hit a rocky patch of their own, dropping 8 points through 2 defeats and a draw. 2 wins in February though were enough to carry Inter to the summit of Serie A who now have a single point buffer over Napoli and a 3 point lead over Atalanta. Napoli vs Inter on 1st March is huge.

Whilst the title races falter, the mid-table battles are heating up. Freiburg, perfect through February with 4 wins from 4, catapulted from 10th place into 4th in the Bundesliga, occupying the final Champions League spot. 4 clean sheets and a 5-0 demolition of Werder Bremen was only enough to boost their goal difference to -2 - by far the lowest amongst Europe’s top-of-the-table teams.

In Serie A, Roma have been clawing their way back towards the European places since Claudio Ranieri took over from the hapless Ivan Jurić. They’re 10 games unbeaten in the league and now just a point behind AC Milan. There’s a good battle brewing between Lazio, Fiorentina, Bologna, AC Milan and Roma for 5th to 9th place.

It’s a similar story in the Premier League where just 6 points separate 3rd and 10th. Nottingham Forest are still in 3rd, but much more concerned about the chasing pack now than competing with Arsenal after managing only 4 points through February. Newcastle and Bournemouth, after strong form in January are also on the slide, each picking-up only 3 points through February. Going the other way are Brighton and Fulham, 2 of the Premier League’s most in-form teams, who each collected 9 points through February. Would have been hard to believe reading this back on 1st February as Brighton fell to an humiliating 7-0 defeat to Nottingham Forest, but since then they’re 4 from 4, which includes back-to-back victories against Chelsea.

At the bottom end of the league tables, Valencia are clawing their way back to safety in La Liga, with 2 wins in February, ending the month just a point from safety. Fellow relegation candidates Southampton picked-up their second win of the season in February to climb to 9 points, leaving themselves needing just 3 more to best Derby’s all-time worst Premier League points total. Unfortunately for Southampton though, they only play Ipswich twice a season.

February also brought us the glories of knockout football, and with that, the occasional escape from the tyranny of VAR. Plymouth felled the intractable Liverpool in the FA Cup fourth round, whilst in the Coupe de France, fourth tier Stade Briochin toppled Nice with two late goals in a come-from-behind win. In the Champions League, Feyenoord, having already scalped Bayern Munich 3-0 in the group stage, knocked AC Milan out of the play-off. Fellow Champions League underdog and pedigreed upsetter of the European apple cart, Club Brugge, made a statement by ousting Atalanta with seeming ease. They followed-up a 2-1 home win in the first leg of the tie with a 3-1 victory in Bergamo, putting 5 goals past a team that kept 5 clean sheets from the 8 group stage games.

After starting February with 4 straight victories, their best form of the season, Juventus conspired to lose 2 of their next 3 and get dumped out of both the Champions League and Coppa Italia by PSV and Empoli respectively.

February Goal Contributions Leaders

Through February Mo Salah blew the competition away with 12 goal contributions from 7 games.

12 - Mohamed Salah

10 - Mika Biereth

9 - Ousmane Dembélé, Gonçalo Ramos

8 - Désiré Doué

7 - Kylian Mbappé, Bradley Barcola, Serhou Guirassy

Yes, FOUR of the 8 players listed above are PSG players.

Lautaro Martínez (1 assist) & Rodrygo (2 assists) who topped the charts in January with 10 goal contributions each, only managed a combined 3 contributions through the whole of February.

There’s nowhere else to start this section but in Monaco, where Mika Biereth has unquestionably made the biggest impact of all the January movers. Sold for £4 million by Arsenal just 7 months ago, his 17 goal contributions in 22 games for Sturm Graz convinced Monaco to swoop for him mid-season. Now, just 6 weeks into life in Monaco, he has 12 goal contributions to his name through his first 10 games, which includes 3 hat-tricks in February (THREE). The £11 million they paid for him is already looking like an unbelievable bargain. The £4 million Arsenal got from his sale just 7 months ago should just about cover Raheem Sterling’s salary for the season.

The headline move of the January transfer window was Omar Marmoush’s move from Eintracht Frankfurt to Manchester City. He drew blanks in first 3 games for City, an unprecedented fallow stretch in his phenomenal season to date, but then he announced his arrival with a 14 minute hat-trick against Newcastle. He’s been somewhat stymied since, with just a single assist in his 3 subsequent games, but we think he’ll be just fine in sky blue.

Another Eintracht Frankfurt alumnus, Randal Kolo Muani, was also on the move in January after struggling for form and minutes at PSG. He scored a penalty in PSG’s opening league game of the season, another goal in Gameweek 3 and then had no further goal contributions this season through inconsistent minutes, until contributing an assist in a 9 minute cameo in his penultimate game in PSG colours. A move to Juventus appears to have had the desired affect, where he scored 5 goals in his first 3 games, inspiring Juve to a 3 game win streak, their best of the season so far. He’s contributed a further 2 assists in subsequent games to make it 7 goal contributions from his first 8 games in the black and white of Juventus.

Elsewhere in Serie A, AC Milan seem to have struck their own success in the January transfer market, bringing in Feyenoord goal-getter Santiago Giménez, although it hasn’t done much to aid their form (dumped out of the Champions League by Feyenoord and back-to-back Serie A defeats). So far he’s netted 3 goals and 2 assists for the Rossoneri, through his first 7 games, including a goal against previous employers Feyenoord shortly before they booted Milan from the Champions League.

Through his first 6 games for Real Betis, Antony is already looking like the Ajax Antony again, enjoying some early form in Seville after almost 100 appearances for Manchester United. His 5 goal contributions for Betis has already matched his tally through 38 appearances and almost 2,000 minutes for Manchester United last season.

🏆Can Atalanta make a push for their first ever Scudetto?

Atalanta are currently 3 points behind league leaders Inter and 2 behind Napoli. They no longer have the Champions League to worry about, nor any other cups. From here it’s full focus on the remaining 12 Serie A matches. Napoli too have no other distractions, but are winless since January, whilst Inter have the distractions of both the Champions League and the Coppa Italia still. Atalanta have the firepower to make a title challenge - Mateo Retegui (28 G+A) and Ademola Lookman (23 G+A) - and they also have the opportunity to make-up ground with Napoli-Inter on 1st March and Atalanta-Inter on 16th March. How they fare through the difficult run of Juventus, Inter, Fiorentina, Lazio, Bologna, AC Milan will go a long way to dictating where the Scudetto ends up.

🥐Can PSG convert their dominant form into an unbeaten season and a coveted Champions League crown?

PSG are currently the most in-form team in Europe. They’re riding a 9 game win streak and a 21 game unbeaten streak that dates back to November. A streak that includes just 3 draws. PSG are unbeaten in Ligue 1 this season and looking good to make it their first ever unbeaten league season. More difficult will be the Champions League, where they’ve already lost to Arsenal, Atléti and Bayern Munich this season, but their form over the last 3 months suggests they are a match for anyone right now.

🐐Can Mo Salah reach Messi-level numbers?

Mo Salah has 52 goal contributions so far this season. 30 goals and 22 assists from 39 appearances. He’s averaging 1.3 goal contributions per game, a rate that would see him reach 69 goal contributions by the end of the season if he can continue through the remaining 13 games of Liverpool’s season (+ more Champions League games if they can beat PSG). If Salah can even get to 65 goal contributions by the end of the season he’ll be in rarified territory, something only a handful of players have ever achieved. Lionel Messi has hit 65+ goal contributions 6 times, but otherwise it’s only been achieved twice by Cristiano Ronaldo, once by Robert Lewandowski and once by Luis Suárez. Can Mo join the exclusive club this season?