🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🇪🇸🇩🇪🇮🇹🇫🇷 OneFootball’s European Team of the Weekend | OneFootball

It is time to select our Team of the Weekend across Europe’s top five leagues, lining out in a 4-4-2 system.

GK: Lucas Covolan (Maidstone United)

The result of the weekend saw the sixth-tier Stones stun Ipswich Town in a classic FA Cup giant-killing. Covolan’s exploits proved key as he repelled 12 of the visitors’ 38 attempts on goal including nine inside the penalty area to help set up a fifth-round meeting with another Championship outfit in either Coventry City or Sheffield Wednesday.

RB: Conor Bradley (Liverpool)

Jürgen Klopp’s farewell tour stole the spotlight in Liverpool’s FA Cup rout over Norwich City but Bradley again delivered a star turn. Trent Alexander-Arnold’s return from injury is likely to limit his first-team opportunities but a jinking run and assist for Darwin Núñez should keep the Northern Ireland international in his manager’s thoughts.

CB: Leonardo Balerdi (Marseille)

The Argentine found the target as Marseille kept their European qualification hopes on track in a 2-2 draw with nine-man Monaco. A surging run and long-range drive in the 50th minute left Philipp Köhn powerless and marked only the defender’s second goal of the campaign.

CB: Robin Koch (Eintracht Frankfurt)

A journey from The Championship to Champions League is probably a step too far for Koch this season but he continues to keep Eintracht in the hunt for an outside shot of the Europa League. Since joining permanently from Leeds at the start of the month, the 27-year-old looked incredibly assured again at the heart of a back three against Mainz.

LB: Ian Maatsen (Borussia Dortmund)

Three appearances into his loan spell and Maatsen already looks incredibly settled at Signal Iduna Park. A crucial second-half tackle kept Dortmund on top in their Ruhr derby with Bochum and later set the wheels in motion for Nicolas Füllkrug’s second goal. Edin Terzić’s may have finally found Raphaël Guerreiro’s replacement, if only in the short term.

RM: Lamine Yamal (Barcelona)

Few of Barça’s players emerged with any real credit from the 5-3 humiliation by Villarreal that prompted Xavi’s resignation plan but Yamal proved to be a rare bright spot. La Masia’s latest ‘Starboy’ dominated attacks against the Yellow Submarine and was undermined by the hosts’ defensive fragility.

CM: Youssef Maleh (Empoli)

Szymon Żurkowski’s third loan spell at Empoli had taken the headlines of Davide Nicola’s early reign but Maleh was the difference as his side produced arguably Serie A’s result of the weekend by holding title chasers Juventus to a draw.

CM: Yangel Herrera (Girona)

LaLiga’s current leaders had to dig in against Celta Vigo to keep Real Madrid at arm’s length thanks in no small part to Herrera. The Venezuelan fired an early warning shot with an effort in to the side-netting before helping Blanquivermells eke out a hard-fought victory at Balaídos.

LM: João Pedro (Brighton)

The definition of a player in the form of his career, Pedro took his tally up to 18 goals for the season with a hat-trick in Brighton’s FA Cup dismantling of Sheffield United. It’s becoming clearer by the week why Roberto De Zerbi’s side sanctioned a reported club-record fee of £30m to poach the newly-minted Brazil international from Watford last summer.

ST: Deniz Undav (Stuttgart)

Hat-trick heroes dominated the Bundesliga’s top-four race but Undav trumped Füllkrug after his haul in Stuttgart’s 5-2 win over RB Leipzig edged them ahead of Dortmund. The Brighton loanee now has 13 goals in his 18 appearances for Die Schwaben, who remain on course to secure their first European involvement for a decade.

ST: Lautaro Martínez (Inter)

After guiding the Nerazzurri to Supercoppa glory against Napoli, Martínez rounded off the week by extending a prolific return of 19 goals in as many Serie A outings. The Argentine produced a one-in-three strike rate against Fiorentina which now places Simeone Inzaghi’s side ahead of Juventus again with a game in-hand to boot.