A lot of leagues and competitions take the festive period off but there was no break for players in England, Italy and Portugal over the weekend, while the action at the Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco resumed on December 26. The Premier League's top two, Arsenal and Manchester City, both picked up hard-fought wins on Saturday but Aston Villa remain very much in the title race after a massive win over Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.
In Serie A, meanwhile, there are just six points separating the top five – and the gap could get even closer if Roma win on Monday night. In the Liga Portugal, though, Porto and Sporting CP are pulling clear of Benfica, who were held to a 2-2 draw in very controversial circumstances – much to the fury of Jose Mourinho.
As for the always-enthralling Africa Cup of Nations, heavyweights Algeria, Nigeria and Egypt are already through to the knockouts after just two rounds of the group stage, and are likely to be joined there by hosts Morocco, as well as Senegal and Ivory Coast.
So, who were the big winners and losers of the weekend? GOAL breaks it all down below…
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WINNER: Florian Wirtz
Florian Wirtz was never the reason why Liverpool's form fell off a cliff at the tail end of September and he's actually been playing quite well for some time now. However, as Arne Slot has conceded on a couple of occasions, attacking players are judged by their number of goal contributions these days and Wirtz was still stuck on zero in the run-up to Christmas – which, no matter what way you try to spin it, was nowhere near good enough for a £100 million player.
Wirtz, though, is finally up and running. After registering his first assist in the 2-1 win over Tottenham on December 20 with a clever through-ball for Alexander Isak, the Germany international opened his Liverpool account with a well-taken goal in Saturday's 2-1 win over Wolves. Both his joy and relief were obvious in his celebration.
"It was very nice the feeling on the pitch with the fans around," the versatile attacking midfielder told . "I was very happy and I still am. I was confident that I would score one day. I wanted to start earlier scoring and assisting but it was like this and I have to accept it. I just knew that it would come and now I'll try to keep going like this."
Certainly, with the monkey now off his back, the 22-year-old Wirtz should go on to score many more goals at Anfield.
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LOSER: Mohamed Salah's haters
Mohamed Salah was unquestionably out of order when he went public with his grievances with Arne Slot and unnamed figures that allegedly want him out of the club. Whether he had a point or not, the Egyptian came across as looking selfish and petulant by lashing out at such a tough time for the team.
However, some of the criticism that has followed has been outrageously over the top and surprisingly personal in its nature. It now feels as if several pundits and journalists have been waiting for precisely this kind of moment to sully Salah's stellar reputation, with some even going so far as to question his legendary legacy.
Salah, thus, deserves enormous credit for ignoring all of the noise and silencing the haters by producing two match-winning displays for Egypt in their Africa Cup of Nations campaign.
First, the prolific winger netted a 91st-minute winner in last week's 2-1 win over Zimbabwe and then, on Friday, he converted a penalty that he had won to secure the Pharaohs a spot in the last 16 with a 1-0 win over South Africa.
What this all means for Salah's future at Anfield is unclear but what's obvious is that reports of his demise have been greatly exaggerated. He remains one of the most decisive players in world football.
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WINNER: The Serie A title race
The mind games have already begun in the Serie A title race. After Napoli won at Cremonese on Sunday afternoon, Antonio Conte tried to make out that it was a three-way fight between Italy's three richest clubs: Inter, Juventus and AC Milan.
However, Nerazzurri CEO Beppe Marotta was having none of it, pointing out that not only were Napoli the reigning champions, they had significantly strengthened their squad during the summer, meaning the Partenopei were "the prime candidates to win the scudetto again."
The truth of the matter is, though, that there is a strong case to be made for every single contender.
Leaders Inter have developed a nasty habit of losing big games under Christian Chivu but showed impressive grit to beat Atalanta in Bergamo on Sunday night thanks to a solitary strike from skipper Lautaro Martinez, and arguably still have the strongest starting XI in Serie A. City rivals Milan boast arguably the best player in Serie A right now (Christian Pulisic) and are unburdened by European football, which could be huge come the business end of the season. Napoli, meanwhile, have responded wonderfully well to Conte's post-Bologna meltdown, winning five of their last six Serie A games – as well as the Supercoppa Italiana. As for Juventus, Luciano Spalletti is slowly but surely working his magic in Turin, with the Bianconeri up to fourth now after three wins on the spin.
Roma shouldn't yet be discounted either, though. The Giallorossi are currently fifth in the table but if they beat Genoa at home on Monday night, they'll move back up into fourth, just three points behind table-topping Inter.
All things considered, then, we're set for another sensational Serie A title race in 2026.
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LOSER: Enzo Maresca
After Chelsea deservedly held Arsenal to a 1-1 draw on November 30 despite playing more than half the game with 10 men, the Blues were touted as genuine Premier League title contenders. Almost exactly a month on, though, the Blues face a real battle to finish in the top four after winning just one of their five fixtures in December so far.
Saturday's 2-1 loss at home to Aston Villa saw Chelsea slip to fifth in the standings, an embarrassing 13 points behind leaders Arsenal, meaning Enzo Maresca is once again under enormous pressure.
The Italian had already complained about a lack of support at the club after the win over Everton on December 13 and it really does feel now as we're entering Maresca's end game, especially as rumours of a strained relationship with star player Cole Palmer appeared to have been confirmed by the attacker's furious reaction to being substituted against Villa.
Chelsea should return to winning ways against Bournemouth but it's worth noting that no team has dropped more points at home from winning positions than the Blues (11). Another setback on Tuesday night might make Maresca's position untenable – just six months after leading the Londoners to Club World Cup glory…
