Emi Buendía, Kaine Kesler-Hayden and Samuel Iling-Jr all scored their first goals for their respective loan clubs over the weekend.
On Friday night, England Under-21 international Iling-Jr helped Championship play-off hopefuls Middlesbrough secure a comfortable 2-0 win on the road at Blackburn Rovers.
Then on Saturday, Kesler-Hayden was on target for Preston North End who were held at home to Stoke City, before Buendía’s injury-time strike stole all three points for Bayer Leverkusen on the road at Heidenheim in the Bundesliga.
A near-ever present for the Championship Lilywhites this season, Kesler-Hayden gave his side the perfect start at Deepdale, handing Paul Heckingbottom’s side the lead 10 minutes in when taking Sam Greenwood’s pass in his stride, cutting inside and seeing a deflected effort roll over the line.
North End would ultimately be held, however, succumbing to a second-half penalty from Lewis Baker 15 minutes from time which stole a point for the Potters in Lancashire.
The night before, also in the Championship, Iling-Jr continued to impress for Middlesbrough, scoring their second goal in a comfortable 2-0 win at Blackburn.
Having already taken an early lead through Tommy Conway, Boro were two to the good inside eight minutes, Iling-Jr running onto Kelechi Iheanacho’s pass and hitting a first-time effort goalwards, which deflected off the head of Danny Batth to wrongfoot Aynsley Pears and bounce into the back of the net.
And in Germany on Saturday, Buendía provided a vital contribution for Bayer Leverkusen, popping up in the first minute of stoppage time to net the winning goal in a 1-0 triumph at Heidenheim.
Having been introduced as a substitute just 14 minutes prior, the Argentinian received Jonas Hofmann’s pass on the edge of the area, took a touch and bent an unstoppable effort off the post and in to dramatically secure all three points.
Elsewhere in the Bundesliga, there was a first league start in RB Leipzig colour for Kosta Nedeljković, the young right-back completing 73 minutes in a 3-1 home win over Hoffenheim.
La Liga action saw Enzo Barrenechea start and complete 94 minutes for Valencia, who secured an impressive, late 2-1 victory over Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabéu.
In League One, Josh Feeney and Sil Swinkels each once again completed 90 minutes, for Shrewsbury Town and Bristol Rovers respectively. The former fell 1-0 at home to Cambridge United, while the Gas were beaten 1-0 at Bolton Wanderers.
League Two saw Tommi O’Reilly make his first start for MK Dons since signing on loan in January, the midfielder playing 78 minutes in a 3-0 defeat at home to Barrow. Filip Marschall again completed 90 minutes in goal for Crewe Alexandra, who suffered a 2-0 defeat on the road at league leaders Bradford City.
Kobei Moore was introduced as a 64th-minute substitute for Fleetwood Town, who fell 4-0 at home to Swindon Town, while Rico Richards was an unused substitute for high-flying Port Vale, who won 3-2 at Walsall in a lunchtime top of the table clash.
In Brazil, Philippe Coutinho was an unused substitute as Vasco da Gama fell 3-0 away at Corinthians, having netted midweek in a 3-3 draw at Melgar.
On Sunday, Leander Dendoncker played 90 minutes for Anderlecht who lost 2-1 at home to Genk in the Belgian Pro League Championship Round matchday two. Kadan Young was an unused substitute in Royal Antwerp’s 3-2 defeat at home to Club Brugge.
And for Real Unión, James Wright again played 90 minutes in a 3-1 defeat at Ponferradina in Primera Federación Group A.