As clubs from four of the top five European men’s leagues competed in competitions of various descriptions, there were also some massive derbies elsewhere in the continent. Those matches, plus some massive cup upsets, make up the agenda for this week’s edition of Last Weekend.
By Neel Shelat
🇪🇸 Spain: Villarreal 2-1 Real Madrid
After Unai Emery left for Aston Villa in late October, Villarreal decided to replace him with Quique Setién. Things got off to a very poor start for the 64-year-old Spaniard as he failed to win his first four matches in charge and lost three of them, but it is safe to say that he has turned things around on the other side of the World Cup break.
Their win over defending champions Real Madrid, and the manner of it, is definitive proof of that fact. Villarreal took the game to their opponents right from kick-off with a high press that caused real problems for Carlo Ancelotti’s side, while also building out from the back very nicely when they had the ball.
The hosts couldn’t score in the first half but needed just a couple of minutes in the second period to take the lead through Yéremy Pino after benefitting from a dangerous high turnover. Madrid equalised at the hour-mark thanks to a VAR-awarded penalty which was converted by Karim Benzema, but only three minutes later, Gerard Moreno did the exact same thing at the other end.
That was enough for Setién’s side to come away with three deserved points at the end of a very entertaining match.
That makes it six straight wins for Villarreal in all competitions, while Real Madrid have fallen three points behind Barcelona at the top of the table having won just two of their last five league matches.
🇹🇷 Türkiye: Fenerbahçe 0-3 Galatasaray
On any day, the Intercontinental derby is one of the biggest matches in Türkiye, but on Sunday, there was more than just bragging rights at stake. Chasing their first league title in four seasons, Galatasaray made the short trip across the Bosporus Strait as they sought to at least maintain their one-point lead over Fenerbahçe, who last won the league back in 2014.
Jorge Jesus’ tactics at Fenerbahçe this season have been very interesting to follow. Usually, he uses a 4-1-3-2 formation that looks very different in possession, but for this match, he switched to a 3-4-2-1. Galatasaray, on the other hand, stuck to their favoured and much more straightforward 4-2-3-1 system.
There were very few clear-cut chances in this match, so making the most of whatever fell their way was crucial to both sides’ chances. Galatasaray had an early opener from a corner ruled out for offside, but went on to take the lead in the 32nd minute from a similar situation through Sérgio Oliveira’s powerful strike to the far corner.
With a game to chase, Fenerbahçe returned to their preferred 4-1-3-2 at half-time, and while they did dominate possession, chance creation remained an issue. As they pushed harder for an equaliser, they left themselves more exposed at the back. Galatasaray took advantage of this in the 78th minute when they started a counterattack after a midfield turnover which culminated in substitute Mauro Icardi sending Kerem Aktürkoğlu through on goal, after which the Turkish international made no mistake.
Things went from bad to worse for the hosts late on as İrfan Can Kahveci was sent off for a high boot, and later in stoppage time Mauro Icardi compounded the margin of their defeat.
Fenerbahçe have now lost two of their last four league games and slipped from leading the way to four points behind Galatasaray, who have won nine on the bounce in all competitions. We are almost midway through the season, so there is a long way to go yet.
🇬🇷 Greece: AEK Athens 1-0 Panathinaikos
In Greece as well, there was a derby between the top two teams in the table. Athens is best known for the ‘derby of the eternal enemies’ between Olympiacos and Panathinaikos, but this weekend, the match between AEK and Panathinaikos took centre stage.
The visitors sought to protect a seven-point lead at the top of the table, which was formed partly thanks to their unbeaten record after 16 matches. They are aiming to win their first league title since 2010, whereas AEK’s goal is to prevent that and get their first in five years. Both, however, will be keen to end Olympiacos’ three-season streak.
This match was about as cagey as one would expect such a big derby to be, so there were very few presentable opportunities at either end. AEK had more of the ball and a significantly greater shots tally, so they would have felt that they took a deserved lead when Orbelin Pineda scored from a tight angle in the 68th minute.
The most impressive aspect of AEK’s performance was how they operated out of possession and almost completely contained the visitors, so their lead never seemed under great threat. They even had a stoppage-time penalty to double it, but the failure to convert that did not prove costly in terms of the result.
By becoming the first side to defeat Panathinaikos in the league this season, AEK have closed the gap at the top down to four points. These two might not be the only contestants of the title race, though, as Olympiacos and PAOK are slowly inching back in to it.
🇧🇪 Belgium: Genk 3-1 Club Brugge
There were a number of big matches in Belgium this weekend, including Gent’s visit to Royal Antwerp on Saturday and the Brussels derby on Sunday. Our focus, however, will be on league leaders Genk’s game against defending champions Club Brugge.
This also happened to be Scott Parker’s first match in charge of Brugge, so he started off with a real trial by fire. The English head coach set his side up in a 4-3-3 formation that acted as such in possession but transformed to a 4-4-2 without the ball. Genk, of course, operated in their usual 4-2-3-1 system.
The visitors got off to a slightly better start (perhaps due to the novelty of their tactics) and took the lead about 20 minutes in when Bjorn Meijer set Hans Vanaken up with a nice cutback. Genk were able to equalise within a few minutes, though, as Carlos Cuesta headed a corner home after Simon Mignolet’s failed attempt to punch it away,
Things started to get a bit heated thereafter as five bookings were handed out in the last 20 minutes of the first half, as well as a sending off for Wouter Vrancken. His side would go on to take the lead in the second half with a well-worked goal finished off superbly by Paul Onuachu, who is the league’s top scorer with 14 goals in 16 games.
The game rather slipped away from Club Brugge thereafter, as Abakar Sylla saw a second yellow in the 75th minute. A few minutes later, Bryan Heynen sealed the win for his side.
This maintained Genk’s seven-point lead at the top of the table, while Club Brugge’s deficit has widened to 15 points. Don’t write them off just yet, though, because the Pro League’s format sees points halved for the top four before their Championship play-offs.
🇫🇷 France: Strasbourg Koenigshoffen 0-0 Clermont Foot (4-3 on pens)
The Coupe de France threw up some massive upsets in the Round of 64 this weekend, but the biggest by far came early on Saturday afternoon.
Ligue 1 club Clermont Foot made the trip to face amateur outfit FCO Strasbourg Koenigshoffen 06 in the Northeast of France. The number in the club’s name represents its year of founding — 1906 — but at the moment, it also reflects the tier of French football they play in.
With that in mind, the visitors would have expected to come away with a routine win here so they made a number of changes to their starting line-up. They were in for a real surprise, as the FCOSK06 defensive block kept them at bay for large periods of the match, conceding just 12 shots altogether.
After a goalless 90 minutes, the match went straight to penalties as there is no extra time in the competition this season. Clermont blinked first when Jim Allevinah hit the woodwork, but Ouparine Djoco bailed the Gabonese international out by making a save a couple of efforts later. The decisive moment came when Baila Diallo, brought on just to take a spot-kick, missed the target altogether. Substitute Herman Kekambus had the chance to win for the hosts, and he did just that.
With this incredible result that certainly seems to be the biggest Cupset of 2023 so far, FCOSK06 have become just the fifth sixth-tier club to eliminate a Ligue 1 side in the history of the Coupe de France. Based on the records we could find, this also appears to be their best-ever cup run.
Perhaps most impressively, though, they have made it further in the cup than the city’s main team – RC Strasbourg Alsace, whose match in this round also went to penalties but ended in defeat against Angers. Le SCO will be heading to Strasbourg again soon, as they have been drawn against none other than FCOSK06 in the Round of 32.
🏴 England: Sheffield Wednesday 2-1 Newcastle United
While not quite at the level of the shock result in the Coupe de France, the FA Cup in England also had some great matches and surprising scorelines.
The picks of the bunch perhaps were non-league Wrexham’s 4-3 victory away at second-tier Coventry City, and League One side Sheffield Wednesday knocking Premier League podium-sitters Newcastle United.
Both Wednesday and Newcastle are two very historic clubs in the English game, but it’s safe to say they have had contrasting fortunes in recent years. Sheffield Wednesday have sunk down the pyramid and find themselves in the third tier right now. The 2010s were far from kind to Newcastle too, but the recent Saudi-backed takeover has given them a huge injection of cash, which has contributed to them mounting a charge for a Champions League spot this season.
Given the fact that they are fighting on multiple fronts this season, Newcastle fielded a heavily rotated XI for this match. Still, they would have been expected to outplay the hosts, and they did so in the first half, but their failure to convert their chances would prove costly.
In the second half, Josh Windass went on to steal the show. Fresh after ending a six-game goal drought with a hat-trick last Monday, the 28-year-old striker bagged a brilliant brace in the first twenty minutes of the period (although one goal seemed to be offside). Newcastle would have felt that justice was served when Bruno Guimarães pulled one back from a clearly offside position soon thereafter, but they could not score another despite creating more presentable chances.
This memorable win takes Wednesday to the fourth round of the FA Cup while they also challenge for promotion to the Championship. Newcastle, meanwhile, will continue their quest for a trophy in the League Cup in midweek, when they will face Leicester City in the quarter-finals.
Cover Image from IMAGO