There seems to be an ever-increasing amount of football every weekend as new competitions keep popping up while ongoing ones are only heating up, so we are getting spoilt for choice in terms of matches to pick for our weekly column. Once again, we have managed to whittle our list down to six, including a Women’s World Cup qualification playoff.
By Neel Shelat
🇫🇷 France: PSG 4-3 Lille
After their defeat to Bayern Munich in the Champions League in midweek, Paris Saint-Germain had to turn their focus back to domestic proceedings as they hosted an impressive Lille side who were sure to provide a tough test.
Paulo Fonseca’s side did have the best of starts to the season, but the Portuguese tactician managed to find a successful formula from an asymmetrical 4-2-3-1 formation that saw Lille lose just one of their 11 matches post-World Cup. That run propelled them up from seventh during the break to the European spots, but Rennes remained hot on their heels.
A trip to the Parc de Princes is always tough, especially when PSG have each of their three attacking superstars on display. Kylian Mbappé was making his first start since his recent muscle injury, and he stole the show early on by bulldozing past the Lille defence on their right before squeezing his finish in at the near post. A few minutes later, Neymar made it 2-0 at the end of the nice team move, and the hosts seemed in control.
Set-pieces would prove to be their undoing, though. Bafodé Diakité pulled one back from a corner in the 24th minute, and in the early stages of the second half, Marco Verratti gave away a penalty from a similar situation, which Jonathan David scored. The Italian midfielder was also at fault for the third goal as he lost the ball in midfield, which ultimately led to Jonathan Bamba going through on goal and finding the back of the net.
At this point, PSG looked in real trouble. They were on course for their fourth-consecutive defeat which would cut their league lead down to a couple of points ahead of Le Classique next weekend, which in turn would provide Marseille with the chance to leapfrog them. Worse yet, Neymar had gone off with a nasty-looking ankle injury which could well keep him out for a few weeks.
But, the defending champions still had a couple of world-class players on the pitch, and they turned the match around late on. Mbappé equalised in the 87th minute before Lionel Messi won a free-kick in a dangerous position deep into stoppage time. Obviously, he was going to take it, and what happened next seemed inevitable.
Performance-wise, there still should be a lot of questions asked of PSG, but this late turnaround could be season-changing. Their five-point buffer at the top of the league has been maintained, so they have a bit of breathing room that could prove crucial in being able to rest players ahead of the all-important second leg against Bayern Munich.
🏆 Women’s World Cup Inter-Confederation play-off: Chinese Taipei 2-2 Paraguay (2-4 pens)
It’s barely been a couple of months since the 2022 World Cup ended in Qatar, but it is already time to look forward to the next one. We already know 29 of the 32 teams that will be competing in Australia and New Zealand this year, so all that is left is to decide the three remaining contestants.
That is being done through an inter-confederation playoff tournament, which kicked off this weekend. The 10 contestants have been into two groups of three and one of four, each of which will see one winner through one-off knockouts. In Groups A and B, Chile and Portugal have been given byes to the final, so Group C is the only one that had two semi-finals. Both were played on Sunday at the site of the World Cup.
The first one pit Chinese Taipei, commonly known as Taiwan, against Paraguay. The former have one Women’s World Cup finals appearance to their name from the inaugural edition in 1991 and were the highest-ranked side in this group. Their opponents have never made it to the World Cup in the past, but they were a side on the up having finished fourth in the latest Copa América.
Paraguay seemed to be in for yet more disappointment as they conceded within a quarter of an hour, and went two down with 15 minutes left. They came roaring back thereafter, though, scoring twice in the space of two minutes to take the game to extra time.
After a goalless half-hour, we seemed on course for penalties until the VAR invited the referee to take a look at a potential penalty incident in favour of Taiwan. It was given, so Hsin-hsuan Pao stepped up with a chance to take her nation through to the playoff final, but she blazed it over.
She would also have her spot-kick saved in the shoot-out after a teammate failed to convert an earlier attempt, meaning Paraguay advanced to the final. They will face Panama, who got the better of Papua New Guinea later that day.
🇳🇱 Netherlands: Feyenoord 2-1 AZ
There was a top-of-the-table clash in the Eredivisie this weekend as the top two squared off, but neither of the sides were called Ajax or PSV. Instead, it was Feyenoord who welcomed AZ to Rotterdam with a two-point gap separating the sides before kick-off.
The hosts went into this fixture on a 13-match unbeaten run in all competitions, and they knew that they would remain at the summit of the standings if they managed to preserve that. Things did not get off to a good start, though, as AZ drew first blood 17 minutes in when Javairô Dilrosun diverted a corner into his own net.
That proved to be a wake-up call that the league leaders really needed, as they dominated proceedings thereafter. Alireza Jahanbaksh equalised on the stroke of half-time, but his side would be frustrated in the second period as they created loads of chances but failed to change the scoreline as the end of the match grew ever closer.
In the last month, Feyenoord have scored some decisive late goals, including against PSV in the league and versus NEC Nijmegen to stay alive in the cup. They needed to repeat the trick here, and did just that thanks to a deflected left-footed effort from right-back Marcus Pedersen, who could not have picked a better occasion to score his first goal for the club.
That late winner could prove to be crucial in the title race come the end of the season, as it enabled Feyenoord to pull five points clear of their opponents. Their main rivals definitely seem to be Ajax, though, and the three-time defending champions are now three points below them.
🇩🇪 Germany: Borussia Mönchengladbach 3-2 Bayern München
The concept of bogey teams is a bit of a puzzling one to explain, but it definitely is a thing. Bayern volunteered to reinforce that this weekend, as they came up against a Borussia Mönchengladbach side that they had failed to beat in their last four encounters – with two draws and two losses.
The reverse fixture in the league this season ended 1-1 thanks to an absolute masterclass between the sticks from Yann Sommer, who made a whopping 19 saves and prevented about three more goals based on the xGOT (Expected Goals on Target) model. He took to the field for this match too, but in Bavarian colours having switched allegiances in the winter transfer window. With that, Bayern would have hoped that the curse would be broken.
Clearly, it runs deeper than that because the decisive moment of the match came just eight minutes in when Dayot Upamecano got sent off for tripping Alassane Pléa, who was otherwise through on goal. Gladbach took the lead through Lars Stindl five minutes later and would have been expected to comfortably see out the win, but that was not to be.
Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting equalised ten minutes before half-time, so the hosts needed to retake the lead in the second period through Jonas Hofmann. They only really seemed comfortable after Marcus Thuram added a buffer in the 84th minute, which proved to be crucial since Mathys Tel pulled one back in stoppage time but could not change the result.
This result ended a 20-match unbeaten run in all competitions for Bayern, but more importantly, it made their lead assailable. The next day, Union Berlin took on Schalke with a chance to go two points clear at the top, but they could only manage a goalless draw. Borussia Dortmund beat Hertha Berlin later to make it three teams level on points at the top of the table.
🇪🇸 Spain: Atlético Madrid 1-0 Athletic Club
Atlético Madrid got the better of Athletic Club in a close match between two European contenders on Sunday night in LaLiga. This was a match of very few clear-cut chances, decided by a smart run and finish by Antoine Griezmann in the 73rd minute.
That maintains Atlético’s four-point buffer in fourth place, while Athletic Club missed the chance to capitalise on Rayo Vallecano’s slip-up against Sevilla and move into the top six. The reason we decided to discuss this match has little to do with that, though. In fact, it has little to do with the match itself, except for the fact that Atlético were wearing their third kit at home.
The reason behind that was that Atlético were honouring the 125th anniversary of Athletic Club’s foundation (which is technically in July). Indirectly, this was a big occasion for them too since they were initially founded as a subsidiary of Athletic Club in Madrid by a few Basque people studying in the city.
That is the reason why the two clubs’ home strips look so similar. Until they split, Atlético obviously wore the same kits as Athletic, so when the latter changed from a blue and white strip to a red and white strip (which rumour has it has something to do with the club president going to buy shirts in England, failing to find Blackburn Rovers’ kits and returning with Southampton’s instead), they followed suit.
In the present day, the two clubs have had a bit of a rivalry but maintain close relations for the most part, as was evident in the pre-match tribute to Athletic Club at the Wanda Metropolitano this weekend.
🏴 England: Tottenham Hotspur 2-0 West Ham United
Speaking of bogey teams, Tottenham Hotspur are a curious case study. They famously seem to have Manchester City’s number, but then struggle against West Ham. In three of the last four seasons, they have been defeated in the league by the Irons. Earlier this season, they only managed a draw at the London Stadium, which makes them the only big six club other than Chelsea that West Ham have taken points off this season.
David Moyes’ side surprisingly find themselves in the midst of a relegation battle this season, and they started the match in the drop zone after slipping down as a result of wins for Everton and Bournemouth earlier in the weekend. Their form was decent, though, as they had beaten Everton, advanced in the FA Cup and taken points off Newcastle United and Chelsea prior to this fixture.
Tottenham, on the other hand, endured a tough week as they shipped four to Leicester City in the Premier League before losing the first leg of their Champions League tie against Milan at San Siro. They had the chance to come away with a positive after Newcastle’s loss to Liverpool opened a door to the top four for them.
In the first half, it seemed they would be squandering this opportunity. Neither side managed to create a clear-cut chance so they went in level at the break. Moyes would have been pleased to see that as it meant his decision to switch to a 5-3-2 shape out of possession had paid off.
Spurs would find a way to break through it about ten minutes into the second half, when both their wing-backs made runs into the channels. Ben Davies ran onto a through ball, which he squared for Emerson Royal to score. A little bit later, Son Heung-min came off the bench for just the second time in the league this season and scored again, putting the result beyond doubt.
Ultimately, this was a deserved win for Tottenham which takes them into the Champions League spots – at least until Newcastle play their game in hand. The relegation battle is very real for West Ham, though, so they need to start getting more points on the board.
Cover Image from IMAGO