Page 161 – The Pulse of Football

Mar

2023

This Weekend: European title races and Schalke vs. Dortmund in the Revierderby

The best matches to follow this weekend

Saturday

🇩🇪 The heated Bundesliga title race will go up another notch this weekend as both Bayern and Dortmund – who, remember, are locked together on 49 points – play local rivals. The more heated of the two rivalries is, of course, the Revierderby which pitches Schalke vs. Dortmund. As one of Germany’s most famous games, this will naturally get a lot of attention but it is even more important than usual for both sides.

Schalke have struggled since their return to Germany’s top flight and are currently one of four sides who are all sat together on 19 points at the bottom of the table. However, they come in to the game having won back-to-back games (against Stuttgart and Bochum) for the first time this season and a third win on the bounce would be seismic for their survival chances.

Dortmund suffered their first competitive defeat of the year – at Chelsea in the Champions League – but will be aiming to break their current all-time record of eight consecutive wins in the league, adding extra motivation to an already heavily motivated squad.

For their part, Bayern will be hosting their smaller Bavarian neighbours from Augsburg. Usually speaking, this is a home banker for Bayern but they have lost the last two league meetings when travelling to Augsburg, albeit, they may have shaken off that hoodoo with a 5-2 win in the Pokal, at Augsburg, back in October.

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 In England, we get six Saturday fixtures starting with Liverpool’s trip to Bournemouth. The Cherries sit bottom of the Premier League and having lost 9-0 at Anfield earlier in the season won’t have enjoyed watching Jürgen Klopp’s side put seven past Manchester United in that amazing game last weekend.

For Klopp though, it will be all about continuing the momentum, especially with that possible lost cause that they need to chase at Real Madrid this coming Wednesday.

With Arsenal playing on Sunday, Manchester City have the chance to close the gap to the league leaders to one point, should they win at Crystal Palace. The Eagles are winless in 10 games now but City do have their own Champions League knock-out tie – on Tuesday, against RB Leipzig, to think about so we may see some rotation from Pep Guardiola.

Elsewhere, Graham Potter will be hoping to take some of the current pressure off of his shoulders and heap it on to that of Brendon Rogers, with a positive result for Chelsea at Leicester City. And fresh from their Champions League exit at the hands of Milan, Tottenham Hotspur host Nottingham Forest in a week where Forest coach, Steve Cooper has had to play down rumours naming him as a potential future manager of Spurs. That could be quite the job interview.

🇮🇹 Napoli saw their mammoth lead in Serie A cut down to a mere 15 points as they suffered their first home defeat of the season, at the hands of Lazio last Friday, so they will be keen to get back to winning ways when they face sixth placed Atalanta. And the aforementioned Lazio could jump back in to second should they continue their domestic form at Bologna. On the European stage, they will be seeking to turnaround a surprise 2-1 defeat to AZ Alkmaar when they travel to the Netherlands for the second leg of their Conference League tie next week.

🇪🇸 In La Liga, Real Madrid will prepare for that clash with Liverpool with a home game against Espanyol. Carlo Ancelotti’s side needed some late magic from Karim Benzema to win at Barcelona’s other team back in Round 3 but you’d expect them to win this one more comfortably at the Bernabéu. And if they do, they’ll cut Barça’s lead at the top of the table to five points.

🇫🇷 For PSG, after yet another failure in the Champions League (the Parisians limped out of the first knockout stage with defeat at Bayern), means for some serious fallout that will no doubt continue in to the weekend. And that will only worsen if there’s no spark on show in their Ligue 1 fixture at Brest. After all, there’s still a league title to fight for and their current eight point cushion isn’t yet safe with the form Marseille are proving capable of this season.

🇺🇸 Round 3 of the new season in Major League Soccer features a number of interesting looking fixtures. St. Louis City have started life with back-to-back wins as the newest addition to the league but surely they’ll be tested by the trip to Portland Timbers – a team with a longer history than most in North America. In the opposing Conference, NYCFC (D1, L1) face Inter Miami, with Phil Neville’s Floridians one of only two Eastern sides who’ve won both of their opening fixtures. And in a cross-conference game, current Concacaf Champions League holders Seattle Sounders, who’ve yet to concede a goal, have a long trip to Cincinnati (W1, D1).

Sunday

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 As we’re in the middle of an important couple of weeks in UEFA’s club competitions, we’ll see a bumper selection of games in the Premier League on Sunday. They include Arsenal’s cross-town visit to Fulham, who sit seventh. The league leaders were held to a 2-2 draw at Sporting in the Europa League on Thursday night and they’ll come up against a side unbeaten in their last four games – albeit, the Gunners do boast the best away record in the division and haven’t lost to the Cottagers in their last nine meetings!

Manchester United‘s return to form against Real Betis, also in the Europa League, suggests that last weekend’s thrashing at the hands of their biggest foes, Liverpool, was something of an anomaly. With Southampton the visitors to Old Trafford on Sunday, we’ll see whether they can get back to winning ways in the league.

Further down the table, Newcastle United will be looking to end a run of three successive 2-0 defeats when they take on Wolves and there’s an important game for West Ham as they play Aston Villa, who sit in the relative safety of 11th. From Villa downwards it’s a different story with five points separating Palace, in 12th, to Everton who are 18th and occupying the final relegation spot.

🇪🇸 There will also be a more customary four games in LaLiga, all of which will have some impact on both ends of the table. Leaders Barcelona travel to the Basque Country to face ninth placed Athletic Club, a fixture where they’ll be reunited with former coach Ernesto Valverde. With goals somewhat at a premium in recent weeks for Barça it will be interesting to see how well they can break down a stubborn defensive side.

Elsewhere, Real Sociedad could move third with a win in Mallorca, fifth play sixth as Betis and Villarreal clash at the Estadio de la Cerámica, and there’s a six pointer at Sevilla, who face Almería. The two sides are level on points either side of the relegation zone with Sevilla holding a slender advantage due to their superior goal difference. But even then, that could only be temporary – a draw would mean the sides are still level on points but Almería would move above Sevilla by virtue of their win in the earlier meeting between the two. Once all games are played, this head-to-head record takes precedence over goal difference in LaLiga.

🇩🇪 With the main Bundesliga action coming on Saturday, and at the top of this column, the main game to look out for on Sunday is Union Berlin’s trip to eighth placed Wolfsburg. Presuming at least one of Bayern and/or Dortmund win their respective derby games, Union will need a win in order to stay within five points of the league leaders. And perhaps now, more importantly, at least two points ahead of the sides below them in the battle for a Champions League place next season.

🇺🇸 Only six of the 29 sides in MLS still maintain a 100% record as we move into just the third weekend of the season and two of those – LAFC and New England Revolution meet each other in Sunday night’s closing fixture. LAFC continued their good start with a convincing 3-0 away win at Costa Rican side Alajuelense in a midweek Concacaf Champions League game and the MLS Cup holders will be confident on home soil. The Revs, though, have conceded none and scored four in their wins over Charlotte and Houston as they look to improve on last season’s 10th place finish in the Eastern Conference, having won the Supporters Shield just a year earlier.

🇧🇪 We’ll leave you this week with a game between the two best sides – on current form – in the Belgian Pro League. Genk are running away with it but as we know, there’s no guarantee they’ll maintain that position once the league is split and the Championship group fixtures take place. And their weekend opponents, Union St. Gilloise are the side best placed to overhaul them as this interesting league format unfolds. Union featured in a breathless 3-3 draw at Union Berlin in the Europa League on Thursday, and with the return leg coming up next week, may therefore be at a disadvantage heading in to this battle between the top two.

If you want to follow any of the games mentioned above, click on the relevant link and tap the bell icon to receive all the key match updates.

Or join us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to discuss all the important football going on this weekend!

Cover Image from IMAGO

Mar

2023

Serie A Review: Round 25 springs some surprises

This week we focus on Napoli losing their unbeaten home record against top four candidates Lazio, Milan’s defeat at Fiorentina, and take a look at the Marco Materazzi-inspired stylings of Roma defender Gianluca Mancini.

By Matteo Bonetti, US Serie A expert

Lazio stun Napoli

Lazio handed Napoli their second loss of the Serie A season by beating Luciano Spalletti’s first placed team 1-0 at the Maradona Stadium over the weekend. This result reinforces Lazio’s legitimacy as a top four contender in what is their second season under Maurizio Sarri.

Once again, the Biancocelesti showed off their much improved defence by keeping Napoli’s incredible attack scoreless. While Napoli had much more quality possession, it felt like most of their attacks were stunted the second they made their way into the final third. Keeper Ivan Provedel hardly had a save to make against the unstoppable Osimhen/Kvara tandem, and that’s down to the way Lazio defend as a unit. While Sarri’s tactics are mostly known for their offensive prowess, his teams have historically had watertight defences. Sarri knew he couldn’t try to out possess this Napoli team in their own home, so he conceded that aspect of the game to make sure the defensive transitions were very quick. The second Lazio lost possession, they’d instantly retreated back into a low block and get everyone behind the ball, pressing in waves to maintain their energy for the second half.

It was a tactic that worked. In fact, the other loss Napoli suffered this season was away to Inter in a game that played out in a similar manner – the Nerazzurri defended in a compact manner and prevented those tricky Napoli one-twos on the edge of the box.

What’s even more impressive from a Lazio standpoint is how good this defence has been with this current cast of characters. They’re not world beaters by any stretch of the imagination, but players who Lazio were cleverly able to acquire on the cheap for a host of different reasons. Take the centre-back Alessio Romagnoli for example. Romagnoli spent a long time at Milan but had an involution at the tail end of his time with them which saw him go from captain of the backline to fourth choice defender under Stefano Pioli. Romagnoli endured a period of error-strewn showings, which saw his confidence drop and it was clear he was a player who needed a change in scenery. With Lazio, Romangoli is able to show off his best attributes – he’s an elegant defender with a composed left foot in building out play from the back, exactly what’s expected of a centre-back in a Sarri system that likes to play the ball short.

The starting goalkeeper Ivan Provedel probably can’t believe his luck either. He went into the season expecting to be the backup to Luis Maximiano, another goalkeeper that was signed last summer as part of Lazio’s re-build. Maximiano picked up a red card minutes into his debut on Matchday 1 and hasn’t seen the pitch since. Provedel took over and has been too brilliant to take off.

It’s a credit to the scouting work that Lazio did last summer to refresh the backline and find a squad that was tailor-made for Sarri’s tactics. At the moment, they’re punching well above their weight and look destined for a top four spot.

Milan take two steps back

After a new year run of no win in seven, February marked an uptick in performances for Milan, with four wins from four and four clean sheets.

However, that run came screeching to a halt when Fiorentina were able to beat the Rossoneri 2-1 at home, in what was one of the finest displays of the season from the Viola, with a standout performance from the striker Arthur Cabral – who dazzled with his movement and work rate. Fiore were both a step ahead of their opponents, both in midfield play and creating dangerous chances, often playing vertically with their quick wingers against a team that wasn’t just going to sit back in a low block like so many others do against the Viola in Serie A.

For Milan, the issues had to do more with rotation than anything else. Without Rafael Leão and Brahim Díaz in the lineup, Stefano Pioli took a gamble on the enigma that is Charles De Ketelaere. CDK had less time on the ball than any other one of his teammates in the first half, which isn’t ideal from the player who is slotted into the no.10 position. Up front, Ante Rebić replaced Leão and had a poor game. The rotations from Pioli were necessary as Milan take on Tottenham in North London this Wednesday in the Champions League. While Leão hasn’t been scoring recently, his presence alone keeps defences honest and fundamentally changes the way they can approach a game.

In league play, Milan’s loss means they now fall to fifth place, as Lazio and Roma both picked up important wins against tough opposition over the weekend. It’s hard to overstate just how important finishing in the top four is for the Rossoneri given their young jewels in the squad. With rumours swirling around Leão’s future, exiting Europe’s premier competition would be a blow to Milan’s chances in keeping last season’s league MVP. The Champions League is a great recruiter during the summer negotiation window for players, and also brings in the necessary funds for Milan to pay the young stars they already have and that will undoubtedly draw a ton of attention from richer clubs in Europe this summer.

Gianluca Mancini’s ‘unique’ style

Gianluca Mancini was voted as the player of the game in Roma’s 1-0 win over Juventus at the Stadio Olimpico. The Roma centre-back is probably the most effective provocateur in the league. While he’s never going to be compared to the elite Italian defenders of the past decades, Mancini has carved out his own unique style. The aggressiveness of his play stands out in particular. No other player in the top five European leagues picked up as many yellow cards in 2022. Mancini has often had to balance the fine line between aggressiveness and recklessness.

In this game against Juventus, we saw the full range of the Gianluca Mancini experience – scoring a spectacular long distance strike, nearly scoring an own goal, then getting Juventus striker Moise Kean red carded just seconds after coming into the match. Kean’s first touch of the game was with his back to goal with a salivating Mancini behind him. As he usually does, the Roma centre-back approached the play with full aggression by kicking, prodding, pulling and tussling for far longer than the play needed. Kean’s reaction was instant – he got up and viciously kicked Mancini in the leg, prompting a quick red card from the referee.

It’s no surprise than Mancini counts Marco Materazzi as his football idol, and has even worn the no.23 in honour of the ex-Italian centre-back, who was known as one of the most aggressive/crazy players of his generation!

(Cover image from IMAGO)

You can follow every match from the 2022/23 Serie A season live with FotMob — featuring deep stats coverage including shot maps, xG, and player ratings. Download the free app here.

Mar

2023

LaLiga Review: Barça below their best, Madrid stutter, and Atlético pay tribute to Simeone

With injuries and absences mounting up for the league leaders, Real Madrid tiring under the weight of a hectic schedule, the majority of the weekend action came in one game – Atlético Madrid’s 6-1 thrashing of Sevilla. Read more on all that with our latest column from Spain.

By Ben Hayward, LaLiga expert

Barcelona make hard work of struggling Valencia

Óscar Hernández stood in for brother Xavi on the touchline for Barcelona’s LaLiga game against Camp Nou on Sunday afternoon. Xavi was banned after picking up five yellow cards in LaLiga this season and had to watch from the stands. Midfielder Gavi was suspended too and Barça were also without Pedri, Robert Lewandowski and Ousmane Dembélé through injury.

With those absences, the Blaugrana were well below their best against their struggling visitors but took all three points thanks to a Raphinha header after 15 minutes. Later, Ferran Torres scuffed a penalty against the outside of the post and with five minutes left, Valencia thought they should have had a spot-kick themselves as Fran Pérez got ahead of Franck Kessié and went down in the area.

Valencia were unhappy with that decision, but replays showed it was probably correct. “I’ve watched it back and I don’t think it’s a penalty,” Xavi said afterwards. But the Barça boss was again frustrated that his team had not put the game to bed by that point. “It’s a shame because we should be talking about a comfortable win,” he said. “Our lack of effectiveness meant we had to suffer until the end.”

With centre-back Ronald Araújo sent off after 89 minutes, that suffering was exacerbated in the final few minutes and the defender’s red card will mean another absence to contend with. “It’s the moment to suffer with so many players out,” Xavi said. “But it makes us stronger.”

Barça moved nine points clear at the top of LaLiga after Real Madrid were held at Real Betis later on Sunday. Valencia are second to bottom and two points behind 17th-placed Sevilla, still very much in trouble with 14 rounds of the competition remaining.

Madrid draw a blank at Betis

Real Madrid, without the suspended Luka Modrić and with David Alaba and Ferland Mendy missing through injury, dropped two points away to Real Betis in an entertaining encounter on Sunday night and Los Blancos now fall a little further behind Barcelona at the top of the table.

Karim Benzema thought he had given Madrid the lead after 12 minutes with a free-kick, but the ball went in off the arm of Real defender Antonio Rüdiger and was ruled out following a VAR check.

Both Benzema and Vinícius Júnior struggled to make much of an impact in the rest of the match and coach Carlo Ancelotti was left frustrated by his side’s lack of sharpness in attack once again.

“We’re not effective enough,” the Italian said. “We’re not choosing the best solutions.” And he added: “I’m affected by it a lot, also the players because we have the quality to score more goals, as we always have before. The problem is there: we’re lacking efficiency.”

Asked if LaLiga was lost, he said: “No. Not yet. We’re not thinking about that. We have to fight until the end. I don’t know what will happen in LaLiga, we have a lot of matches. But it’s obvious that we have to do better.”

Atlético celebrate Diego Simeone’s landmark game

Atlético Madrid paid tribute to coach Diego Simeone on Saturday night as the Argentine overtook club legend Luis Aragones in his record 613th game for the club. And after a presentation before kick-off, the Rojiblancos produced one of their best displays of the season as they swept aside Sevilla in a 6-1 win at the Metropolitano.

Memphis Depay scored twice, including a spectacular second from distance, and he looks like the latest shrewd striker signing from Barcelona in recent years (after David Villa and Luis Suárez both helped Atleti to LaLiga titles following their moves). Maybe next season?

Substitute Álvaro Morata also scored twice late on, but the standout player was once again Antoine Griezmann. The France forward scored with a lovely long-range effort, assisted the first for Depay and was at the heart of everything positive for Atlético in attack.

Griezmann hugged Simeone after his goal and said: “An important day for him is an important day for me. I really wanted to make this a magical day for him, for the fans and for my team-mates.”

Simeone’s future has been in doubt lately, but Atlético’s fine form since the World Cup saw them move up to third this weekend after this win and Real Sociedad’s draw at home to Cádiz. “I’m calm, at peace, and where I want to be,” the Argentine said.

Sevilla looking over their shoulder

Sevilla are definitely not where they want to be, though, as this defeat to Atlético sees them dragged down into the danger zone once again after a recent revival. Jorge Sampaoli’s side are 17th, level on points with Almería below them.

At the very bottom, Elche secured only their second win of the campaign. They beat Mallorca 1-0 away from home, but still have plenty of catching up to do with 12 points from their 24 games.

Villarreal are sixth following a 2-0 win at Almería, making it back-to-back victories for the Yellow Submarine after four straight defeats. The home side, meanwhile, were unable to find the kind of form they showed in beating Barcelona last weekend and drop into the bottom three. Up next for them: a huge game at Sevilla on Sunday.

(Images from IMAGO)

You can follow every match from the 2022/23 LaLiga season live with FotMob — featuring deep stats coverage including shot maps, xG, and player ratings. Download the free app here.

Mar

2023

Premier League Review: Mo Salah stars against United, Arsenal leave it late and Chelsea finally win

Well, what a weekend of Premier League football that was. One particular match will dominate the conversation but there are a lot of talking points to dissect following an action-packed matchday.

By Sam McGuire, Premier League expert

Rampant Reds run riot against Red Devils

Manchester United headed to Anfield as one of the most in-form teams in Europe. They had lost just one of their previous 22 matches across all competitions, they had claimed the Carabao Cup last weekend and followed that up with an impressive comeback victory over West Ham in the FA Cup in mid-week.

The visitors had a 10-point lead over their hosts and knew a win would seriously damage Liverpool’s hopes of a top-four finish. However, the Reds ran out 7-0 winners and are now just three points off of fourth with a game in hand.

Mohamed Salah was the pick of the bunch for the home side with a FotMob rating of 9.6. He became the club’s record Premier League goalscorer, surpassing Robbie Fowler with his second goal, while also chipping in with two assists. He had three shots, created three chances and was fouled six times as the away side struggled to contain Liverpool’s No.11.

Another late show for Arsenal

The Gunners are making a bit of a habit out of this, aren’t they? Just weeks after two stoppage-time goals helped Mikel Arteta’s men overcome Aston Villa, Arsenal needed a 97th-minute goal from Reiss Nelson to claim all three points against Bournemouth.

The Premier League leaders had been 2-0 down in the first half but rallied in the second half. Thomas Partey and Ben White scored inside of an eight-minute spell and then it was a barrage from the home side in search of a winner.

Arsenal had 31 shots and had 80% of the ball during the game. They did only carve out two big chances though and created chances with an Expected Goals value of just 2.17, so Bournemouth weren’t exactly clinging on. The hosts just had a number of low-value opportunities.

Arteta will need to address a few things to ensure his team aren’t requiring last-minute winners on a regular basis though. It isn’t a sustainable trait.

Chelsea finally win

Chelsea bought their five-match winless run in the Premier League to an end with a 1-0 victory over Leeds United.

Wesley Fofana was the match-winner as he headed in a Ben Chilwell cross in the second half to score the only goal of the game. The French centre-back had a strange game, winning just two of his six ground duels but then having a 100% success rate in aerial duels.

It wasn’t necessarily pretty but the Blues did enough to pick up all three points in what was a fairly even game.

Graham Potter is probably just relieved to have registered a win, the fact Leeds created chances with an xG of over one won’t be at the forefront of his mind just yet. If they want more wins though, they’re going to have to do better as a team in general – fewer chances for the opposition and more opportunities for them.

Inconsistant Tottenham in a fight for top four

Spurs lost to Wolves courtesy of a late Adama Traoré goal in what was a smash-and-grab result. It rounded off a disappointing week for Tottenham after they lost to Sheffield United in midweek to crash out of the FA Cup.

Antonio Conte’s men may feel a little unlucky to have lost having limited Wolves to chances worth 0.52 Expected Goals while the home side’s goalkeeper, José Sá, was the highest-rated player due to his exploits between the sticks. He claimed a FotMob rating of 8.7 having made six saves to shut out the Champions League-chasing team.

It had looked as though Spurs had shaken off the disappointing losses to Milan and Leicester with wins over West Ham and Chelsea but they now find themselves out of the FA Cup and they will be outside of the top four if teams win their games in hand.

The Foxes slip in to a relegation battle

In early February, Leicester recorded a 4-1 win over Spurs and a 4-2 victory against Aston Villa to climb up the Premier League table. It appeared as though they had escaped a situation that was threatening to turn into a relegation battle.

However, the 1-0 loss to Southampton on Saturday means they are on a three-game losing streak in the league, four if you include the loss to Blackburn in the FA Cup in midweek.

They now find themselves just two points outside of the relegation zone and just three off the bottom. Against the Saints, they created better opportunities and had more of them but the ruthlessness they showed against Villa and Spurs deserted them at St Mary’s.

(Images from IMAGO)

You can follow every match from the 2022/23 Premier League season live with FotMob — featuring deep stats coverage including shot maps, xG, and player ratings. Download the free app here.

Mar

2023

Last Weekend: Liverpool smash Manchester United, spoils shared in the Derby du Nord and more

This was a weekend of big scorelines in Europe, where the headlines have been stolen by Liverpool’s seven unanswered goals against Manchester United. Beyond that, we also have a 6-1 from Spain, as well as a monstrous result from the Netherlands that nothing can prepare you for.

By Neel Shelat

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 England: Liverpool 7-0 Manchester United

Manchester United reached perhaps the highest point of the season last weekend when they lifted the Carabao Cup, but they slumped to a historic low exactly seven days later.

Given Liverpool’s inconsistent form throughout this season, the Red Devils might have felt that they were in with a pretty good chance of beating their rivals at Anfield for the first time in over six years, but they were in for a big surprise.

To be fair, the visitors just about looked the more threatening side in the first half and even put the ball in the back of the net close to half-time (after which the flag instantly went up for offside), but just a minute later, they conceded to Cody Gakpo to trail into the break. On the other side of it, they conceded twice in the space of five minutes to Darwin Núñez and Gakpo again, seemingly losing the fixture right there.

But then, they crumbled.

Mohamed Salah made it four in the 66th minute after yet another counterattack, before Núñez got number five and started to make the scoreline look a little ugly. Salah’s second (which made him Liverpool’s all-time top-scorer in the Premier League) and the departing Roberto Firmino’s late strike took it up to seven, inflicting upon Manchester United the worst Premier League defeat in their history to end a 12-match unbeaten run.

Clearly, this is an utterly humiliating result, but United cannot afford to dwell on it as they are in action in midweek for a Europa League Round of 16 tie against Real Betis. Liverpool, on the other hand, will hope that this marks their return to form as they still seek to salvage a top four finish from an otherwise disappointing campaign.

🇫🇷 France: Lens 1-1 Lille

The Derby du Nord is one of the fiercest rivalries in French football, so it was unsurprisingly the headline fixture of this weekend. In addition to local bragging rights, a lot rode on this fixture in terms of the race for Europe.

The two northern rivals were separated by six points heading into the match and were both involved in slightly different aspects of the battle for continental qualification. Lens started in third, so they sought to hold on to the spot that would place them in the last round of the Champions League qualifiers, whereas Lille started in sixth and looked to break into the top five for Europa Conference League action at least.

Lens were also seeking to arrest a slump in form that left them with just one win in eight matches heading into this one, a run which saw them go from close proximity to PSG to the risk of dropping out of the top three. Lille, on the other hand, had endured a bit of a poor start to the season but were on the up since the post-World Cup resumption of French football, losing just two matches since.

Fittingly, therefore, it was Lens who drew first blood close to half-time when José Fonte diverted a free-kick delivery into his own net. The visitors got a deserved equaliser in the 69th minute through Jonathan David, who became their joint top-scorer in the 21st century alongside a certain Eden Hazard.

Both teams might be left a little disappointed with that result because it drops Lens out of the top three, while Lille failed to take advantage of Rennes’ weekend defeat. There is a long way to go yet, though, so the European battle in Ligue should be quite exciting.

🇪🇸 Spain: Atlético Madrid 6-1 Sevilla

After honouring their relationship with Athletic Club in their previous home match, Atlético Madrid were celebrating Diego Simeone at the Wanda Metropolitano this weekend.

The reason behind that is the fact that the Argentinean was preparing to take charge of his 613th match for the club, surpassing the record of 612 held by Luis Aragonés. This came just a week after he broke the record of most LaLiga matches in the dugout of a single club, with his 425th being the Madrid derby.

The spoils were shared in that game as it ended 1-1, but this time, the Atléti players ensured that their manager had even more reason to celebrate. In fact, they put up their biggest victory of the season in a 6-1 demolition of Sevilla, with goals from January arrival Memphis Depay, Antoine Griezmann, Yannick Carrasco and Álvaro Morata.

This will be an extra-memorable night for Griezmann too, as he scored his 150th goal for the club to close in further on Aragonés’ record tally of 172.

Visitors Sevilla will be keen to forget all of this quickly, as they find themselves languishing in 17th place and only remaining above the relegation zone on goal difference five months on from Jorge Sampaoli’s reappointment as coach.

🇩🇪 Germany: Bochum 0-2 Schalke

The Bundesliga’s title race has been drawing a fair bit of attention as there are teams level on points at the top of the table, but the relegation battle is somehow even closer.

There was a big six-pointer this week between the bottom two, Bochum and Schalke. Three points separated the sides as Thomas Reis returned to the Ruhrstadion with a big chance to get one over on his former employers.

The hosts had a few presentable chances early on, but they went into the half-time break with a deficit after a howler from Manuel Riemann that led to him pushing the ball into his own net while attempting to dive backwards and claim it as it stood dangerously close to the goal line.

A well-worked corner that allowed Marius Bülter to make it 2-0 in the 79th minute sealed the result, taking Schalke above Bochum on goal difference. Elsewhere, losses for Hoffenheim and Stuttgart left the Bundesliga’s bottom four level on points, meaning that goal difference is the only thing separating absolute safety from the bottom spot at the moment.

Hertha Berlin are only a point above them, so we should be in for a very exciting five-team relegation scrap in Germany this season.

🇮🇹 Italy: Roma 1-0 Juventus

The last Serie A match of the weekend saw Roma take on Juventus in a potentially pivotal fixture for both sides’ European aspirations.

Roma had the chance to break into the top four again after Milan’s loss to Fiorentina, whereas Juventus were scrambling to enter the top six after their big points deduction. They started seven points adrift of Atalanta, so they are very much in with a chance of still salvaging a continental spot via the league.

As one might expect from a match between two teams that very much prioritise defence first, this was far from an exciting match. Half-decent chances were few and far between, so it was always going to take something special to break the deadlock. That came from Gianluca Mancini in the 57th minute when he scored his first goal of the Serie A season with a drive from outside the box to the far corner.

Perhaps the most notable moment of the game besides the goal was Moise Kean’s cameo. About 40 seconds after being sent on at the end of normal time, the Italian striker kicked out at a defender who fouled him by holding him back, leading to a straight red card.

That led to the end of Juventus’ seven-match unbeaten run, keeping them down in eighth place.

🇳🇱 Netherlands: PEC Zwolle 13-0 Den Bosch

We have given Dutch football a fair bit of coverage in our columns of late due to the very close title race in the Eredivisie, but this week, it is time to drop down to the second tier.

Eerste Divisie leaders PEC Zwolle, managed by Dick Schreuder (whose brother Alfred was recently sacked by Ajax) hosted FC Den Bosch on Friday night as they sought to preserve their lead having lost the last two matches. It is safe to say that they got back to winning ways in some style, recording the biggest-ever win in the league’s history and tying with Ajax’s 13-0 win over VVV Venlo in 2020 for the biggest-ever win in Dutch league football.

Among the goals were Greek striker Apostolos Vellios who scored four, ex-Werder Bremen man Lennart Thy who bagged a hat-trick off the bench and five others. Obviously, it was an absolutely disastrous day at the office for visiting goalkeeper Konrad Sikking, who let in 13 of the 15 shots he faced to earn the lowest-ever player rating in FotMob’s history.

Looking at things from a broader context, this win puts PEC Zwolle in a commanding position in their quest for promotion as they have an 11-point buffer to the play-off spots with as many matches left to play. Den Bosch, meanwhile, will be glad that promotion and relegation between the Eerste Divisie and Tweede Divisie does not resume until next season as a result of the pandemic since they are currently third from bottom.

Cover Image from IMAGO

Mar

2023

This Weekend: Liverpool vs. Man United, Barça vs. Valencia, Derby du Nord and more

The best matches to follow this weekend

By Bill Biss

Friday

🇮🇹 There may be 20 points between first and fourth place in the current Serie A standings but we still think it’s a big move to put Napoli vs. Lazio as the league’s Friday night fixture. Beaten just once, 18 points ahead in the standings, and boasting a huge goal difference of +43, these are exciting times to be a Napoli fan – times the now Lazio coach Maurizio Sarri couldn’t quite give them when he was in charge of the club.

Since joining the Rome-based side, Sarri has failed to get one over his former club, losing all three of their meetings since the start of the 2021/22 season. And you won’t be surprised to discover that it was Napoli’s Georgian breakout star Khvicha Kvaratskhelia who scored the winner in a 2-1 away win when the sides last faced each other last September.

🇩🇪 There’s also a top of the table clash in the Bundesliga as Borussia Dortmund (2nd) take on RB Leipzig (4th). This one is much tighter though with just four points separating them and Dortmund currently level on points with Bayern at the top of the table. A win then, will give Dortmund the advantage heading in to the weekend and continue their current run of nine straight wins – in all competitions – since the start of the year. And a lot of confidence heading in to Tuesday night’s second leg against Chelsea in the Champions League.

Leipzig though, will be banking on their recent history of success against the black and yellows (3 wins on the bounce) plus the inside knowledge, and presumably grudge, held by their head coach Marco Rose who was sacked by Dortmund in 2022 after less than a year in the job.

🇷🇸 Another game to watch out for on what could turn out to be a lively Friday night is Serbia’s Eternal Derby, the battle between Belgrade clubs Crvena Zvezda, or Red Star, versus Partizan. The former are currently 13 points ahead of their rivals as the two take up their customary positions at the top of the Superliga table and with Red Star unbeaten after 23 rounds it looks like they’ll be defending their title for a sixth season in a row. Surely that’s extra motivation for Partizan to pull off a surprise result?

Saturday

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 The Premier League line-up has a lot going on – from state-backed superpowers meeting one another, to old school rivalries, and relegation six-pointers.

The lunchtime kick-off features second placed Manchester City and Newcastle United, the Emirati and Saudi backed – and therefore probably – two richest clubs in the league. Going in to the game, City are unbeaten in six and sit second, five points down on leaders Arsenal. They also have the upper hand in recent encounters between the two sides having won six and drawn two of the last eight meetings. The Magpies are without a win in four, if you include last weekend’s defeat in the Carabao Cup Final, and they have now slipped to fifth in the table – albeit they do have two games in hand on the teams around them.

Arsenal appear to be back in control of their destiny – chasing down a first Premier League title since 2004 – after an impressive 4-0 dismantling of Everton during the week. Gabriel Martinelli scored twice in that game, taking him into double figures for the league campaign and showing once again, just what a threat he can be. Tomorrow, the Gunners face relegation threatened Bournemouth, the side with the worst defensive record in the division.

Further down the table, fourth placed Spurs visit Wolves to begin a week that will also include the second leg of their Champions League tie with Milan. And 10th placed Chelsea – also involved in the Champions League this week – will be looking to get one over on old rivals Leeds – this isn’t a geological rivalry, more of a resentment that’s built between the clubs over decades of meetings up and down the divisions.

The day is rounded off by Leicester City’s trip to bottom side Southampton. The Foxes might sit up in 14th but that’s only three points above the relegation zone (and six points above the Saints) in a congested bottom half. Both clubs will also be looking to bounce back after humiliating midweek results in the FA Cup – Southampton losing at home to fourth tier Grimsby Town while Leicester were undone by Championship side Blackburn Rovers at the Kingpower.

🇩🇪 Following on from Dortmund vs. Leipzig on Friday night, the other sides vying for the title are involved in games being played tomorrow. Bayern face a trip to Stuttgart, who’ve won four of their last six home matches, in a game where Julien Nagelsmann has promised that his side won’t be taking likely ahead of Wednesday’s showdown with PSG. He has also let it be known that Sadio Mané will be involved as the Senegalese striker returns from injury.

Union Berlin, who sit three points down on the top two, have a home test against FC Köln. Last week was one of highs and lows for the title outsiders – having beaten European royalty Ajax to progress in the Europa League, they were then beaten just as convincingly by Bayern in the league. They might just be grateful to get back to a relatively run-of-the-mill league game especially with a Europa League quarter-final to follow on Thursday.

🇫🇷 Saturday should be an exciting day in Ligue 1 – Leaders PSG, their confidence restored following wins over Lille and Marseille, face Nantes.

Kylian Mbappé and Lionel Messi notched up whopping FotMob ratings of 9.4 and 9.3 in last week’s 3-0 victory in Le Classique and Christophe Galtier will be looking to them, as always, to lead from the front again. Nantes, meanwhile, continued their defence of the Coupe de France by defeating Lens in the quarter-finals during the week.

That wasn’t ideal for fourth placed Lens, who must now face their biggest game of the season, against Lille in the Derby du Nord. With Lille currently outside the European places in sixth, one of French football’s tastiest rivalries should be a little more feisty that usual.

A single Jonathan David penalty was all that separated the two sides when they last met in October.

🇮🇹 A resurgent Milan side feature in Serie A’s biggest game of the day. Stefano Pioli’s outgoing champions go to Fiorentina looking to extend their run of four wins and four clean sheets – a sequence that came after a horrible spell in which they lost five out of seven competitive fixtures at the start of the year.

🇺🇸 With El Tráfico postponed on the opening weekend in MLS last Saturday, we’ll be looking forward to seeing how both current MLS Cup holders LAFC, and LA Galaxy get on in their respective first games this weekend.

LAFC start, at home, against Portland Timbers who closed out the last round with a narrow 1-0 win over Sporting KC. The Galaxy are on their travels, visiting a FC Dallas side who went down by the same scoreline to Minnesota United in their first game.

Elsewhere, we’ll see if new expansion side St. Louis City can maintain their 100% start in their first ever home game, which comes against last season’s expansion side, Charlotte FC. And Atlanta United vs. Toronto could provide some drama – Thiago Almada scored twice in injury time to give Atlanta a win last weekend while Toronto conceded twice in injury time to lose at Wayne Rooney’s DC United.

Sunday

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 There are two further games in this round of Premier League action being played on Sunday – one of which will be getting more attention than the other despite the relative importance of them both.

Nottingham Forest have built themselves a four point cushion on the relegation zone but their opponents Everton are the side who sit just below that dreaded line – therefore making this a definite six-pointer. That 4-0 humbling at Arsenal won’t determine Sean Dyche’s time as Everton boss but a result in a game like this could. It would also be the Toffees’ first away win since the start of October.

The day’s other game is arguably the biggest of the weekend – the battle between regional superpowers Liverpool and Manchester United. With the former hunting a top four finish and the latter not completely out of the title race, there’s plenty at stake.

Jürgen Klopp was quick to praise the goalscoring exploits of United’s in-form Marcus Rashford, in the build-up, but after keeping their fourth straight league clean sheet in the midweek win against Wolves, he might be quietly confident that his defence can keep him quiet.

Brazilian international Casemiro was introduced to the Old Trafford crowd as United’s new signing ahead of their earlier meeting this season – a game that Rashford scored in – and United won 2-1 back in August. And what a signing he’s proven to be with the Brazilian at the heart of everything Erik ten Hag has achieved with his new side this season – including the second half comeback that saw them beat West Ham in the FA Cup on Wednesday.

🇪🇸 Barcelona narrowly won a statistically intriguing but somewhat cagey Clásico against Real Madrid in the Copa Del Rey on Thursday night, a game that featured only two shots on target, both of which were missed by Barça and with the match settled by an OG.

Both will be hoping for an improvement as we get back to all things LaLiga on Sunday. Barça, with their seven point cushion in the standings, take on crisis club Valencia. Amidst protests around the ownership of the club, and the poor form that has seen one of Spain’s biggest teams slip in to the relegation zone, new manager Rubeń Baraja did actually stop the rot last weekend as his side ended a run of six defeats with victory over high-flying Real Sociedad.

Real Madrid will be hoping their famous frontline have found their shooting boots in time for the away trip to fifth placed Real Betis. Madrid haven’t lost this fixture in the last five meetings and Betis haven’t managed to keep a clean sheet in their last five (despite winning three of those) so the omens are at least there for Carlo Ancelotti’s side.

🇮🇹 In Serie A, two of this season’s main protagonists will both be in action. Second placed Inter need to shake off last weekend’s strange defeat at Bologna as they go up against a Lecce side who despite sitting down in 15th have tended to perform better against the big sides this season.

And Juventus, who would be second if it wasn’t for that pesky 15-point deduction, have the even trickier task of facing Roma in the capital. That prospect did however become a little easier following José Mourinho’s third red card of the season – in Roma’s shock defeat at Cremonese on Tuesday night – meaning the charismatic coach will not be on the sidelines on Sunday. At the same time, Juve were putting city rivals Torino to the sword in a entertaining Derby della Mole that finished 4-2.

🇦🇹 There are just three rounds to play before the league splits in the Austrian Bundesliga so this weekend’s clash between the country’s two biggest clubs – Rapid and RB Salzburg takes on a little more meaning than normal. Yes, obviously, Salzburg are running away at the top, as they have done for the past few seasons but Rapid could all but guarantee their position in the top half, or Championship Group, for the next stage of the season with a win.

That might be a tall order though with this being one of the most uneven national rivalries in European football – Salzburg have won 14 of the last 16 meetings with the other two being drawn.

If you want to follow any of the games mentioned above, click on the relevant link and tap the bell icon to receive all the key match updates.

Or join us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to discuss all the important football going on this weekend!

Cover Image from IMAGO

Mar

2023

Serie A Review: Three takeaways from Round 24

Juventus won the Turin Derby, on Tuesday night, Milan kept a fourth straight clean sheet, and a couple of Serie A’s superstar players returned from injury. All that, and more, is covered in our review of the latest action in Italy.

By Matteo Bonetti, US Serie A expert

Milan’s Revival

Milan won their fourth game in a row over the weekend by defeating Atalanta 2-0 in convincing fashion. It was also their fourth clean sheet in a row after the January from hell, which saw them endure one of their worst run of forms in the 21st century. Since then, manager Stefano Pioli has been able to get the team back on track by switching the formation he’s been using ever since taking over the job. The 3-4-3 seems to have worked wonders on the team. For one, it’s allowed the young centre-back Malick Thiaw to explode onto the scene and show his worth. Secondly, it seems to be getting the best out of key players like Theo Hernández, who are able to play a bit further forward and also tuck inside to be in a better position to shoot on goal. Theo’s magnificent volleyed effort from outside the box is worth a look if you haven’t seen it already.

It also helps that important players are finally coming back into the team from long injury layoffs. Goalkeeper Mike Maignan started his first game since September, and it instantly changed the entire backline. The defenders seemed to play with more aggression, knowing that they had a world class goalie like Maignan to bail them out in case they made a mistake. The Frenchman makes Milan’s play out of the back much slicker. Maignan is so comfortable on the ball that at times he looks like an outfield player. His command of the area and role as a vocal leader seems to have inspired the defence to reach new heights.

The second player to come back from injury was none other than the legendary Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Despite having surpassed 40 and suffering a slew of injuries, the striker has still had an important role behind the scenes, acting as a mentor for the younger players and an unofficial assistant to Stefano Pioli. Now that he’s healthy again, he can give Olivier Giroud a much needed rest in the rotation and provide a different skillset. Ibra doesn’t need to move to have an effect on the game as his technique is still so brilliant that he can unlock a defence with his passing or shooting ability.

All of this bodes well for Milan’s chances to not only secure a top four spot in Serie A, but also achieve a positive result in their second leg Champions League clash in North London against Tottenham.

Juventus thrill in the Derby

Juventus beat Torino 4-2 in what was one of the more entertaining Turin derbies in recent memory. The game won’t be remembered as much for the score as it will for the return of Paul Pogba after nearly a year out of competitive football. Pogba’s debut came in the second half, off the bench, and he right away looked to try out one of his audacious attempts as he struck a ball beautifully on the volley. And it would’ve been goal-bound had it not taken a deflection.

Pogba’s return comes only a month after we saw Federico Chiesa finally come back from his own lengthy injury. These two players are arguably the best Juventus have at their disposal, so it’s a completely different dynamic once they’re both fully fit enough to start from the first minute.

Juve manager Max Allegri has been criticized for being too pragmatic at times, with critics questioning why Juventus have so often played so defensively with just a one goal advantage or even when the score is level. This did not seem to be an issue against Torino, as Juve matched the intensity normally seen from Ivan Jurić’s Torino.

Aside from Pogba, the other headline came with Filip Kostić’s play. The Serbian winger once again dazzled on the left flank with his direct approach and pinpoint crossing. Kostić set up two of the Juventus goals, terrorising the Torino full-back Wilfried Singo throughout the night. Kostić has a team high seven assists, and has looked like a shrewd signing given that he has very different characteristics from anyone else Juventus can play in that position.

Bologna’s quiet rise

Bologna’s magnificent 2023 is going somewhat under the radar but it’s pushing them into the top half of the table where a Conference League spot is suddenly a possibility. The team has only lost once in their last six games under the attack-minded manager, Thiago Motta. Their win over Inter this past weekend was perhaps their most impressive of the season, as Bologna looked by the far better side and massively deserved the three points against the team placed second in the Serie A table.

What’s even more impressive is to get this sort of result without their best player, striker Marko Arnautović. The Austrian veteran has had his most successful seasons since joining Bologna two years ago – scoring 22 goals over 48 Serie A matches and being a talented reference point for the tricky wingers to play off. Other than him, it’s been the talented but inconsistent winger, Riccardo Orsolini to step up and lead the front line. Orsolini is one of those players who feels like he’s been on the verge of a true breakout season for quite some time, but never really reached that new level of star power. As a right-winger, he has consistently scored 7-8 goals a season with his patented cut inside on his favoured left foot. Aside from Federico Chiesa, he’s probably the best Italian dribbler in the league, always finding room for a cross or shot with his explosive acceleration and technical ability.

Aside from the attacking players, Scottish central-midfielder Lewis Ferguson has had a solid season and drawn interest from bigger Italian clubs. Ferguson looks like a brilliant piece of business from Bologna’s scouting department, as they signed him for only €3.5m from Aberdeen. Another signing from last season’s summer transfer window who has quickly fit into Serie A is defender Jhon Lucumí. The Colombian was brought over from Belgian side Genk and has been another example of Bologna’s recent savvy business deals, which has involved plucking players from smaller European leagues, who have then gone on to see their stock rise dramatically.

Closing thoughts…

Cremonese finally won their first Serie A game of the season by beating Roma in Cremona. The newly promoted side have had a curious season to say the least – they’ve knocked both Napoli and Roma out of the Coppa Italia and finally won a domestic game by beating a team that was gunning for a top four finish. Go figure!

(Cover image from IMAGO)

You can follow every match from the 2022/23 Serie A season live with FotMob — featuring deep stats coverage including shot maps, xG, and player ratings. Download the free app here.

Feb

2023

LaLiga Review: Madrid Derby finishes all square while Barça are stunned at the Power Horse

There were some unexpected results in Spain over the weekend so join us for a full round-up of the latest action AND a look ahead to this week’s El Clásico in the Copa del Rey.

By Ben Hayward, LaLiga expert

Madrid Derby ends even

Real Madrid and Atlético drew 1-1 in the derby at the Santiago Bernabéu on Saturday. Both goals were scored with headers late in the game, from set pieces, and by Uruguayans: José Giménez for Atlético; youngster Álvaro Rodríguez for Real.

Álvaro had come off the bench to equalise in the 85th minute in what was only his second appearance in LaLiga. On his first, he won the ball back and set up Marco Asensio for Madrid’s second goal at Osasuna the previous weekend. “From next season, Alvaro will be with the first-team squad,” coach Carlo Ancelotti said of the 18-year-old. “Few have his quality.”

But most of the talk after the game centred on the red card given to Atlético’s Ángel Correa for an elbow to the chest of Madrid defender Antonio Rüdiger, which looked extremely harsh. “It would be good if we could all compete in the same way,” Diego Simeone said afterwards. And Atleti complained on social media, too. “Nothing new at the Bernabéu,” they said on Twitter.

Meanwhile, Madrid looked tired after their big effort at Anfield against Liverpool earlier on in the week. “I don’t think it was physical tiredness,” Ancelotti said. “It was more mental tiredness because this was our 17th game in 50 days.”

Asked if the result meant goodbye to LaLiga this season, Ancelotti said: “It’s a little bit more difficult now, but it’s not goodbye. We will fight to the end.”

Barcelona miss chance to extend lead

On Sunday, Barcelona had the opportunity to move 10 points clear at the top, but Xavi’s side lost 1-0 at Almería and saw their lead cut to seven after 23 rounds of matches in LaLiga.

Mali forward El Bilal Touré scored the game’s only goal when he crashed a powerful shot in off the post in the first half after running clear of the Barcelona back line. It was only the eight time Barça had conceded in LaLiga this season, and only their second loss in the competition this term.

Still missing Pedri and Ousmane Dembélé through injury, Xavi rotated in defence as the likes of Sergi Roberto and Eric García came in. But it was a poor performance from the league leaders, who were also knocked out of the Europa League by Manchester United on Thursday.

“It was our worst game of the season,” Xavi said. “We lacked [ball] circulation, intensity, rhythm… we didn’t show the passion to win the game.” But Almería coach Rubi was delighted. “It was a historic day,” he said.

Almería are in 15th place, just two clear of the drop zone, but all of their wins in LaLiga have come at the (amusingly named) Power Horse Stadium this season and their home record is the fourth best in the competition.

El Clásico is up next

Madrid and Barcelona now meet at the Santiago Bernabeu in the first leg of the teams’ Copa del Rey semi-final on Thursday night, before returning to action in LaLiga next weekend.

“We’ll pick ourselves up,” Xavi said. “Nobody thinks we’ll win LaLiga easily. We’re competing with Real Madrid. We need more passion, intensity and rhythm.” On Thursday night, his team will be expected to find all of that.

And ahead of the Clásico, Ancelotti said: “Right now, the Copa game is the most important one because it’s on Thursday. We’re close to a title and at this moment, that is the important thing.”

Valencia get first win under Baraja

At Mestalla, protests continued against Valencia owner Peter Lim ahead of their LaLiga game against Real Sociedad. But inside the stadium, the fans got behind their players and Igor Zubeldia’s own goal late in the first half gave new coach Rubén Baraja a much-needed win.

That lifted Valencia out of the relegation zone and ended a miserable run which had seen the club pick up just one point in their previous eight matches, but wins for Cadíz and Almería saw them drop back to 18th and there is plenty of hard work still left if they are to avoid going down this season.

Elsewhere, Osasuna secured an impressive 3-2 win away to Sevilla to move up to eighth, while Girona beat Athletic Club by the same scoreline at San Mames and youngster Gabri Veiga scored twice for Celta Vigo in their 3-0 victory at home to Real Valladolid.

Reinildo and Fekir out for the season

Two of LaLiga’s outstanding players this season will play no further part in 2022-23 after suffering serious injuries at the weekend. Atlético left-back Reinildo Mandava will be out for up to six months after tearing his anterior cruciate ligament in the derby away to Real Madrid on Saturday and Real Betis midfielder Nabil Fekir will be sidelined for around the same amount of time after he was struck down with a similar injury in his side’s 3-2 win at Elche on Friday. The Frenchman’s problem may be slightly less serious after he played on through the pain for the last 15 minutes, but his club have confirmed he will miss the rest of the season.

(Images from IMAGO)

You can follow every match from the 2022/23 LaLiga season live with FotMob — featuring deep stats coverage including shot maps, xG, and player ratings. Download the free app here.

Feb

2023

Last Weekend: Manchester United’s first trophy since 2017, Al Hilal’s ACL domination and more

We had a properly packed weekend of football, featuring matches of all sorts from all over the world. We will go over the pick of the bunch in this week’s edition of Last Weekend, including a cup final, a big city derby and a reminder of football’s place in wider society.

By Neel Shelat

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 England: Manchester United 2-0 Newcastle United

The Carabao Cup is very much the secondary cup competition in England, and therefore not always regarded in high value. This year, though, the final was set to be a huge match, mainly due to what winning a trophy would mean for either side.

In fact, just being there was a pretty big deal in itself for Newcastle United, who were participating in their first cup final since the turn of the century. Winning would have been even bigger, as it would have yielded their first major trophy since 1969. Of course, the chief catalyst behind their turnaround has to be the Saudi Arabia-led takeover.

Their opponents Manchester United have also enjoyed a positive upturn in fortunes this season, but they have not had a change of owners (not yet anyway). For them, the arrival of Erik ten Hag seems to have had as good an impact as anyone might have imagined, leading them to the brink of a title race in the league along with this League Cup final.

The Dutch manager has also revitalised the performances of a number of players in the United squad, which has obviously, in turn, helped the team get better as a whole. And a couple of them played a decisive role in this match.

Luke Shaw assisted the opener with a set-piece delivery for summer signing Casemiro, after which Marcus Rashford got his 25th goal of the season for Manchester United to put them 2-0 up going into half-time. That allowed them to ease off a little in the second half, where Newcastle’s failure to score meant that they could coast home to the victory.

So, Manchester United lifted their first trophy since the 2016/17 UEFA Europa League. Of course, their ambitions will be much loftier than a Carabao Cup title, but this is a concrete indicator of the progress they have made this season.

🏆 AFC Champions League: Al Duhail 0-7 Al Hilal

This one is going to take a bit of explaining, but the West Zone semi-final for the 2022 AFC Champions League was finally played this weekend.

The reason we are still playing last year’s edition of the tournament is that its schedule will change from a year-round (spring to autumn in the Northern hemisphere) format to an inter-year format (autumn to spring in the Northern hemisphere) from the subsequent season, which will be 2023/24. Mind you, this is only the latest schedule change – not to be confused with the format change that takes effect in 2024, which is a story for another day. Under the current format, the participating teams are split into the East and West Zones, with the only overlap coming in the final which features one team from each zone.

The long and the short of it is that while the East Zone knockouts were held quite a while back, the West Zone knockouts only started about a week ago. They were all one-legged ties played in Qatar, which boiled down to the semi-final between local outfit Al-Duhail and Saudi Arabian giants Al Hilal, who are one of a select few multiple-time winners of the competition and have featured in two of the last three finals.

Prior to these knockouts, Al Hilal were in Morocco as they participated in the 2022 FIFA Club World Cup earlier this year (time is a social construct after all!). They made a historic run to the final where they went down fighting against Real Madrid, but that might have caused some to wonder if they would be a little vulnerable in the Champions League due to tiredness.

Their wins against Shabab Al-Ahli of the UAE and Foolad Khuzestan of Iran were pretty comfortable but not exactly convincing by their standards, so Qatar Stars League leaders Al-Duhail would have been expected to put up a properly tough fight at the very least.

They got absolutely blitzed, though, finding themselves five down before half-time due to goals from ex-Manchester United striker Odion Ighalo, ex-Porto forward Moussa Marega and Saudi Arabia’s World Cup hero Salem Al-Dawsari. Ighalo went on to complete his hat-trick and score one more in the second half, capping off an absolute trouncing to continue Al Hilal’s title defence.

For now, Al Hilal must turn their focus back to domestic proceedings because the final is still a couple of months away. That will be a two-legged tie against Urawa Red Diamonds, whom they have faced in this exact position twice before.

🇪🇸 Spain: Real Madrid 1-1 Atlético Madrid

Real Madrid find themselves right in the thick of a very hectic fixture schedule packed with big games. They visited Anfield in midweek and came away with a resounding 5-2 win, before returning to Madrid for two back-to-back matches against domestic rivals.

The defending LaLiga leaders were eight points behind Barcelona, who they would be hosting on Thursday night. First up, though, they had to face near-neighbours Atlético on Saturday.

As these matches often tend to do, the game got off to a very cagey start. Neither side seemed willing to commit too many bodies forward, leading to a goalless half-time highlight reel, which had very few chances of note anyway. The game only really sprung to life in the 64th minute, when Ángel Correa was sent off for a supposed elbow to the chest of Antonio Rüdiger, who definitely made the most of the contact.

In spite of their numerical disadvantage, the visitors scored first with just over 10 minutes of normal time left, as José María Giménez headed in Antoine Griezmann’s set-piece delivery. Real Madrid subsequently fought back to come away with a point after young forward Álvaro Rodriguez scored his first goal for the club from a corner.

Ultimately, the draw didn’t do too much good for either side. Real Madrid missed the chance to close the gap to Barcelona in the title race, while Atlético missed the chance to leapfrog Real Sociedad and move up to third.

🇩🇪 Germany: Hoffenheim 0-1 Borussia Dortmund

This was a massive weekend in the Bundesliga’s title race due to the showdown between Bayern Munich and Union Berlin, which was rather disappointing for the neutrals. We have given a fair bit of coverage to both of those teams in the past, though, so let us cast a glance at the third side in the mix.

Borussia Dortmund had the chance to spend a night at the top of the table when they played on Saturday – a day prior to their title rivals’ clash. They were visiting Hoffenheim, who surprisingly found themselves in the midst of a relegation battle and had recently changed head coaches to bring in Pellegrino Matarazzo. The hosts went into this match on the back of a five-match losing streak, so a response was necessary.

They put up a fairly strong defensive performance, preventing Edin Terzić’s side from creating clear-cut chances from open play. From set-pieces, though, they looked far from secure and gave away a number of golden opportunities, which Dortmund frustratingly squandered. On the stroke of half-time, though, Marco Reus’ free-kick delivery bounced off the back of a ducking Julian Brandt but remained on course for the net, giving the visitors the lead.

As Bayern have dominated the Bundesliga in recent years, Dortmund have frustrated their own fans and neutrals alike with their tendency to crumble under pressure or give away cheap goals to throw away straightforward wins. This year, though, something seems to have changed. This was BVB’s ninth win in as many matches since returning to action after the winter break, which obviously is the best run of form in the country.

Tougher tests await the Schwarzgelbe as they will face Leipzig and Bayern in their next five fixtures, which also includes the second leg of their Champions League tie against Chelsea. However, they definitely seem to be serious contenders in this season’s title race, both on the basis of their points tally and their performances.

🇺🇸 MLS: Austin 2-3 St. Louis City

A new season began in MLS this weekend with a round of just 13 fixtures. The headline match, El Tráfico, was postponed due to unfavourable weather, but that allowed some of the other fixtures to steal the spotlight. Among those was the debut of expansion side St. Louis City.

Their life in MLS started on the road in Texas, where they faced Austin FC, who had made the playoffs last year before losing to eventual champions LAFC. They were certainly going to provide a tough test to the newcomers, so this was poised to be an intriguing match.

Indeed, things got off to a very interesting start as the visitors drew first blood 24 minutes in through Tim Parker, who headed Eduard Löwen’s ball into the back of the net. Bradley Carnell would have been preparing for a positive half-time team talk, but a stoppage-time equaliser from Sebastián Driussi might have changed it a bit.

The score stayed level 25 minutes into the second half, so we were in for an exciting finish. The hosts seemed on course for all three points when they took the lead in the 72nd minute, but there would be a late twist in the tale. Jared Stroud equalised in the 78th minute after a terrible defensive giveaway, before an 86th-minute winner from João Klauss ensured that St. Louis City got off to a winning start.

🇹🇷 Türkiye: Fenerbahçe 4-0 Konyaspor

About two and a half weeks after two devastating earthquakes hit the southern region of the country, domestic football returned to Türkiye.

Naturally at such a time of widespread destruction and grief, the sport had very much taken a backseat in the country as there were many more serious matters to be concerned with. At the same time, though, we could see the power of football to have an impact on wider society when various clubs and fan groups aided the rescue efforts by doing things like setting up fundraisers.

Of course, football and those connected to it were among the things affected by the earthquakes. Süper Lig sides Gaziantep and Hatayspor have withdrawn from the season due to the damage caused by the disaster, which tragically include lost lives.

As with all things in life, though, the show must go on, so top-flight football was back in the country this weekend. There were poignant pre-match scenes in all the matches, including the first one between Fenerbahçe and Konyaspor, where the home team brought out a banner that read “We will heal the wounds together”.

The fans also had some messages, including a pre-match banner that read, “Teary eyes will be filled with hope”. After staying silent for the first 4 minutes and 17 seconds after kick-off to mark the time the first earthquake hit (4:17 PM), the supporters in the stadium chanted in unison against the government, who have been accused of being negligent in both their preparations and response to this disaster.

Cover Image from IMAGO

Feb

2023

Premier League Review: Spurs heap further misery on Chelsea and some key results at the bottom

The Carabao Cup final meant there was just eight Premier League matches to keep tabs on this weekend. There weren’t goals galore but, as usual, it was a deeply entertaining round of matches. So let’s take a look at some of the biggest talking points.

By Sam McGuire, Premier League expert

Another defeat for Chelsea

It is ironic that Chelsea spent all that money in January but now can’t buy a win. The Blues have one win in their last 10 matches across all competitions and their last victory in the Premier League was well over a month ago. They are five without a win in the English top flight now and luck is very much against them.

They had more shots against Spurs but the hosts finished with an Expected Goals haul that was almost double that of Graham Potter’s side. It was fairly even poised until Oliver Skipp’s effort from distance rattled in off the underside of the bar having clipped Kepa’s fingertips. After that, Chelsea had a number of speculative efforts but nothing that dangerous before Harry Kane added the second for the home side.

The Gunners continue their title charge

Arsenal’s match against Leicester was not one for the neutral. There weren’t many high-value opportunities for either side – in fact, the Foxes managed just one effort in the entire match and it was a shot from 30-yards out with an xG value of 0.02. But Mikel Arteta won’t mind that at all. The Gunners have now recorded back-to-back wins and kept a clean sheet – their first since the middle of January.

Leicester, meanwhile, are back in a relegation battle following a second successive loss.

Rice, Rice baby

West Ham United are out of the relegation zone following a comprehensive 4-0 win over Nottingham Forest. The hosts scored four times in the final 20 minutes to blow away the visitors. Danny Ings scored twice but the star of the show was Declan Rice.

The skipper put in a dominant display, creating four chances, completing 98% of his attempted passes, recovering the ball on 11 occasions and scoring the third goal. There was talk this week that Rice might be leaving the club at the end of the season but on the evidence of this display, he’s still firmly focused on keeping the Hammers in the Premier League.

That new manager bounce

Leeds recorded their first Premier League win since November as they beat fellow relegation battlers Southampton 1-0 at Elland Road. In what was Javi Gracia’s first mach in charge, the hosts controlled the game, limiting their opponents to an xG total of just 0.38.

It was a new-look side for the home team with Gracia opting to use Brenden Aaronson as part of a three behind Patrick Bamford. Despite having an array of attacking talent on the pitch, it was left-back Junior Firpo who scored the deserved winner with just 13 minutes left to play.

The Toffees become unstuck

Sean Dyche’s first game in charge of Everton was that 1-0 win over Arsenal. They then lost the Merseyside derby but beat Leeds at Goodison Park. If they were going to stay up, Goodison was going to have to become a fortress. Their 100% record there under Dyche came to an abrupt end on Saturday as Aston Villa ran out 2-0 winners.

The game itself was fairly even when looking at the xG – 1.71 to 1.94 in favour of the away side, but they did have a penalty. Everton had more shots on the day (15 to 9) but lacked a ruthlessness to convert these chances. That is an issue which has plagued them all season and will continue to do so until Dyche is able to bring in a reliable centre-forward. The issue for him is this might be when the club is in the Championship.

(Images from IMAGO)

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