Yesterday, Barcelona opened a ten-point gap at the top of LaLiga with only ten matches remaining, all but guaranteeing the club’s fourth league title in five years. The performance that earned the cushion was a 4-1 away victory over Real Betis at the Benito Villamarín, and all four Barca goals were of the highest order.
Barcelona looked to take advantage of Atletico Madrid’s defeat to Athletic Bilbao yesterday by defeating Real Betis and opening up a 10-point gap at the top of LaLiga, and the first half of the match at the Benito Villamarín couldn’t have gone better from a Blaugrana perspective.
In the 18th minute, Lionel Messi opened the scoring with an exquisite free kick that flew beyond Pau Lopez in goal. This was Messi’s 27th league goal in 26 games.
18-year-old Canadian phenom Alphonso Davies scored his first Bundesliga goal for Bayern Munich on Sunday, coming on as a substitute in the club’s 6-0 hammering of Mainz 05 at the Allianz Arena and completing the scoring.
A James Rodriguez hat-trick alongside goals from Robert Lewandowski and Kingsley Coman had given Bayern a 5-0 lead when Davies came on for David Alaba in the 59th minute.
Napoli goalkeeper David Ospina, who’s at the club on a one-year loan deal from Arsenal, had to be rushed to the hospital after collapsing during today’s Serie A match against Udinese.
The 30-year-old Colombian was injured in the fifth minute after a low cross into the Napoli box resulted in a collision between Ospina and Ignacio Pussetto.
David Ospina's injury before his collapse in today's match against Udinese pic.twitter.com/rxPhWE0QZe
Having won Italy’s Serie A title for seven consecutive seasons now, it’s obvious that Juventus did not buy Cristiano Ronaldo last summer in a bid to establish domestic dominance. The Old Lady spent nearly $130 million on the 34-year-old to finally land the prize that’s eluded them since 1996, the UEFA Champions League.
Atlético and Barcelona drew 60,739 to the Wanda Metropolitano in Madrid for a Primera División match Sunday, a world record attendance for a women’s match between two club sides. Atlético was looking to put one hand on the Spanish league title with a positive result, but Barcelona would record a 2-0 victory to cut the host’s lead at the top of the table to just three points with six matches remaining.
PSV Eindhoven recorded a massive 1-0 victory over VVV-Venlo at De Koel on Sunday, and the game’s lone goal was an impressive solo strike from Hirving “Chucky” Lozano in the 86th minute.
The victory takes PSV five points above Ajax at the top of the Eredivisie table following the Champions League quarterfinalists' defeat against AZ Alkmaar later in the day.
The goal was Chucky’s 15th in 24 league games this season (to go along with six assists), and 19th in 34 appearances across all competitions. But this was perhaps the 23-year-old’s finest for the club.
Swansea City was on the verge of a season-defining victory against Manchester City in the FA Cup quarterfinals on Saturday. Then Raheem Sterling threw himself to the ground under a challenge from USMNT defender Cameron Carter-Vickers and the entire match dynamic changed.
Javier Hernandez may be over the hill in footballing terms at 30 years of age, but the little pea still has big goals in him.
While half of the Premier League is off this weekend for FA Cup action (hidden away behind an ESPN+ subscription here in the U.S.), there were a few matches to watch on Saturday, and they were all fucking bonkers.
Newcastle United earned a point at Bournemouth when Matt Ritchie smashed a volley into the back of the net in the 94th minute for a 2-2 draw.
Zinedine Zidane, the man who does nothing but win trophies as manager and player, is back with Real Madrid for a second stint as head coach less than a year after leaving the club. Having just arrived this week, he’s already shaking things up — and to good effect.