Incredible last minutes in England
The 23rd round of the English Premier League started with a match between Watford and Tottenham. The game ended the first in almost a month of this tournament with a goalless draw, although both teams had excellent chances to score. In the 70th minute, Troy Dini was unable to realize a penalty into the goal of Londoners, and in extra time there was a curious episode on the opposite side of the field.
During the London attack, the ball was at the Watford goal, but the referees checked the moment using the VAR and recorded that it lacked a few millimeters to completely cross the line. Ignacio Pussetto saved his team from a goal, for which it was the first touch of the ball as part of Watford - the Argentine signed a contract with the club four days before the match, and went on for a substitution a minute before the end of regular time. “Tottenham Hotspur” under the leadership of Jose Mourinho can not win in the fourth meeting in a row - a losing streak of five matches cost the last coach of the Londoners Mauricio Pochettino position.
Failure also awaited Manchester City in a home meeting with Crystal Palace. At the 39th minute, the guests realized a corner, which became their only dangerous moment in the whole game. The home team tried their best to win in order to make a present to their head coach Josep Guardiola, who celebrated his 49th birthday that day.
Sergio Aguero tried especially hard. The striker scored two goals in the last ten minutes of the match and reached a clean fourth place in the list of top scorers in the history of the Premier League, beating Chelsea's current coach Frank Lampard.
But the Argentine’s double did not bring City a victory - during the last Crystal Palace attack, Fernandinho cut the ball into his own net after Wilfrid Zachi's cross. Over the remaining five minutes of the compensated time, the current champions of England could not escape from a draw and were already 19 points behind Liverpool in lost points.
Literally at the last moment, the outcome of the match between Newcastle and Chelsea was also determined. Of all the English giants who played that day, Londoners were the least fortunate. They dominated throughout the game, but could not open an account.
But when the fourth added minute began, Isaac Hayden finished the corner and brought Newcastle the first victory in five matches. Chelsea interrupted a series of three games without defeats.
The heroes of the day in the Premier League were Wolverhampton players. The first half of the match with Southampton did not work out for them - the guests conceded two goals and were noticeably inferior in the quality of the game. But after the break, they had 21 minutes to recoup and lead in the long run. Ramon Jimenez’s double allowed the “wolves” to win a strong-willed victory and climb to sixth place in the standings, beating the “Sheffield”, which, in turn, got a draw in a guest meeting with Arsenal (1: 1).
The victory of Real Madrid with a scandal
Saturday's main match in Spain ended in scandal. “Real” in his field took “Seville”, closely matched the top three examples. In the 30th minute, Luke de Jong sent the ball into the goal of Thibault Courtois, closing the pitch from the corner. But he failed to enjoy the goal.
The referees reviewed the episode and noticed that the player of Seville Nemanja Gudel blocked Eder Militao at the time of drawing the standard. The goal was canceled - this decision on the bench was greeted with indignation. After the match, Sevilla head coach Julen Lopetegi did not hesitate to call the judge’s decision shameful.
The cancellation of the goal gave Real Madrid an opportunity to collect their thoughts and, after the break, open an account themselves. After a pass, henchman Casemiro distinguished himself from Luke Jovic, who, instead of celebrating a goal, began to ask the audience to pat his teammate. Seven minutes later, de Jong still scored according to the rules, although the players of Real Madrid believed that the passer Munir played with his hand. But then Casemiro again pushed the Madrid ahead, making the first double in his career. His two goals eventually brought the wards of Zinedine Zidane a victory and allowed to single-handedly lead the standings, until Kike Seten made his debut at the head of Barcelona.
Seville will still have a chance to rise above the current fourth place. Also having an asset of 35 points, Atletico lost to Eibar and was defeated after three consecutive wins. The first goal was missed by Madrid already in the tenth minute and for the rest of the time they couldn’t answer something. At the very end of the game, “Eibar” developed an advantage and ultimately won 2-0, breaking away from the relegation zone by seven points. “Atletico” also remained in third place in the Example.
Immobile chasing the Golden Boot
“Lazio” continues to surprise football Italy. The team from Rome won the 11th consecutive victory and is now inferior to just one point going to the second place in Serie A Inter. Another victim of the capital's club was Sampdoria, defeated with a score of 5: 1, and the hosts earned a comfortable difference of three goals by the 20th minute.
Most of the goals for Lazio were chalked up by Ciro Immobile - the striker scored two penalties and scored once from the game. The ball was also scored by players known for playing in the Russian Premier League - ex-railwayman Felipe Kaisedo and former Rostov midfielder Bashtush. Immobile thanks to his hat-trick broke away from Robert Lewandowski in a dispute over the Golden Boot. The Italian has already 23 goals in 19 matches of the Italian championship.
Napoli continues to be in a deep crisis. A few weeks before the Champions League playoffs, the team suffered a third defeat in Serie A in a row, this time losing to Fiorentina with a score of 0: 2. Wards Gennaro Gattuso have won only one match of the last 12 in their championship and are at risk for the results of the 20th round to fall below the current 11th place.
Super debut Holland
The first round of the German Championship after the winter break began on Friday with the Schalke match and the Borussia Monchengladbach. However, the team visiting Gelsenkirchen missed a chance to head the Bundesliga standings at least a day. “Schalke” twice struck the gate of one of the leaders of the season, keeping the possession of his goalkeeper intact.
Misfire Glabakhtsev will now be able to take advantage of Bayern Munich, which on Sunday will play in Berlin with the Hertha and has a chance to rise to second place. The main event of Saturday in the Bundesliga was the incredible debut of Erling Holland in the Dortmund Borussia.
The 19-year-old striker, who scored eight goals for Salzburg in the Champions League group stage, entered the field 56 minutes into the away game against Augsburg. At that moment, “Borussia” just missed the third time and lost with a score of 1: 3.
The Norwegian scored a debut goal in three minutes as part of his new team, and after the goal of teammate Jadon Sancho twice hit the goal of the Bavarians. Holand became the seventh player in Bundesliga history to make a hat-trick in his debut match. Thanks to the brilliant game of its rookie, Borussia won and caught up with Bavaria and Schalke in third place in the standings.
Leipzig remained the leader following the results of the 18th round, taking the Union on its field. Before the game, Berlin fans held a protest march against their rival under the slogan “Leipzig - the death of football”, but this did not save their team from defeat. Timo Werner, who did not go to Chelsea, brought his three points to the winners of the first round of the German championship with his double.
Reunion departure from French Cup
This weekend in France, matches of the 1/16 finals of the Cup of the country are held, and on Saturday the attention of the fans was focused not on the titled clubs of League 1, but on the game of two little-known clubs outside the republic - Epinal and San Pierreux. The first represents the fourth strongest division of the national championship, and the second came to the cup match from Reunion - the overseas department of France, located on a small island in the Indian Ocean. Whoever won the meeting, for him to be among the 16 best teams in the country would be a huge achievement.
Fortune finally smiled to the representatives of continental France. Guests who overcame about 10 thousand km for the match, already in the 15th minute were in the minority due to removal. The main time of the match ended in a goalless draw, and in the 118th minute Adele Bercan brought the amateur Epinal to the 1/8 finals, where they also played Marseille, Nice, Saint-Etienne, Lyon and "Lille."