Six goals Manchester City and Guardiola’s 300th victory
Manchester City returned to second place in the English Premier League, taking advantage of the misfire of Leicester. Josep Guardiola's team defeated the outsider Aston Villa - 6: 1 on the road. And the main character of the meeting was Sergio Aguero. The Argentinean scored three goals, gave one assists and climbed to fifth place in the tournament scorers of the tournament, which he shares with Tammy Abraham (both have 13 goals).
Along the way, the forward became the author of just a couple of significant statistical achievements. First, with 177 goals, he is now the best foreign scorer in the history of the Premier League. Sergio was ahead of such legends as Robin van Persie and Thierry Henry on this list. Aguero also claimed leadership in the number of hat-tricks in the Premier League, breaking away from Alan Shearer, now he has 12 of them.
Among other things, the Argentine came out on top in terms of rate of fire this season among players who appeared on the field in more than half of his team’s matches. He scores once every 77 minutes. The closest pursuers Mason Greenwood from Manchester United and James Wardy from Leicester are recorded in the minutes every 103.8 and 105.9 minutes, respectively.
It is impossible not to mention Riad Marez and Kevin De Bruyne as part of the MC. The Algerian scored twice in seven minutes, and the Belgian gave two assists and took the lead in the current Premier League season by the number of points for performance along with Jamie Vardi. Finally, Josep Guardiola won the 300th anniversary victory in the 390th match in the leading European leagues.
Change of leader in Italy and the incredible record of Quagliarella
And in the Italian championship on Sunday, a change of leader took place. On the eve of Inter, he lost the victory over Atalanta at home, and Juventus got the opportunity to get ahead of Nerazzurri. The team of Cristiano Ronaldo took advantage of the gift with pleasure and beat Roma - 2: 1 in a difficult match away.
Moreover, the fate of the meeting was decided in fact in the first ten minutes, when the Turintsy managed to score two goals after drawing standard provisions. First, Merich Demiral converted the free-kick into a goal, and then Ronaldo realized a penalty and scored the 14th goal in the current season of Serie A. Moreover, he scored a goal in the sixth round in a row.
True, the Romans did not give up and in the second half did everything to stop the opponent. But they managed to score only once, also from the penalty spot.
It is impossible not to note the achievement of ex-striker Juve Fabio Quagliarella. The 36-year-old Sampdoria striker scored twice in a match with Brescia and became the first player in Serie A history to score in tournament meetings for 16 years in a row. Quagliarella recorded the first ball at his own expense in the national championship in 2005. And last season with 26 precision shots, he became the top scorer.
Penalty Shootout and Zidane's Ninth Final Finished
In Saudi Arabia, the winner of the Super Bowl of Spain. Real Madrid - Atletico Madrid Derby took place in faraway Jeddah. As a result, local fans have witnessed far from the most striking football. The teams were frankly afraid of each other and did not try to take risks. Hazards, like just shots on target, were in great short supply.
The game opened slightly only with the beginning of extra time. In the first additional half, Vitolo broke into the penalty box from the left flank and struck hard in the near corner, but Real Madrid saved Thibaut Courtois. However, after a short break, the Belgian was already marked with a minus sign, making a mistake at the exit when filing a corner. But Courtois himself managed to correct himself and fended off a shot by Alvaro Morata.
“Real” answered no less sharply, but Jan Cloud managed not only to hit Luka Modric, but also to push Mariano from the goalie line. And in the end, Zinedine Zidane's wards completely remained in the minority after a foul of the last hope performed by Federico Valverde.
As a result, the fate of the confrontation, as in the 2016 Champions League final, was decided in the penalty shootout. And again, the winner was Real. Atletico football players failed to realize their first two attempts. Saul struck the post, and the kick of Thomas Partey parried Courtois.
Thus, creamy, for the 11th time in its history, became the owners of the Super Bowl of Spain and are second only to Barcelona, which has 13 trophies. Zidane was marked by an impressive achievement. He won all nine finals with the team as head coach (three in the Champions League, two in the UEFA Super Cup, two in the Club World Cup and two in the Spanish Super Cup).
Four goals in 12 minutes and salvation in the "lottery"
Also on Sunday, the matches of the third round of the Spanish Cup ended. Of the notable events, it is worth noting the incredible rate of fire of Real Sociedad. The Examples team for a long time could not break into the defense of the modest Ceuta, representing the fourth strongest division, but at the beginning of the second half they scored four goals in 12 minutes. At the same time, the double was designed by Luca Fuentes Sangalli. And the biggest victory of the game day was won by Sevilla, which sent five unanswered goals to the Escobedo goal.
If on the eve of Example one representative in the Cup in the person of “Getafe” lost, then on Sunday all the teams of the elite made it to the 1/16 finals. However, the Levante literally walked around the edge. Wards Paco Lopez only in a penalty shoot-out defeated the team of Tercera “Jaen”, although they played almost the basic composition. It is interesting that, starting from the 44th minute, the favorites remained ten of us due to the removal of Nikola Vukchevich, and played out the meeting even nine times after the second yellow card of Eric Kabako on the 113th.
A bright game of Golovin and six goals for two
However, the most spectacular of Sunday's matches took place in France. “Monaco” Alexandra Golovin held the first meeting in Ligue 1 under the leadership of Roberto Moreno Gonzalez and managed to stop PSG, who had not lost points in the championship already since November 1 last year.
The teams showed the fans open bright football with a lot of points and goals. Already by the seventh minute, the rivals exchanged scored goals, and on the 13th Monegasques unexpectedly stepped forward. It is gratifying that Golovin took part in both successful attacks. In the first case, he sharpened the offensive with a subtle transfer to Cesc Fabregas, and in the second he literally cut the defense flank of the Parisians, after which Wissam Ben-Yedder burst into the penalty area and just shot.
But the Parisians quickly changed the course of the failed match. First, Fode Ballo-Toure unsuccessfully put himself under the blow of Neymar and became the author of an own goal, and then the Brazilian confidently realized the penalty awarded for the demolition of Killian Mbappe on the left corner of the penalty area.
The second half turned out to be much less eventful, but Monaco still managed to escape from defeat, and the goal of Islam Slimani was extremely controversial. The forward, receiving the ball, was clearly offside, but after watching the replay, the judges decided that one of the Parisians touched the last shell.
So the Monegasques managed to stop the strongest French team on the road, and Golovin took an active part in this, albeit without scoring points for performance. And the most curious thing is that after two days the teams will meet again in the second round, but already at the stadium of Louis II.