The end of the championship race in England
The 25th round of the English Premier League ended with a new round of confrontation between Jose Mourinho and Josep Guardiola, who met for the first time after the Portuguese headed Tottenham. Moreover, Manchester City had to be sure to win at a party in order to close the record lag behind Liverpool.
However, after this match, the champion race in England can actually be declared completed. “City” was defeated with a score of 0: 2, not realizing a number of points at the gates of Londoners.
The most dangerous of them was at the end of the first half, when the guests received the right to a penalty two minutes after it was decided to use VAR to parse Sergio Agier's foul on Sergio Aguero. But Ilkai Gundogan from the point could not beat Hugo Lloris - with the players of “Manchester” this happened for the fourth time in the last six attempts. On finishing, the players of both teams quarreled, and the referee issued warnings to Alexander Zinchenko and Toby Alderweireld, although they were not the only instigators of the unrest.
This yellow card to the Ukrainian midfielder as a result directly affected the outcome of the game. In the second half, he was once again punished for disrupting the attack and removed. Subsequent free kick and corner led to a goal by Stephen Bergwein. This development completely demoralized the City players, and eight minutes later Song Heung Min doubled the score. This was only the second shot of Tottenham players on target.
In the remaining time of the match, the guests were unable to answer, and with an unrealized penalty and huge errors in defense, they did not deserve even a draw. After this game, former footballer Gary Lineker suggested starting to play the new Premier League season right now, as Liverpool are 22 points ahead of Manchester City, which can only be played in theory. Tottenham’s season is just beginning, as Mourinho’s wards got four points to the Champions League zone and clearly intend to compete for the right to play in the most prestigious club tournament in Europe.
On Sunday, England also hosted a match between Burnley and Arsenal, which predictably ended in a draw - this is the result that Londoners gravitate towards the whole season. Both teams did not realize any of their two shots on target, and the zeros continued to burn towards the final whistle.
In 25 Premier League matches this season, Arsenal was content with draws 13 times, which was the highest rate since the 1980/81 season, when Manchester United shared points with its rivals 15 times during the same period.
Double volleys of Italian leaders
Juventus is back on the rails after losing to Napoli. In the 22nd round of the Italian Championship, the Turin club defeated Fiorentina in its own field and was the first in Serie A to reach 1,600 matches won during its existence.
The hero of the meeting was Cristiano Ronaldo, who scored a double, but he never distinguished himself from the game, after which Matteis de Ligt set the final score in the compensated time - 3: 0.
The Portuguese took advantage of two penalties after using VAR in the 40th and 80th minutes. He has already implemented 126 meters over his career out of 151 attempts. At the same time, Ronaldo became the author of 50 goals for Juventus and extended the scoring series to nine matches - only David Trezeguet did in the club before him.
The most striking achievement of the striker was that he went to third place in goals in official matches in all tournaments, beating Gerd Mueller. The Portuguese with 722 goals is now second only to Pele (767) and Romario (734).
But the performance of Ronaldo does not allow Juventus to feel confident in first place in the standings. Turintsev continue to be pursued by several teams, among which is Lazio, who defeated SPAL with a score of 5: 1. By the 38th minute of the match, two players of the Roman club scored doubles. Ciro Immobile has already scored 25 goals in 21 matches - for Italy this is the best achievement since 1959. Two goals were also chalked up by former Lokomotiv player Felipe Caichedo.
Lazio is five points behind Juventus but has one game left. In the meantime, the closest to the Turin club is Inter, which is only three points behind Bianconeri. In the reporting round, the Milanese won their first victory after three consecutive draws, beating Udinese. Romelu Lukaku, who completed the double, helped out his teammates - he already has 16 goals in the current season of Serie A.
AC Milan interrupted a series of three victories and finished the 22nd round in eighth place in the standings. Wards Stefano Pioli tied with Verona, failing to squeeze the opponent after equalizing in the 29th minute. Moreover, the last half-time, the Veronians played in the minority, but the Rossoneri did not help either.
The compensated time of the match was marked by the replacement of Daniel Maldini - a debut in Serie A. His grandfather Cesare and father Paolo became the legends of the Milan club, and now a representative of the third generation of the football family began his career in the Italian grand. The three of them played 995 matches for AC Milan.
The magic of Messi and Faty
After losing to Valencia in the previous round, Barcelona beat Levante 2-1 at home and joined in the pursuit of Real Madrid in the Spanish Championship.
This match was a high point for Anssumane Fati. The 17-year-old striker, who had already scored as part of Barcelona, this time scored a double, and incredibly fast - about a hundred seconds passed between his two goals. Both times he was assisted by Lionel Messi. First, the Argentinean cut the long range pass from the center of the field, and then played the ball in someone else's penalty area. Faty became the youngest double author in the history of Examples. The previous achievement belonged to Juanmi Jimenez, who at the time of his fixation was 21 days older.
“Levante” in the end of the meeting answered with a goal performed by Ruben Rochina, who did not prevent Barcelona from winning the fourth of five matches under the leadership of his new head coach Enrique Seten. The Catalans are three points behind Real Madrid.
After the 22nd round, Barcelona had two closest pursuers. Sevilla is now forced to share third place with Getafe after a draw with Alaves. Wards of Julen Lopetegui risked to lose at all because of a goal conceded in the 70th minute, but the penalty implemented by Lucas Ocampos helped at least divide the points. “Getafe” on the road beat Athletic, interrupting his series of five consecutive draws and extending the unbeaten series to seven games. Both clubs are inferior to Barca seven points.
Density in League table 1
The most interesting fight in the championship of France takes place in the fourth place, giving the right to get into the Europa League. Within six points of the fourth-place “Lille” are as many as 11 teams. Following the results of the 22nd round in this "peloton" "Nice" advanced. The team from the Cote d'Azur beat Lyon with a score of 2: 1 and caught up with him on points (-2 from Lille). It is noteworthy that both teams finished the game with ten of them after two direct red cards.
Within the Champions League zone in the French championship, the intrigue is much less. The closest pursuer of the leading PSG - Marseille - tied Bordeaux (0: 0) away and is now only three points ahead of Rennes.
Spartak greetings from the Netherlands
As part of the 21st round of the Dutch Eredivisi, a match was held between the two most powerful and famous teams of the country - Ajax and PSV. True, if the Amsterdam team this season justify their status and lead in the national championship, then the team from Eindhoven is not even fighting for access to the Champions League.
The result of this meeting confirmed the current position of the teams. Ajax won a landslide victory, albeit with a minimum score. The only goal scored by the former Spartak striker Quincy Promes, who completed the rapid pass Donnie van de Beck. The Amsterdam team retained a three-point advantage over AZ Alkmar, while PSV remained in fifth place in the standings, one point ahead of Vitesse.