Liverpool’s first home misfire in a year and a half and Chelsea’s unexpected rout
The main sensation of the game day in the Premier League was the major defeat of Chelsea from the Sheffield United - leading the fight for a ticket to the Europa League - 0: 3. Londoners suffered such a major defeat in the national championship for the first time since August 2019.
The main character of the meeting was David McGoldrick. Before the game with Chelsea, the forward, conducting his debut season in the Premier League, could not distinguish himself. But on Saturday, he scored a double, having successfully played twice on finishing. Oliver McBarney chalked up another ball.
Sheffield scored ten points in the last four matches of the championship and climbed into the Europa League zone. “Chelsea” in the case of victories, “Leicester” and “Manchester United” in the current, 35th round of the submarine may fall to fifth place.
Another modest team, also claiming to be in European competition, Burnley, took away points from Liverpool, which had earlier guaranteed its league title (1: 1). Merseysiders opened the scoring in the 34th minute thanks to an accurate shot by Andrew Robertson, and in the middle of the second half, Jay Rodriguez restored equality on the scoreboard.
Liverpool could no longer break through Nick Pope who made eight saves and for the first time in a year and a half failed to win the Premier League home stadium. The last time Jurgen Klopp's wards lost points at Anfield in late January 2019.
Manchester City, coming on the second line, did not experience any problems in the match against Brighton and Hove Albion, sending five unanswered goals into the opponent’s goal. Three of them chalked up Rahim Sterling. The striker scored the fourth hat-trick in the Premier League in his career and the second in the current season.
Stirling's last goal, scored in the 81st minute of the meeting, deserves special mention. In this game episode, the forward seemed to have lost the martial arts to the defender and lost his balance, but the ball from his head suddenly ricocheted directly into the goal. At the same time, Daniel Burne in tackle failed to knock the ball out of the line.
Also on Saturday, the first team decided to leave the Premier League at the end of the season. It was expected to be the closing standings of the Norwich. The team of Daniel Farke lost his last chances of salvation after a devastating defeat from West Ham - 0: 4.
All four goals were scored by London striker Michael Antonio. For one match forward scored as much as for all previous games of the season. At the same time, Antonio for the first time in his career distinguished himself more than two times per meeting.
Smolov injury and two canceled goals “Atletico”
In Spain, Barcelona, fighting for the championship, won a difficult victory over Valladolid - 1-0. Wards Sergio Gonzalez at home were able to fight the favorite and surpassed him in the number of strokes (13 versus nine). Catalan goalkeeper Marc Andre ter Stegen made four saves.
But they failed to score Valladolid, and Barcelona scored in the 15th minute. Arturo Vidal after a subtle transfer of Lionel Messi just struck into the far corner with a rebound from the bar.
For the Argentinean, this scoring pass became the 20th in the championship. He is the first football player in 11 years who managed to overcome this mark in the Example. In the 2008/09 season, Xavi scored 21 “assist”. Lionel also became the second player in the XXI century, scoring 20 or more goals in one of the top 5 European leagues in one season, and also having given at least 20 assists. In the Premier League 2002/2003, Thierry Henry succeeded, who scored 24 times and assisted his partners 20 times.
The only fly in the ointment for blue garnet was the injury of Antoine Griezmann, who had to be changed during the break. According to media reports, the Frenchman has problems with the quadriceps femoris and may miss the rest of the season.
A difficult home victory over Betis in the 36th round Examples were won by Atlético taking the third place. Madrid also managed to score only one goal into the opponent’s goal.
At the same time, the referee canceled two goals of the hosts in the first half, after consulting with the assistants on the VAR. At the same time, for the last half hour the “mattresses” played out ten times, after defender Mario Hermoso received a direct red card for hitting an opponent in the legs from behind.
15 minutes before the final whistle, wards Diego Simeone still pulled out three points. Veteran Diego Costa closed the supply of a partner to the standard and brought his team an important victory in the fight for bronze.
“Celta” without injured Fedor Smolov on the road was defeated by “Osasuna” - 1: 2. The Russian initially got into the application for a duel and was supposed to start it on the bench, but was injured in the pre-match workout.
The loss of the striker did not stop the guests from opening an account in the tenth minute. Santi Mina closed the lumbago of Iago Aspas, and the judge, after negotiations with assistants on VAR, counted the goal. However, Osasuna managed to quickly recoup. Enric Gallego struck with an accurate header after an excellent diagonal partner.
The denouement began in the 91st minute when substitute Jose Manuel Arnais turned the ball into the net from the box. “Celta” suffered a disappointing defeat, extended the unbeaten run in the Example to five matches and made it possible for the Mallorca located in the relegation zone to reduce the backlog to one point.
The lost victory of Atalanta and the third consecutive defeat of Lazio
Italian fans were waiting with great interest for the meeting of Juventus and Atalanta. Turin after a series of misfires of the competitors almost secured another championship, but in the last round they unexpectedly lost to Milan. For the reporting match, the Bergamosques scored an excellent move, won nine victories in Serie A in a row, climbed to third place and looked like a team that could take points from the leader and revive intrigue.
As a result, the wards of Gian Piero Gasperini managed to do this. During the match of the 32nd round of the championship of Italy, they twice pulled ahead in the long run, but failed to win - 2: 2.
Already in the 16th minute, striking guests Duvan Zapata scored from the outside of the penalty area into the far corner. Juventus managed to recoup only after the break. The penalty awarded for playing with Martin de Ron's hand was awarded to Cristiano Ronaldo.
At the end of the meeting, Atalanta replacements were played. On the field, Luis Muriel and Ruslan Malinovsky organized the second goal against the hosts. The Ukrainian after the transfer of the Colombian delivered a cannon strike from the penalty.
However, Muriel quickly turned into an antihero of the match. At the 89th minute, he played on the corner in a not-so-dangerous situation with his hand in his own penalty area, and the judge awarded a second penalty. Ronaldo again turned out to be accurate and brought the number of goals in the current season of Serie A to 28. In the race of scorers, the Portuguese is only one accurate hit behind Ciro Immobile.
The Lazio runner-up made another misfire. The home team lost to Sassuolo (1: 2) and suffered a third defeat in a row in Serie A. Moreover, the beginning of the match did not portend trouble for the Romans. From the first minutes they seized the initiative and closer to the end of the first half, they stepped forward thanks to an accurate shot by Luis Alberto.
However, immediately after the break, “Sassuolo” recouped. The 20-year-old striker Giacomo Raspadori, who for the first time in his career got into the starting lineup for the Serie A fight, scored his debut goal in the national championship.
And in the first minute added, the guests managed to snatch victory. After a corner, Francesco Caputo ferried the ball into the goal. This goal became 16th for the striker this season, and he reached clean sixth place in the scorers race. “Sassuolo” won the fourth victory in a row and climbed to the top eight.
Another Roman team in the reporting round achieved a major victory. “Roma” on the road confidently beat “Brescia” - 3: 0. In the composition of the Romans goals were noted by Nikola Kalinic, Nicolo Zagnolo and Federico Fasio. For the latter, this goal is the first in the current Serie A. draw.