Ronaldo's 50th Serie A goal, Atalanta's achievement, Ibrahimovic and Sterling's doubles: major events in European football

Devastating victory for Manchester City and defeat for Arsenal

Manchester City quickly recovered from being eliminated from the FA Cup. In the away match of the 37th round of the Premier League, Josep Guardiola's wards scored four unanswered goals to Watford and won their fourth consecutive victory in the Premier League with a total score of 16: 1.

The fate of the struggling for survival "Watford" largely depended on this game. However, two days before the match, head coach Nigel Pearson was fired. He became the third mentor to be retired by the club owners in the 2019/20 season. In the last two rounds, the team was headed for the second time by Hayden Mullins, who was faced with the task of maintaining a three-point distance from the relegation zone.

But now Watford has no ground left. “Manchester City” in some way even felt sorry for the challenger, as in the first round the meeting between these teams ended with a score of 8: 0.

In the reporting match, Raheem Sterling scored a double in the first half, scoring both from the field and immediately after an unsuccessful penalty kick. “Watford” could not have conceded yet, as the fate of the team, perhaps, will depend on the final difference between goals scored and conceded. However, after the break, Philip Foden and Emerick Laporte managed to excel.

Manchester City doubled the record for a two-round match between teams in a single Premier League season - 12: 0.

Soon after that game, Watford fans' worst fears were realized. The team dropped to the relegation zone after Aston Villa beat Arsenal. The Birminghamians caught up on points with their direct competitors, but were higher in the standings precisely due to the better goal difference.

The meeting ended with a score of 1: 0. The only goal was scored by Mahmoud Hassan, who converted a corner in the 27th minute. Over-motivated players of the hosts did not allow the Londoners to strike at least one shot on target, so that Arsenal remained on the tenth line in the standings.

Mikel Arteta's charges have secured the worst result in the Premier League in the last 25 years, since they will definitely not rise above eighth place.

Also in the 37th round of the Premier League, Wolverhampton on Monday became even closer to playing in the Europa League again. The team defeated Crystal Palace and retained a minimal lead over Tottenham in the sixth spot dispute.

Three points went to Wolverhampton not too difficult. Daniel Kastelu opened the score at the end of the first half. The midfielder, who transferred from Olympiacos in the winter, closed the pass to Matt Doherty with his head and scored his first goal in the team. After the break, defender Honny scored, scoring after a turn around his axis in someone else's penalty area. The guests checked the readiness of Rui Patriciu three times, but none of the strikes became a problem for the goalkeeper. In addition to their sixth consecutive defeat, Crystal Palace also lost defender Mamadou Sako due to injury.

Sheffield finally parted with the dream of playing in Europe. Chris Wilder's team lost at home to Everton and were five points behind Wolverhampton. The Sheffield players have never managed to hit the opponents' goal. The guests were not very active either, but they earned one goal.

Richarlison scored with a header after a free kick in the first minute of the second half. “Everton” interrupted a losing streak of four matches, but will still not be able to finish at the top of the standings.

Finally, in another meeting of the 37th round, Brighton & Hove Albion and Newcastle met. Television viewers never got a chance to see goals in this match. Brighton was fine with this draw - it was enough for them to score one point to stay in the Premier League for the third consecutive season. The team managed to maintain their position in the elite with only eight victories in the tournament. It's so rare that Brighton hasn't won in the top division yet, but Graham Potter's players will still have a match with Burnley to improve the statistics. As for Newcastle, due to a five-match streak without wins, it will no longer rise above 13th place in the standings.

Ronaldo's record and Atalanta's achievement

On Monday, Juventus and Lazio finished the 34th round of the Italian championship. Before the break in the tournament, these two teams were expected to fight for gold. The Romans lagged behind the leader by only one point for some time, but failed the entire summer part of the season and now they hardly even claim to be in the top three. Turintsy also had a hard time lately, but they managed to win their first victory in four matches.

Lazio was worthy away from Juventus only in the first half, which ended without goals scored. Right after the break, the hosts managed to achieve a comfortable advantage. Cristiano Ronaldo first punished Bashtus for playing with a hand in the penalty area, and then Luis Philippe for a loss in midfield.

The Portuguese has already scored 30 goals in the current Serie A draw and broke Andriy Shevchenko's record in time, which took him 50 goals in the Italian championship. It took Ronaldo only 61 games.

This record was part of a bigger achievement: Ronaldo became the first footballer in history to score at least 50 goals in the championships in England, Spain and Italy.

Returning to the reporting match, the leader of "Lazio" Ciro Immobile in the 83rd minute converted a penalty and also distinguished himself for the 30th time this season, becoming only the fifth Italian in history who showed such efficiency. But this goal was not enough for the Romans to take points away from Turin.

The victory was necessary for Juventus as Atalanta continues to pursue and pressure Maurizio Sarri's charges. In the opening match of the 35th round of Serie A, the Bergamaski beat Bologna 1: 0 and again reduced the gap from the leader to six points.

The goal of substitute Luis Muriel turned out to be significant. After his accurate shot, Atalanta have scored 95 goals in a season. This milestone in the Italian championship has not been conquered by any team since 1959, when Fiorentina succeeded (18 teams participated in that competition).

Juventus scored 98 times in the 1951/52 season, so Atalanta has three more matches to surpass this result.

Sassuolo and Milan had not lost eight matches in a row before meeting each other in the 35th round of Serie A. As a result, the streak was interrupted at a less titled club. Stefano Pioli's wards won an away victory with a score of 2: 1 and moved up to an intermediate fifth place in the standings.

The hero of the match was Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who scored a double. The Swedish striker opened the scoring in the 19th minute, and after Francesco Caputo equalized the score from the penalty spot, he scored a brace in the second stoppage minute of the first half. Before the break, Sassuolo midfielder Mehdi Burabya managed to get the second warning, so the hosts ended the match with ten men.