Hat-trick of Mateta, doubles of Ibrahimovic and Mkhitaryan, rescuing Valencia without Cheryshev: events of the day in European football

Liverpool's devastating win

In the central match of the Premier League game day at Anfield, Liverpool and Leicester met.

Brendan Rogers' wards were one point ahead of the reigning champion before the game and would have regained the lead if they won.

The coach himself had the opportunity to beat the former team for the first time. 

However, this was not done.

The Merseysides did not leave the opponent a single chance and defeated the guests.

"Leicester" conceded three unanswered goals, and could have - much more, if not for the numerous saves of Kasper Schmeichel.

The first to force the Dane to capitulate in the middle of the first half was teammate Johnny Evans.

After a corner kick, he sent the ball into his own net.

And shortly before the break, Liverpool's newcomer Diogo Jota scored.

Along the way, he set two records at once.

First, the Portuguese was the only player on the team to score in his first four Premier League home games with the club.

Secondly, he put an end to the Merseyside attack, which included 30 assists.

This is the highest number of passes required to score a goal for this team in the Premier League.

He brought the score to a devastating one also after a corner by Roberto Firmino.

Thus, Leicester lost to Liverpool in the sixth of the last seven in the Premier League, without scoring a single victory.

The reigning champion, by contrast, extended his unbeaten run at Anfield in the national championship to 64 matches and improved his own record.  

6⃣ 4⃣ consecutive home league games unbeaten - a new club record 🤩

HOME ❤️ pic.twitter.com/Nw7FxQuXqN

- Liverpool FC (@LFC) November 22, 2020

Valencia comeback in five minutes

In Spain, Denis Cheryshev's Valencia made an impressive comeback against Alaves - 2: 2.

The Russian himself in the third meeting of Examples in a row entered the field from the first minutes, but did not remember anything and was replaced after almost an hour of play. 

Already in the second minute, Khimo opened the scoring after a corner, and it was Cheryshev who did not keep track of him in this episode.

In addition, Alaves soon earned a penalty kick, which was converted by Lucas Perez. 

Valencia managed to win back after the legionnaire left the field from Russia.

At the 71st minute, “Alaves” could bring the score to a big one, but the referee canceled the goal of Victor Laguardia due to handball.

But in the response attack, Manu Vallejo reduced the gap in the account.

And five minutes later, Hugo Guillamon sent the ball into the net with his head after serving from the set.

In the 95th minute, Kevin Gameiro could have brought Valencia a strong-willed victory, but shot higher, being right in front of the goalkeeper. 

Thiel's debut in the Bundesliga

And in Germany, Mainz won their first victory in the current Bundesliga season.

The team approached the match of the eighth round with another outsider "Freiburg" with only one point in the asset.

Jan-Moritz Lichte's players suffered six defeats in a row at the start, and two weeks ago they drew with Schalke.  

The hat-trick of Jean-Philippe Mateta helped the team to score the long-awaited three points, who scored three times in the first half.

The difficult position of Mainz does not affect the performance of the Frenchman.

In the current Bundesliga draw, he has already scored seven goals (six in the last four matches) and is second only to Robert Lewandowski (11 goals) and Erling Holland (10) in the top scorer race, sharing third place with Lucas Alario from Bayer Leverkusen and Andrei Kramaric from Hoffenheim.

Also worth noting is the debut of Gus Thiel with Freiburg.

The footballer rented from Spartak came on as a substitute in the 88th minute and did not have time to remember anything, and his team suffered a third defeat in a row - 1: 3. 

Ibrahimovic records

If in the Bundesliga Lewandowski and Holland are fighting for the title of top scorer, then in Serie A - Cristiano Ronaldo and Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

On Saturday, the Portuguese scored a brace in the match against Cagliari and caught up with the Swede in the list of the best snipers in the Italian championship.

On Sunday, the veteran did the same in a meeting with Napoli and brought the number of goals scored in the current national championship to ten.

Moreover, it took him only six games to upset his opponents so many times. 

Overall, the 39-year-old striker extended his league run in Italy to eight matches and set a new record for Milan.

Ibrahimovic also came in eighth in the list of top scorers in the five leading national championships in Europe in history.

Zlatan has 288 goals.

Ronaldo is in the lead (455), followed by Lionel Messi (447).

“Milan”, thanks to the victory over “Napoli” (3: 1), retained the lead in the standings.

In addition to Zlatan, Romelu Lukaku and Henrikh Mkhitaryan also scored doubles during the Serie A matchday.

The Belgian helped Inter to win a strong-willed victory over Torino - 4: 2.

By the 62nd minute, the Nerazzurri were inferior - 0: 2, but managed to show their character and snatched three points.

Lukaku took part in all the goals of the team.

In addition to scored goals, he gave assists to Lautaro Martinez and Alexis Sanchez.

Now Romelu is the third in the top scorers of the tournament (seven goals), and in the list of players with the most points on the goal + pass system, he shares the second place with Ronaldo and Mkhitaryan (nine points).

Also, two goals were scored by Roma midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan.

The Armenian helped the Romans to defeat Parma at home - 3: 0.

The first goal of an experienced football player turned out to be especially beautiful, when from outside the penalty area he sent a shell under the crossbar with a blow from the air.

Both Mkhitaryan and other Serie A players appeared on the field with a red stripe painted on their faces at the weekend - in support of the action against domestic violence.   

Seven goals per match in France

The most productive match of the day in the top 5 leagues of the Old World took place in France, where Montpellier, who was fighting for the top lines of the standings, barely beat the outsider Strasbourg at home - 4: 3. 

The meeting began more than successfully for the hosts.

Already in the opening of the game, they scored two unanswered goals thanks to the accurate shots of Pedro Mendes and Andi Delors.

However, the opponents fought back in the middle of the first half, earning two penalties in just five minutes.

The first was implemented by Kenny Lala, and the second by Khabib Diallo. 

Before the break, the teams managed to exchange balls one more time.

Delors scored a double and again brought Montpellier forward, and Ludovic Ajork equalized the score in the 45th minute.

The second half was not so effective.

The only goal was scored by another Montpellier striker Gaetan Laborde.

Thus, Michel Der Zakaryan's charges extended the winning streak and share the third place in the League 1 standings with Lyon and Monaco.

Intrigue in the fight for the championship in Belarus

While in most European countries the football season is just beginning to flare up, in Belarus it is coming to an end.

On Sunday, the matches of the penultimate round of the Major League started in the country at the same time.

The main intrigue was whether BATE would be able to become the champion ahead of schedule.

The Borisovites could secure the title in case of their own victory over the outsider Belshina and Shakhtar's misfires in the away meeting with Rukh. 

As a result, the yellow-blue team won their match - 5: 0.

The double was scored by Maxim Skavysh, who is the leader in the top scorers of the tournament with 19 goals.

However, Soligorsk residents did not lose points and took away a difficult victory from Brest - 2: 1.

Four contenders for bronze medals also won victories: "Neman", "Torpedo-BelAZ", Minsk "Dynamo" and "Dynamo Brest".

Now the fate of all sets of awards will be decided in the last round. 

On the eve of the finish BATE is ahead of Shakhtar by one point and will play in Minsk with Dynamo within the framework of the Belarusian classic, where it may well lose points.

Shakhtar will accept another capital team Minsk and will hope for a misfire of the people of Borisov.