Return of Liverpool to the leaders of the Premier League

In the central match of the day of the English Premier League, the teams that, after the 12th round, shared the first place - Liverpool and Tottenham - met.

At the same time, Lersisides faced serious staffing problems before an important meeting.

In particular, 19-year-old Premier League debut Rhys Williams was included in the starting line-up due to injuries to center-backs.

Also, Jurgen Klopp could not count on the effective striker Diogo Jota.

However, despite this, the reigning champion of England had the initiative for most of the game and deserved to win - 2: 1.

In the first half, Liverpool's advantage was overwhelming.

The team created many chances at the opponent's goal, but Hugo Lloris played reliably at the last line.

It was possible to break through it only thanks to a curious ricochet.

On the 26th minute, the ball, after being hit by Mohammed Salah from outside the penalty area, touched the leg of one of the opponents and flew under the crossbar.

However, Tottenham, which had practically never entered the foreign half of the field, managed to level the score in the first counterattack after a missed goal.

Son Heung Min ran away one on one with the goalkeeper and scored the 11th goal in the current Premier League season.

In the second half of the meeting, Londoners, on the contrary, looked more interesting than their opponent.

Liverpool, while still in possession of the ball, regularly allowed their opponents to launch quick counterattacks.

In particular, Steven Bergwijn did not realize two one-on-one outputs.

Everything went to ensure that the match ended in a draw, but in the 90th minute the Lersisides managed to snatch the victory thanks to the successful play of the set.

Roberto Firmino, after a serve by Andrew Robertson, won a single combat against a defender and sent the ball into the net.

This is how Liverpool managed to beat Tottenham for the sixth time in a row in all competitions.

Mourinho suffered his sixth defeat against Klopp in 12 face-to-face meetings.

The Portuguese won victories over the German teams only twice in his career.

Strong-willed victory for Barcelona

With a similar score, the victory over Real Sociedad in the 19th round of Examples was won by Barcelona.

The blue garnet actively started the meeting and created several dangerous moments, but the guests unexpectedly opened the score in the middle of the first half after a corner.

Willian Jose from a couple of meters closed the cross of a partner.

However, this did not affect the favorite's game, and Ronald Koeman's wards managed not only to win back before the break, but also to come out ahead.

First, Jordi Alba spun the ball into the far top corner from outside the penalty area with his right foot, and then Frenkie de Jong scored a shot from close range.

In the second half, the Catalans could well have brought the score to a big one, but failed to score any more.

Antoine Griezmann alone missed a few 100% chances.

In the 84th minute, Real Sociedad almost punished the opponent for extravagance, but Marc-André ter Stegen first coped with a shot from outside the penalty area, and then parried the finishing move from several meters with his foot.

So Barcelona won a second victory in a row in the Example and moved up to an intermediate fifth place in the standings.

Real Sociedad, which has been in the lead for a long time, is inferior in lost points not only to Atlético, but also to Real.

TER STEGENNNNNNNNN PRESERVES THE LEAD!

TWICE!

🛑🛑🛑🛑🛑🛑🛑🛑🛑🛑 pic.twitter.com/k8c23lEN43

- FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) December 16, 2020

An unexpected test for Cheryshev

In parallel with the matches of the national championship in Spain, the games of the first round of the Cup of the country are held, in which, among other things, the clubs of Example take part.

In particular, "Valencia" with Denis Cheryshev on Wednesday met with "Terrace" from Tercera (the fourth most powerful division).

The Russian himself, for the first time in his career, took the team to the field with a captain's armband.

The composition of the "bats" was far from optimal, but few expected that they would have to seriously suffer with an opponent inferior in their class.

For the guests, everything did not go well from the very beginning.

Already in the ninth minute, they managed to miss.

Immediately after the break, Terrace doubled the lead, and a few minutes later, Valencia were outnumbered by the removal of Guillem Molina.

It was possible to turn the course of the meeting only after several leaders entered the field, including Carlos Soler and Gonçalo Guedes.

In the 83rd minute, the Spaniard converted a penalty, and in the 91st minute, the substitute Yunus Musa equalized the score.

In extra time "Valencia" put the squeeze on the opponent thanks to Gedes's double - 4: 2.

Philippe FC Bayern goal

In the Bundesliga, Bayern are back on the winning path after two draws in a row.

The current German champion beat Wolfsburg at home - 2: 1.

At the same time, the guests approached the match in good shape.

In the five rounds preceding the match, they scored 13 points, and in the new season they did not suffer defeat.

Moreover, in the reporting meeting, they managed to open an account.

In the fifth minute, after a mistake by Leroy Zane and a serve by Kingsley Coman, Maximilian Philippe, rented from Dynamo Moscow, scored.

For the striker, this goal was the first in the new team.

However, Robert Lewandowski managed to turn the course of the game almost single-handedly.

In the added time to the first half, the Pole scored with a header, and immediately after the break he took advantage of Jerome Boateng's cutting pass.

Now the striker has 15 goals in the current season of the Bundesliga, and he confidently leads the tournament's scorers race.

In total, the footballer has 251 goals in the German championship.

Only Klaus Fischer (268) and Gerd Müller (365) are ahead of the list of the best snipers in the history of the national championship.

Bayern have once again confirmed the status of an inconvenient opponent for Wolfsburg, as in the last 13 matches Munich have won 12 wins and one draw.

Meetings with this team are successful and Lewandowski, who scored 24 goals in all tournaments - more than any other club.

The victory in the 12th round of the Bundesliga was also won by Bayer, which led the German championship standings over the weekend.

Peter Bosch's wards defeated the tournament outsider Cologne (4: 0), and on Saturday the Leverkusen team will host Bayern Munich.

Ronaldo's third missed penalty in 2020

In Italy, Alexei Miranchuk returned to service.

The Atalanta midfielder made his last appearance on the field on November 21, and then was out of action due to the coronavirus.

However, the Russian began an important match with Juventus on the bench and came on as a substitute only in the 71st minute instead of Ukrainian Ruslan Malinovsky.

By that time, all the main events in the reporting game had already taken place.

After half an hour of the meeting, Turin managed to open an account thanks to a beautiful long-range shot by Federico Chiesa.

Bergamaski won back after the break - Remo Freuler scored.

And just a few minutes later Juve got a penalty kick.

Chiesa competently put himself under Hans Hatebur in the penalty area and forced the opponent to break the rules.

Cristiano Ronaldo came out to beat from the “point”, but Pierluigi Gollini guessed the direction of the ball and caught it tightly.

The Portuguese missed his 26th penalty spot in his career and third in 2020.

Gollini, having caught the courage, saved the team in a couple of episodes.

However, at the end of the meeting, Atalanta was already closer to victory, and Wojciech Szczęsny made several spectacular saves.

Juventus drew for the sixth time in the current Serie A season. For the team, this is the worst result since 1984.

Milan, which continues to lead the Italian championship standings, lost points in the second round in a row against an inferior opponent in the class.

Over the weekend, the Rossoneri drew with Parma (2: 2), and on Wednesday with a similar score they met with an outsider - Genoa.

Moreover, the favorite had to recoup twice.

The first half ended without goals scored, but right after the break, the Genoese managed to open an account.

Gianluigi Donnarumma parried the shot of the ex-forward of "Rostov" Eldor Shomurodov, but Mattia Destro was the first to finish.

Five minutes later Davide Calabria restored the status quo with a long-range strike.

But soon Destro closed the serve from the flank with his head and again brought Genoa forward.

Rescued Milan from defeat 20-year-old defender Pierre Calulu, who played only the second match in Serie A in his career.

In the 83rd minute, he struck an accurate shot from close range after a corner kick.

"Inter" took advantage of the misfire of the principal rival.

The Nerazzurri beat Napoli 1-0 thanks to Romel Lukaku's tenth goal in Serie A this season, and narrowed the gap to Milan to just one point.

Misfire "Lyon"

In France, PSG managed to win a second victory in the last five Ligue 1 matches. The Parisians at home not easily defeated the struggling for survival Lorient - 2: 0.

In the first half, the guests kept their goal intact, but right after the break, Andrew Gravillon committed a last-resort foul in his own penalty area and received a direct red card.

The penalty was converted by Kilian Mbappé, and soon Moise Keene, rented from Juventus, put an end to the confrontation.

In turn, the leader of the championship "Lille" sent two unanswered goals to the goal of "Dijon".

As part of the team, Yusuf Yaziji and Timothy Uea distinguished themselves.

But Lyon, which beat PSG in the last round, unexpectedly lost points in the home match with Brest (2: 2) and interrupted their five-game winning streak in the national championship.

Moreover, the guests managed to snatch a draw in the 93rd minute from the penalty spot.