Golovin breathed new life into Monaco
The Russian midfielder became one of the main creators of the victory of the Monegasques over Marseille in the 21st round of League 1. Coming as a substitute immediately after the break, he helped Guillermo Maripan to distinguish himself a minute later, and half an hour later he scored an assistant double thanks to a goal from Aurelien Tchuameni.
So Golovin helped Monaco turn the tide of the confrontation.
Niko Kovacs' wards conceded in the opening, after which they did not stand out with particular activity on the field.
However, a successful substitution allowed the red-whites to gain the upper hand - 3: 1
And the defeat of Marseille led the club leadership to the final disappointment in Andre Villas-Boas.
The Portuguese at a press conference said that the extremely poor performance of the VAR cost his team three points.
But that didn't convince the club's sporting director, Pablo Longoria.
According to media reports, Marseille, having lost three games in a row for the first time since April 2015, are showing a substantive interest in coach Ernesto Valverde.
However, as "Marca" specifies, the Spaniard himself does not want to go to France yet: his goal is to fight for titles.
It is possible that he can take a break until the summer and look at the steps that Marseille will take to realize his ambitions.
And Villash-Boash will officially end his contract by that time.
Mönchengladbach win in Borussia derby
One of the best teams in Europe in action in the transition phases finally defeated the team of the same name from Dortmund.
During 12 meetings, Mönchengladbach did not defeat the yellow-blacks, although they regularly looked no worse in the game.
But on the weekend, the holiday came to the streets of Mönchengladbach.
Even though the hosts scored three of the four goals from set pieces, this does not change the essence.
Quite the opposite: it emphasizes the problems of the Dortmund people, which were obvious even during the time of Lucien Favre and did not disappear after his dismissal.
Moreover, so many Mönchengladbachs have not scored an opponent for a quarter century.
25 - For the first time in 25 years, @borussia have scored 4 goals in a competitive game vs.
Dortmund (5-1 in September 1996).
Historic.
# BMGBVBpic.twitter.com / m57XCoJj42
- OptaFranz (@OptaFranz) January 22, 2021
The castling of opponents in the standings is fair not only because of the result of the last full-time match.
This season, Marco Rose's charges have also defeated Bayern Munich and Leipzig.
Accordingly, stability and tactical literacy were rewarded with points.
Dortmund can take comfort in the fact that the top scorer Erling Holland has repeated the record of Uwe Seeler, scoring 27 goals in 28 debut matches at the highest German level.
The Bundesliga weekend was just as sad as for the yellow-black Borussia Dortmund.
The Berliners lost at home to Werder Bremen - 1: 4, after which the general manager of the club Michael Preetz (held a post since 2009) and the head coach Bruno Labbadia went into retirement.
The capital's team has not won four rounds in a row, which is why it has collapsed almost into the play-off zone - only two points to the dangerous 16th position.
But the reigning champion had many reasons for joy.
The main pursuer of Bayern - Leipzig - lost at a visit to Mainz, while Munich defeated Schalke - 4: 0, and Robert Lewandowski scored in the eighth away meeting in a row.
Thus, the leader of the Bundesliga increased the gap from the closest pursuer to seven points.
At the same time, he allowed Manuel Neuer to clear the 197th match in the German championship and set a new tournament record.
By the way, the last time the Gelsenkirchens beat Bayern in the national championship was in 2010, and then their goal was defended by Neuer.
Misfires of Milan's top clubs
The strongest clubs in Lombardy in the 19th round of Serie A scored only a point in total without scoring a single point.
For the first time in the season in the starting 45-minute, Milan did not shoot on target - Atalanta played so well in defense.
Russian Alexei Miranchuk never appeared on the field.
But even without him, the Bergamaski upset the leader of Serie A three times, having achieved a convincing victory.
Nevertheless, the Rossoneri remained at the top of the standings in the first round of the national championship, which has not happened to them for ten years.
In the 2010/11 season, Milan scored three points less in 19 rounds (40 versus 43), but this did not prevent the club from winning the Scudetto.
Over the past 17 years, only twice the winner of the first round of Serie A did not become the champion - in both cases, the fans were disappointing to Napoli.
The Neapolitans also upset their fans last weekend: Irvin Lozano hit Verona's goal in the ninth second, scoring the fastest goal in the club's history, but then the team conceded three times, coming close to leaving the European competition zone.
3 - Hirving #Lozano has scored the third fastest goal in Serie A single round history (after 00:08:95), after Rafael Leão in December 2020 and Paolo Poggi in December 2001. Impatient. # VeronaNapolipic.twitter.com / VUEXuoIwi3
- OptaPaolo (@OptaPaolo) January 24, 2021
The most emotional round was played by Inter, which drew with Udinese.
Zeros on the scoreboard meant a boring meeting, but in fact it was marked by two deletions.
The first red card was received by the coach of the Milanese Antonio Conte, who during the match repeatedly expressed dissatisfaction with the work of the chief referee Fabio Marescchi.
It all ended with the specialist demanded to add more time than the compensated four minutes - and this overflowed the referee's patience.
Conte didn’t calm down even after the sending-off, saying that even with VAR, the referee managed to spoil the game for Inter.
The coach's opinion was shared by the head of the team, Gabrielle Oriali, for which he received a red card after the end of the meeting.
But this did not cool the ardor of the black-and-blue employee, who continued the skirmish in the under-stands room.
Barcelona shine without Messi
The Catalans scored a good move in the Spanish Championship.
In their last nine matches, they have won seven wins and two draws.
Moreover, the blue garnet does not slow down even without Lionel Messi.
Having defeated Elche in the class, Ronald Koeman's team set a club record - in the ninth match, they did not miss a single opponent without a break.
Also Barça managed to avoid defeat in the 12th consecutive meeting without Messi.
Real Madrid played with the same confidence.
Zinedine Zidane's team defeated Alaves 4: 1 and achieved their biggest victory since October.
Atletico did not lag behind the giants, although they conceded from Valencia already at the start of the meeting.
João Felix first scored a goal, and then gave an amazing assist to the birthday boy Luis Suarez, breathing new strength into the capital's players.
Then Angel Correa secured the Madrid leadership in the table.
Valencia's Russian midfielder Denis Cheryshev spent 57 minutes on the pitch, but failed to globally influence the course of the confrontation.
The local hero of the weekend was Joaquin Sanchez, who played the first Example match in 2021.
Betis midfielder came on as a substitute in the 77th minute of the game with Real Sociedad with the score 0: 2.
🌟 39 years, 186 days.
🌟
📌 @joaquinarte overtakes the legendary Ferenc Puskas and is now the 4th oldest goalscorer in #LaLigaHistory!
💚 # RealBetisRealSociedadpic.twitter.com / HAaUhe6ToA
- LaLiga English (@LaLigaEN) January 23, 2021
For the remaining time, the 39-year-old footballer recorded a goal and a goal pass, snatched a draw for the team and bypassed Ferenc Puskas in the list of the oldest La Liga goalscorers in history.
At an older age, only Antonio Di Stefano (39 years and 231 days), Cesar (39 years and 279 days) and Donato (40 years and 138 days) scored in Examples.
Liverpool say goodbye to FA Cup
The reigning champion of England is going through hard times.
Jurgen Klopp's team has lost a lot of points in the Premier League since the beginning of the year, and now it has also been eliminated from the FA Cup.
For the tenth time, the Reds lost to Manchester United and set a club anti-record - in this tournament they so often did not lose to any opponent.
We can, of course, say that the Merseysiders basically ignore the Cup, since they have not made it past the fifth round in the last five years.
But on Sunday, Liverpool's main squad took to the field at Old Trafford.
But even Mohammed Salah's double did not inspire the guests.
Mason Greenwood's two points for performance turned out to be a worthy answer to the Egyptian, and in the end, Bruno Fernandes' accurate blow brought success to the “red devils”.
Liverpool's record since they beat Crystal Palace 7-0:
Drew 1-1 vs.
West Brom
Drew 0-0 vs.
Newcastle
Lost 0-1 vs.
Southampton
Won 4-1 vs.
Aston Villa (U23)
Drew 0-0 vs.
Man Utd
Lost 0-1 vs.
Burnley
Lost 2-3 vs.
Man Utd
What's happened to the champions?
pic.twitter.com/hkJZoxHwdG
- Squawka Football (@Squawka) January 24, 2021
Another grandee that was knocked out of the tournament was Arsenal.
The Londoners did not allow Southampton to excel, but Gabriel's own goal put an end to the team's hopes to defend the title.
It is on the Gunners' account that the greatest number of own goals in the current season of the Premier League.
The Brazilian's self-shot turned out to be really offensive, because in the last four matches Arsenal have invariably beaten Southampton.
In turn, the Saints did not defeat the current trophy holder for 119 years (since 1902, when they beat Tottenham).