Willash-Boash slammed the door

In Ligue 1, in recent years, life has flowed so measuredly that the events of the last few weeks that shook Marseille would have been enough for an average French team for a century.

At first, the Provençals were embarrassed in the Champions League, scoring only two goals in six rounds and spawning a legendary meme from the head coach: “To be shit in the Champions League, you have to get into it at least.

Actually, we hit - and we are shit. "

Then the defeats to the outsiders of the national championship threw the southerners out of the European competition zone, which infuriated the fans utterly.

This resulted in an attack on the club base, pogroms and aggression against the players.

At the same time, the president of the team threatened with the expulsion of all legionnaires who did not learn French in six months, as well as the sale of performers with expiring contracts who refuse to sign new agreements.

It all ended with Andre Villas-Boas's statement of resignation, which the players did not know about until the coach's speech at a press conference before the match with Lens.

Formally, the reason for the withdrawal was the purchase of Olivier Ntchem, who was not needed by the coach, but moved to Marseille at the behest of management.

In reality, the Portuguese simply lost the threads of team management - and it made no sense to keep him until the end of the contract in the summer of 2021.

It is significant that immediately after the dismissal of the coach, the southerners, under the leadership of the reserve team boss and the head of the youth academy, had a real chance to defeat Lance.

However, the first goal for Arkadiusz Milik's club after the debut in the starting lineup and the subsequent 2: 0 advantage turned into only a 2: 2 draw.

As part of the tour, Alexander Golovin also appeared on the field.

The Russian midfielder came on as a substitute in the sixth match of Monaco in a row and helped beat Nice 2-1 in the derby of the Cote d'Azur.

The footballer was not particularly productive in 25 minutes in business - and was remembered only by the fact that he changed the author of the winning double of the Monegasques, Wissam Ben-Yeder.

Manchester City set a record

In October 2019, already in the 12th minute of the match against Leicester, Southampton footballer Ryan Bertrand saw a red card in front of him, after which Ralph Hasenhüttl's team lost 0: 9.

Last Tuesday, the team was left in the minority just two minutes later: the club's debutant Alexander Yankevich too zealously began to take the ball away from the Manchester United players, for which he was expelled from the field.

The hosts of Old Trafford scored nine goals against their opponents, which were anti-record for the Premier League.

The “Saints” are partly justified by the fact that the application for the match included as many as six players who had never played at such a high level.

However, when an experienced central defender Jan Bednarek collects a hat-trick from an own goal, a penalty kick and sending off during the evening, it is difficult for the mentor to find even a word to justify the charges.

9 - Manchester United's 9-0 win over Southampton last night was the fifth time that they have won a league match by a margin of 9+ goals in their history.

Smashing.



We look at this match & others in our rolling midweek blog 👇

- OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) February 3, 2021

Arsenal ended the match with two penalties, giving Wolverhampton three points out of the blue.

This is not an exaggeration: until David Louise's red card followed by penalties, the Londoners controlled the match.

However, the Brazilian broke the rules in compensated time for the first half.

And then his "feat" in the 72nd minute was repeated by Bernd Leno, who played with his hands outside the penalty area.

By that time, the Gunners had already conceded the second goal, and therefore had no chance to save the meeting.

But the leader of the championship won, extending the unbeaten run in all tournaments to 13 matches.

One more game - and Josep Guardiola's team will be able to repeat Arsenal's record of all time, set in 1986.

Moreover, it is important that Manchester City are not only formidable in attack, as it always was, but also exemplarily reliable in the rear: the last six matches in the Premier League, Fernandinho and his partners left behind with a goal difference of 15: 0.

Liverpool's defeats are no longer surprising - too many injuries plague Jurgen Klopp's charges.

Moreover, Brighton, who beat Tottenham this week, is smart enough to find gaps in the defense of the Merseysides with a center from Jordan Henderson and Nathaniel Phillips, and even with Kivin Kelleher at the gate.

But it's hard to get used to West Ham's victories and its place in the European competition zone.

But David Moyes' guys are sticking to their own line, including rookie Jesse Lingard.

After a six-month inactivity outside the cage of Manchester United, the East London debutant scored a double against Aston Villa.

Juventus took revenge on Inter

In mid-January, Inter confidently outplayed Juventus in the national championship - and therefore was considered the favorite of a similar cup confrontation.

However, in the first match of the semifinals (the stage consists of home and away games), Turin took revenge.

The result was ensured by Cristiano Ronaldo's double and Gianluigi Buffon's reliable play in the match.

The Portuguese made great use of the individual mistakes of the Milanese - and celebrated the upcoming 36th anniversary with a doublet.

As for the veteran goalkeeper, he still conceded once.

But in general, he looked very reliable, having finished the 1100th match of his career positively on a positive note.

1100 volte come la prima volta.


Adesso.


Ancora una volta.


Fino alla fine!


⚪️⚫️ # InterJuvepic.twitter.com / hVF3jQenEW

- Gianluigi Buffon (@gianluigibuffon) February 2, 2021

The parallel semi-final duel between Napoli and Atalanta ended in a goalless draw.

Russian midfielder of the Bergamasks Alexei Miranchuk was in reserve, but Gian Piero Gasperini did not use his services.

Borussia passed the edge

The crisis in Dortmund is a rather loud definition of the processes that are taking place inside Borussia.

Therefore, even German journalists try to avoid it.

However, the latest matches of the team are increasingly pushing fans and experts to this very characteristic of the team.

As part of the 1/8 finals of the German Cup, the black and gold met with Paderborn.

Not only did the favorite miss the advantage of two quickly scored goals in the main time and in the eighth added minute allowed the guests to transfer the match into overtime, he also showed almost the same numbers with the opponent in terms of “expected goals”.

But Dortmund had a base - with Jadon Sancho, Jude Bellingham and Erling Holland.

The latter saved the team, having distinguished himself at the start of extra time.

Passmaps & xGplot for Dortmund against Paderborn.

# passmap # xGplot # autotweetpic.twitter.com / VTW1civWjJ

- 11tegen11_plots (@ 11tegen11_plots) February 3, 2021

But a sensation broke out in Essen.

There, the local club staunchly held out against Bayer for 90 minutes, then did not lose his head, conceding to 105th, and responded with two good shots in the second extra-time.

For comparison, “Stuttgart” lacked the same impressive willpower.

After their quick goal, the Swabians gave up the initiative to Borussia Mönchengladbach, after which they could no longer be saved.

Thus, the Avtozavodtsy continued their sad streak: they were sure to lose all four matches against the foals in the Cup.

Barcelona miraculously escaped in Granada

Throughout the entire King's Cup, Barcelona is testing the nerves of the fans.

In the opening round, the Catalans overcame the modest "Cornela" from the third division only in extra time.

A stage later, in a strong-willed manner, they won Rayo Vallecano, driving the genius of Lionel Messi during the final third of an hour.

In the battle with "Granada", which fell to the quarterfinals, the blue-garnet ones came very close to the edge of the abyss.

Up to the 88th minute, the grand was inferior 0: 2, not understanding how to break through Aaron Eskandel.

However, then the Argentine genius of Barcelona took the floor: with just a couple of touches with the left, which twisted the brand diagonals from flank to flank, Messi proved why he deserves every cent from the € 555 million contract “leaked” to the press. Perfect passes fell on Antoine's feet Griezmann, who first closed the gap with the help of a rebound from the post and the hosts' goalkeeper, and then made an assist pass to Jordi Alba.

The match spilled over into overtime, where Barça finally destroyed (5: 3) the demoralized opponent, and the French striker was marked by two more effective actions.

However, if the Catalans were beaten, it would look like the highest injustice.

At least in relation to Messi: in the evening, the striker brought the number of key passes to 10, which is a real rarity in football.

In addition, Barcelona shot 36 times on goal, 20 shots on target, scored a couple of shots into the frame, delivering the best attacking performance since the 2013/14 season.

And after this to fly out of the drawing after Real Madrid and Atlético?

The football gods were clearly against it.

But over “Villarreal”, they seem to have fun: the team of Unai Emery in the main and extra time loaded a dozen times in someone else's range, and about the same missed.

But the lucky ones from "Levante" all the same came out dry.

When, in the 121st minute, instead of a penalty shootout, Roher gave the Valencians a victory, the crew of the "yellow submarine" howled with indignation.

The ball crawled over the goal line after only the second shot into the frame of Jeronimo Rulha, thanks to which the hosts made their way to the King's Cup semi-final for only the second time in history.

The previous success of this kind dates back to 1935.