Girona are defeated in Bilbao

SERIE A

Inter Milan kicked off the weekend in Italy, welcoming bottom of the table Salernitana to the San Siro. There was only one anticipated result from this match up, and there were no surprises in store as Inter defeated the visitors 4-0 in a very one-sided affair. The home side lead 3-0 at half-time, this was a blessing for Simone Inzhagi’s side as he could make substitutions and rest important players such as, Lautaro Martínez, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, and Marcus Thuram ahead of their Champions League fixture versus Atletico Madrid this week. After Inter’s win Juventus needed to follow this up with a victory of their own as they travelled to 18th placed Hellas Verona. Unfortunately for Massimiliano Allegri they failed to do so. Drawing 2-2 with Verona is not a result that fans will be happy with. Now sat nine points behind Inter Milan, having played a game more, it looks increasingly likely that it will be Simone Inzhagi’s side who win the Scudetto.

The other Milan side didn’t have such fortune this weekend. AC went behind to Monza just before half-time after Matteo Pessina slotted home a penalty after Malick Thiaw brought down Danny Mota in the penalty area. Minutes later Mota himself scored to make it 2-0 before the break! It went from bad to worse as Luka Jovic saw red for violent conduct in the 51st minute after swinging an arm at Monza player, Armando Izzo. They did manage to pull it back though, goals from Olivier Giroud and Christian Pulisic made it 2-2 in the 88th minute. Stefano Pioli and his side must’ve thought they’d done enough, but it wasn’t to be. Two late strikes from Warren Bondo and Lorenzo Colombo in the 90th and 95th minute made it a 4-2 win for the home side!

LIGUE 1

One side who’s been struggling compared to last season in the Bundesliga is Union Berlin. They’ve been sitting among the relegation fighting sides for most of the season now and needed revitalisation. Over the last month or two though they seem to be turning it around, with only two losses in their last eight Bundesliga games, compared to six in the ten previous! They picked up another important three points this weekend, in a game which was played 10 vs 10 in the second half, as former Leeds man Brenden Aaronson scored the only goal in a 1-0 win over Hoffenheim. Union are now eight points above the relegation play off place and with the form they are in will hope they are safe.

It’s heating up in the fight for Champions League qualification, and with Borussia Dortmund drawing this weekend it was essential RB Leipzig won to close the gap. That is exactly what they did too, beating Borussia Monchengladbach 2-0 thanks to goals from talisman Loïs Openda and star man Xavi Simons. Leipzig are now only a single point behind Dortmund. After defeat last week to Leverkusen it was essential Bayern won this weekend versus bottom half side Bochum. Unfortunately for them, they didn’t. Despite taking the lead early on through Jamal Musiala they found themselves behind 2-1 at the break. Kevin Stöger then increased that lead to 3-1 after slotting home a penalty conceded by Dayot Upamecano. This meant the Bayern defender saw red for the second time in five days, Tuchel didn’t even want to start him either, the Bayern manager was forced to bring him on after injury to Noussair Mazraoui in the first half! Harry Kane scored late on to make it 3-2 but it wasn’t enough. Now trailing Leverkusen by eight points after their win this weekend, can they turn it around?

BUNDESLIGA

LA LIGA

After back to back defeats in La Liga for Atletico Madrid, this weekend’s game versus Las Palmas was a must win. Diego Simeone’s side didn’t fail this job, running out 5-0 winners versus Las Palmas. Doubles from both Marcos Llorente and Ángel Correa. It’s important for Athletico to keep winning as Bilbao are on their coattails chasing them down for a Champions League spot. Bilbao picked up a big win this weekend, hosting the league’s surprise package Girona. Álex Berenguer put the home side ahead in the 2nd minute which would be the only goal of the half. The second half was more chaotic, Viktor Tsygankov scoring just after the break to make it 1-1 before another Berenguer goal and one from Iñaki Williams made it 3-1. Giron picked up a second however it wasn’t enough as they lost 3-2.

One team thankful for Girona’s loss will be Real Madrid who increase their gap at the top of the table despite only drawing 1-1 with Rayo Vallecano. Both goals came before the half hour mark as Joselu and Raúl de Tomas scored for either side. Carlo Ancelotti’s side are now six points ahead of Girona with Barcelona chasing down the latter, now only two points behind Michel’s side!