AS Roma part ways with José Mourinho

SERIE A

In Italy’s top division it’s an interesting season. All that can be sought after is being fought for. From survival to success, there’s close battles all over. Hellas Verona who sit in eighteenth grabbed the win in a six-pointer versus Empoli. This result was a huge one. It’s only their second win since August and will hopefully give the team a huge boost in motivation! It also means there’s only five points between the relegation zone and twelfth placed Genoa. 

Looking towards the other end of the table, Napoli picked up their first win in five versus twentieth placed Salernitana. It wasn’t an easy win though. Walter Mazzari’s side went a goal behind thanks to an absolute beauty of a strike from Antonio Candreva, before Matteo Politano equalised through a VAR awarded penalty late in the first half. It wasn’t until the ninety-sixth minute that Napoli found their winner, from an unlikely source too, Amir Rrahmani found the back of the net to win it. An important win too as they were falling away from the pack searching for Champions League spots. 

In terms of other key results, AC Milan were 3-1 winners over Roma, that result was the end for Jose Mourino as he was sacked this morning by the Roma board. Roma currently sit ninth in the table, four points away from Fiorentina in fourth, and were knocked out of the Coppa Italia last week by Lazio. The board say “immediate change is necessary” as they look to improve their league position and progress further in the Europa League. What’s next for Roma and Jose Mourinho?

LA LIGA

This weekend in La Liga the schedule was shorter than usual due to the Supercopa de España taking place over in Saudi Arabia. Real Madrid ran out eventual winners after beating Barcelona 4-1 in the final on Sunday night, Vinicius Junior picking up a hat-trick in the process. 

With Madrid away Girona had the opportunity to go top, and they took it, but not in the way they would’ve liked to. A goalless draw to bottom of the table Almeria meant Míchel’s side went top by one point, however they may be rueing not taking all three points here come the end of the season. This was an important point for Almeria however it’s not looking good for them as they’re currently ten points from safety and still unable to find a win this campaign.

Elsewhere, some big results came in this weekend in terms of league positioning. Near the top an in-form Athletic Bilbao side beat Real Sociedad 2-1, thanks to a brace from Álex Berenguer. This result keeps Athletic in the top four, a loss would’ve meant they were only three points above Sociedad in sixth, however it’s now nine! In the bottom half of the table Deportivo Alavés got an important three points against Sevilla after a ninetieth minute header from Rubén Duarte sealed a 3-2 win, taking them five points clear of the relegation zone. On the other hand, Sevilla need to start picking up form, and fast, now only one point above the relegation zone, they need to wake up.

BUNDESLIGA

After a long winter break the Bundesliga is back. It kicked off just where it left off with a Bayern Munich win and goals from Harry Kane and Jamal Musiala. Although Bayern still sit second in the table as Xabi Alonso’s Bayer Leverkusen continued their winning ways away at Augsburg with a 1-0 victory. Leverkusen have not lost a competitive game since May 2023!

There was a surprise defeat for third placed Stuttgart as they lost 3-1 away to Borussia Monchengladbach, a double in the first twenty minutes from Robin Hack helped the home side claim all three points. Marco Rose’s Leipzig side also dropped points as they were defeated 1-0 by Frankfurt, this was a game where Leipzig dominated, Xavi Simons shone but they just could not find the equaliser to level it up. Borussia Dortmund will have been glad to see these results, now only three points off fourth after their 3-0 win over Darmstadt, and with Jadon Sancho back combining with Marco Reus they’ll hope to finish in those Champions League spots.

No side in the bottom seven picked up a win this weekend, there were a couple of draws but not much change overall. With only ten points separating tenth and eighteenth place, all sides in and around the drop zone should believe they have a chance of survival, if they don’t believe that could be what drags them down to the second division.

LIGUE 1

It took a while for Paris Saint Germain to begin to cement themselves at the top of the table this season but after their 2-0 win over Lens on Sunday night they are now eight points clear of Nice in second, with a much superior goal difference. Nice really only have themselves to blame for their drop off. After remaining unbeaten for thirteen games at the beginning of the campaign they have now lost three of their last six to let PSG widen the gap. Nice are now only four points away from dropping out of the top four, and with games coming up in early February versus Brest (3rd)  and Monaco (4th)  they really need to step up their game.

At the other end of the table things have started to get interesting. Lyon, who looked like they were getting back to their best after four consecutive wins, dropped points to Le Havre in a 3-1 loss. Although what may be more detrimental was the fact both of their centre backs received red cards, ruling them out for upcoming games versus tough opposition. A win for Clermont over Nantes means they’re only two points from safety and tightens the gap between those in the drop zone and those in the bottom half, only four points separates seventeenth and twelfth place!

ELSEWHERE

Liga Portugal – The usual four head up the table in Portugal. Sporting Lisbon lead the pack, Benfica a point behind, with Porto and Braga a couple off the two. The big game this weekend was Porto versus Braga, a 2-0 win for the home side meant they stretched their lead over Braga to five points and stay within five of Sporting. Benfica and Lisbon both won by three goal margins, 4-1 and 3-0 respectively, it looks like it’ll be between those two for the title, with most bookies backing Benfica as their favourite.

Eredivisie – Incredibly we’re seventeen games in and PSV still have a one hundred percent win record, if they can get through their next game versus Utrecht without defeat they will have gone a whole calendar year without being defeated in the league. An important victory came this week for FC Twente against AZ Alkmaar, the 2-1 win giving them a nice four point gap on Alkmaar who sit in fourth. Twente will now hope to try and chase down Feyenoord for that second place position, now only two points behind and facing them before the end of the month!