Ah, another weekend of football across Europe’s top leagues is upon us, which means jubilation, heartbreak and a bit of schadenfreude — depending on who you support, of course.
The weekend started in the Premier League with Arsenal getting a win that was a bit of a mixed bag, while Manchester United were leapfrogged by a superior Newcastle United. In LaLiga, Toni Kroos put on a splendid turn-back-the-clock performance for Real Madrid while Girona — the surprise No. 2 on the league table — staged a thrilling comeback win. The Bundesliga got partially snowed in and, in Serie A, Christian Pulisic scored as AC Milan tallied a comfortable win.
On Sunday, Barcelona went three points ahead of Atletico Madrid in third place after winning 1-0, Fulham suffered a dramatic 4-3 loss to Liverpool, and Borussia Dortmund and Bayer Leverkusen played out a 1-1 draw.
There’s plenty to get to, so how about we stop dilly-dallying and get to it then?
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SUNDAY REVIEW
The Saturday lead: Félix makes the difference for Barça against parent club
João Félix stood on the advertising hoardings, arms stretch out. It had to be him. The Portuguese forward scored the only goal of the game as Barcelona secured a vital three points against Atlético Madrid — the team he is on loan from — at the Olympic Stadium.
Anything but a win would have seen Barça lose ground on joint leaders Real Madrid and Girona, who both won on Saturday. Instead, it was Atlético who fell seven points behind the top two, although they could move level with Barça, four points back, if they win their game in hand.
The build up to Sunday’s game had been dominated by Félix. The week had been packed with mud slinging between him and his ex-teammates following his summer move to Barça. He says they would be lying if they didn’t admit they would rather play more attacking football. They say he never found any consistency in Madrid. It remains to be seen what happens at the end of the season, when in theory he’s due back at Atlético.
Joao Felix celebrates after scoring Barcelona’s only goal in their win over Atletico Madrid on Dec. 3. (Photo by Jose Breton/Pics Action/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
All that matters for now, though, is the present. He scored the only goal of the game in the 28th minute, dinking brilliantly over old sparring partner Jan Oblak in the visitor’s goal after being fed by Raphinha. There was never any doubt about him celebrating against his parent club. In Atlético colours, he failed to score in 17 games against Barça or Madrid; it took just one to net against the Rojiblancos.
Félix’s goal was just reward for a brilliant first half from Barça. Chances came and went for Robert Lewandowski, Raphinha and Félix before the opener. There was a penalty shout for a foul on Félix as well, one of those perhaps given elsewhere on the pitch but not here because he had got his shot away, Oblak making the save.
Frenkie de Jong and Ilkay Gündoğan ran game from base of midfield, Pedri showed glimpses of his best form ahead of them and Jules Koundé looked good at right-back. But with the second goal eluding them, Atlético remained in the game. Raphinha hit the post after the break before a late push from the Diego Simeone’s side.
Memphis Depay, returning to his former club, saw his free-kick superbly tipped on to the bar by Iñaki Peña, once again replacing the injured Marc-André ter Stegen. Ángel Correa then shot straight at Peña at the death. In between, Lewandowski missed a chance to clinch the points after a brilliant solo run.
A week ago, Xavi Hernández was under pressure. A win against FC Porto, booking Barça’s place in the Champions League knockout stages, and this victory over Atlético will keep the critics at bay. Only for a week, mind, as leaders Girona visit next week and as Xavi says: “Each win only buys me some peace until the next match.” — Sam Marsden
Sunday talking points around the leagues
Alexander-Arnold rescues Liverpool in style
Not many people would have predicted a difficult and laborious afternoon for Liverpool at home against Fulham on Sunday. The Reds had won their six Premier League games at Anfield so far this season, scoring 17 goals and conceding only two.
Surely, the west London side would not be different from any other visitors this campaign. Yet, this proved to be Liverpool’s toughest opponent at home and it’s only through the sheer brilliance of Trent Alexander-Arnold that Jurgen Klopp’s men managed to make it a perfect seven with another win. The England right-back scored the winning goal in the 4-3 win in the 88th minute with a lovely half-volley in a midfielder role he occupied for the last 25 minutes of the game.
In his usual right-back position before that, he was a key part in everything good and bad his team did: he was very creative and decisive with the ball and sloppy and poor defensively without the ball like the rest of the team. Liverpool could and should have scored more but, more importantly, they will have to cut these defensive mistakes if they want to challenge for the title this season. They were far too open again and lacked control, especially in midfield.
For now, they have overtaken Manchester City in the table and that’s enough to please their manager and supporters. — Julien Laurens
Michallik: Liverpool did the job, but there’s concerning issues
Janusz Michallik analyses Liverpool’s performance in their breathtaking 4-3 comeback win vs. Fulham.
Borussia Dortmund end Bayer Leverkusen’s winning streak as Bundesliga clash ends in draw
With Bayern Munich‘s game against Union Berlin being postponed due to the dramatic weather conditions in southern Germany, all eyes were on Sunday’s clash between Bayer Leverkusen and Borussia Dortmund. The gap between the two was ten points going into matchday 13 of the Bundesliga, as Leverkusen had only dropped points once this season, when they drew with Bayern in mid-September. Since then, the Xabi Alonso-led side had won eight league games in a row.
Dortmund, despite some underwhelming performances this year, proved to be a tough test for Leverkusen. The roles became quite clear from the opening whistle. Dortmund were trying to hit Leverkusen with transition attacks while the hosts were determined to have control over the ball and suffocate BVB that way. Dortmund struck with their first attacking play, as Niclas Füllkrug defended the ball very well against Edmond Tapsoba before playing it to Julian Ryerson who broke through coming from the left wing. While Füllkrug has not scored many goals since his move from Werder Bremen in August, he often finds himself in the Olivier Giroud role, in that he is a valuable contributor to Dortmund’s attack through his ability to secure the ball and assist the fast-paced players around him.
Following Dortmund’s goal in the fifth minute, the game at BayArena became an almost one-sided affair, as Leverkusen made attempt after attempt to progress with the ball downfield and find gaps in Dortmund’s defence. While Alonso’s players once again showed a great understanding of positional play and how to use ball possession effectively, they had a hard time playing that perfect final pass. Dortmund’s back line led by Mats Hummels, who has been in stellar form recently, is becoming more stable by the week. Still, at some point Leverkusen had to get through the bulwark and get their chance to score.