DFC Barcelona clearly won the top game in the Spanish league against Atlético Madrid. The Catalans beat the team from the capital 4-2 (3-1) on Sunday. Guest striker Yannick Carrasco was able to defeat keeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen in the Barcelona goal in the eighth minute. But for Barcelona, Jordi Alba (10′), Gavi (21′) and Ronald Araujo (43′) scored before the break. After the change, the Brazilian Dani Alves (49th) made the preliminary decision. Luis Suárez (58th) scored the second guest goal.
The strong-playing 38-year-old Alves (69th) saw the red card after a foul on Carrasco, later Oscar Hernandez (82nd) was also sent off. But Atlético could not use the majority. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang made his Barcelona debut in front of a crowd of 74,000 at the Camp Nou after moving from Arsenal to Spain.
In the table, Barcelona (38 points) have now overtaken Atlético (36) and are in fourth place, making them a Champions League spot. Real Madrid are still at the top of the table (50), ahead of Sevilla FC (47) and Betis (40).
Tuchel infected with corona virus
Meanwhile, there is a big question mark over the performance of team manager Thomas Tuchel from Champions League winners FC Chelsea at the Club World Cup in the United Arab Emirates next week. According to the club, the 48-year-old was infected with the corona virus and was unable to travel to Abu Dhabi with the team.
The former Mainz and Dortmund coach went into isolation and hopes to be able to fly by the end of next week. But that doesn’t seem certain at the moment. The departure for the team with Antonio Rüdiger, Kai Havertz and Timo Werner was already planned for Saturday. In Abu Dhabi, Chelsea only enter action at the Club World Cup in Wednesday’s semi-finals, when they meet Saudi Arabia’s Al-Hilal.
Assistant Arno Michels took over from Tuchel on Saturday to take care of the team in the FA Cup against third division Plymouth Argyle, who were defeated with difficulty 2-1 (1-1, 1-1) after extra time in the fourth round game. Havertz provided the template for the winning goal through Marcos Alonso (105′ + 1′), goalkeeper Kepa then saved a penalty kick (118′) from the outsider.
The English champions and Premier League leaders Manchester City won 4-1 (2-1) against second division club FC Fulham, with international Ilkay Gündogan (6th) scoring the 1-1 equaliser. Liverpool FC confidently advanced to the round of 16 on Sunday. The team of German team manager Jürgen Klopp won 3-1 (0-0) against second division club Cardiff City without the two attackers Sadio Mané and Mo Salah, who face each other in the final of the Africa Cup of Nations between Senegal and Egypt on Sunday evening and gets it face league rivals Norwich City in the next round.
Milan wins the city derby – Monaco wins against Lyon
AC Milan won the city derby against champions Inter 2-1 on Saturday, reducing the gap to the leaders to just one point. While Inter still had to do without new signing Robin Gosens, striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic was missing at Milan. In a gripping duel, Inter was the better team for a long time and led through Ivan Perisic (28′), but French world champion Olivier Giroud (75’/78′) turned the game around within a few minutes. SSC Napoli won 2-0 at FC Venice on Sunday and are second, a point behind Inter. AC Milan are level on points with Napoli third.
In the French Ligue 1, Niko Kovac’s ex-club AS Monaco remains in the fight for an international starting place. The team with keeper Alexander Nübel and national player Kevin Volland in the starting eleven dominated the duel with Olympique Lyon and won 2-0 on Saturday evening. It was the tenth win of the season for the Monegasques. Third-placed OGC Nice lost 1-0 at home to promoted Clermont Foot. Stade Reims celebrated a 5-0 home win against Girondins Bordeaux.
PSV Eindhoven have lost the first game after announcing the departure of coach Roger Schmidt at the end of the season. Despite being in the lead, former world champion Mario Götze’s team lost 2-1 at home to AZ Alkmaar on Saturday. Götze and Co. were unable to set any more accents on the offensive after the break. Instead, ex-Leipzig keeper Yvon Mvogo made a mistake in the closing stages – allowing the guests to celebrate. After Schmidt’s announcement and the loss of the championship lead, it was the next setback for Eindhoven in the championship fight.
