PSG falling against Nantes, Manchester City beaten by Harry Kane and Tottenham, AC Milan defeated by Salernitana. The championship leaders had a complicated weekend. Only Real Madrid (Liga) and Bayern Munich won.
Ligue 1: PSG and OM surprised by Nantes and Clermont
PSG, broad leader of the French championship, and OM, its runner-up, both lost. Marseille, surprised at home by the promoted Clermont, saw their second place threatened by their pursuers.
A deserved success for the Auvergne club, which scored through the Guinean Mohamed Bayo (13e), author of his 10e goal in Ligue 1, and the Gabonese Jim Allevinah at the end of the match (84e). Clermont takes valuable points in the maintenance race and now has a six-point mattress on the red zone.
This stagnation of Marseille (46 pts) does the business of Nice (45 pts), which beat Angers after two defeats in a row in L1 and rejected the threat of Strasbourg (42 pts) by three lengths. Les Aiglons won thanks to an opportunistic goal from Justin Kluivert (19e) and Angers, beaten for the fourth time in a row in L1, failed to react.
Despite their Messi-Neymar-Mbappé trio lined up from the start, Paris SG lost heavily to Nantes 3-1 on Saturday, their second defeat of the season in Ligue 1, appearing unrecognizable four days after their European performance against Real. Madrid.
Bundesliga: Bayern are reassured, Dortmund and Leipzig are a hit
With braces from Lewandowski, Reus and Nkunku, Bundesliga leaders Munich, Dortmund and Leipzig scored 16 goals between them on Sunday: Bayern remain in the lead with a six-point lead over Dortmund.
Leverkusen are still third at 14 points, after their 3-2 defeat at Mainz on Friday, and Leipzig fourth and last qualified for the Champions League, 18 lengths from the leader.
Of the three big arms of German football, Bayern was the poorest: 4-1 “only” to beat bottom-runner Fürth, and even then the score is really flattering for the defending champions, who were down 1-0 at the home break. The main thing was not there, however, for the Bavarians who needed to reassure themselves after the slap in the face in Bochum (4-2) last week and the difficult match against Salzburg in the Champions League (1-1).
Dortmund and Leipzig were more effective: Borussia at home pulverized Mönchengladbach 6-0, and Leipzig humiliated Hertha in Berlin 6-1.
Liga: Real, Barça and Atletico are full of confidence
Brilliant FC Barcelona crushed Valencia CF 4-1 on Sunday for the 25e day of La Liga, and double Atlético Madrid, winner of Osasuna 3-0 on Saturday, to reintegrate the qualifying places for the Champions League. A necessary boost of confidence for the Catalans, with a view to the Europa League, where they will have to eliminate Naples on Thursday.
Earlier in the day, Sevilla FC, Real Madrid’s first pursuer (leader with 57 points), stumbled on the lawn of Espanyol Barcelona (1-1).
Four days before their own clash against Manchester United in the round of 16 first leg of C1, Atlético Madrid dominated Osasuna 3-0 on Saturday for the 25e league day. Much better preparation than the surprise midweek loss to bottom-run Levante.
Four days after losing 1-0 in Paris; Real recovered by beating Alavès 3-0.
Serie A: difficult weekend at the head of the peloton
Weekend to forget for the tenors of Serie A: after the draws of Juventus and AC Milan, Inter and Atalanta were beaten on the 26the day, which could benefit Napoli traveling to Cagliari on Monday. If successful in Sardinia, the Neapolitans, currently third three points behind Milan, could even become leaders.
After AC Milan’s misstep on Saturday at Salernitana (2-2), the head reached out to Inter. But Simone Inzaghi’s team missed out on their home game against Sassuolo (2-0), a mid-table team.
Opening on Friday, Juventus (4e) was hung in the derby by Torino (1-1). Sunday afternoon, Atalanta Bergamo (5e) fell at Fiorentina (7e). The “Dea” lost 1-0 against the “Viola” on a goal by Krzysztof Piatek (56e).
Premier League: the relaunched championship
Manchester City beaten on Saturday at home by Tottenham (3-2) on a double from Kane, Liverpool which comes down to six points, with one more game to play: the English championship is completely revived on the occasion of the 26e daytime.
The Citizens were surprised by the Spurs (7e), carried by Harry Kane, author of a double, including the winning goal in added time of a crazy match. This same Kane that City had to give up recruiting last summer …
Pep Guardiola’s team sees an end to their invincibility, which had lasted since November 6. But above all, the championship leader sees Liverpool come back to within six points. A gap that could still be reduced since the Reds have a late game to play next Wednesday at home against Leeds
A week after winning the Club World Cup against Brazilian club Palmeiras (2-1 after extra time), the Blues were content with the bare necessities at Crystal Palace. Left behind in the title race with sixteen points behind Manchester City at kick-off, Thomas Tuchel’s players delivered a fairly ordinary copy and only made the difference at the very end of the match thanks to Hakim Ziyech ( 89e).
Arsenal for its part won logically against Brentford (2-1), and thus took its revenge after the defeat of the first leg, during the very first day and the first match of the promoted in the Premier League. Sixth with a point behind Manchester United, the Gunners are more than ever in the race for qualification for the Champions League.
The beautiful image: Pape Gueye and Bamba Dieng honored by OM
At Olympique de Marseille, some things are never done halfway. For the reception of Clermont Foot, the Marseille club had expressed its desire to honor Pape Gueye and Bamba Dieng, crowned African Champions with Senegal.
It’s done and big. In a Velodrome filled with no less than 52,000 spectators, the South Winners deployed a gigantic tifo in Senegalese colors at the level of the South Bend stand.
