While the start of the MLS season is rapidly approaching, the leagues across Europe continued with their seasons in a weekend that brought some fantastic games and interesting surprises.
In England, Manchester City continued their quest for the title with another win at home again Bolton. The win secures their position at the top of the table, however the slender two point advantage they have will certainly be tested as there is still plenty of time to go with eleven games before the champion is crowned. Manchester United kept the pressure on their city rivals with an incredibly efficient 3-1 away win against Tottenham. Despite being outplayed for large parts of the game, especially in the first half, United put themselves ahead right before halftime and never turned back. The result all but secured the fact that it will be a two-horse race for the title between the two Manchester clubs as the thirteen point difference will probably prove to be too much for ground for Tottenham to make up in eleven games.
Elsewhere in England, Arsenal secured an away win at Liverpool thanks to a brace from none other than Robin Van Persie. Arsenal were not at their best and for large portions of the game were the weaker team, but a fantastic volley from Van Persie in stoppage time gave Arsenal all three points. This ensured that, along with a Chelsea loss, Arsenal ended the weekend placed in the top four. The Chelsea loss, however, did have other, serious consequences as it led to the departure of manager Andre Villas-Boas. The young manager never was able to really get a firm grasp around his group, and perhaps he wasn’t given sufficient time to do so. The bottom line though is that one of Europe’s most promising young coaches is out of the job, and the rumors will surely start to spread as who will replace interim manager Roberto Di Mateo as newest Chelsea manager.
In the rest of Europe, Real Madrid continued their stunning domestic form with yet another win, this time a 5-0 at home against Espanyol, to restore their ten point lead at the top of the La Liga table. Barcelona also picked up a difficult win at home, where they went down to ten men for the majority of the second half with the score leveled at one, however eventually came out with a 3-1 win. A pretty impressive result, but one that does not seem too significant as Barcelona still remain ten points behind Real. With Madrid’s impressive domestic form this year, its hard to see anyway they will surrender such a large advantage.
In Italy, AC Milan gained some ground in their attempts to repeat as league champions with an impressive 4-0 away win at Palermo. Juventus stumbled at home to a 1-1 draw against Chievo. The result kept alive Juventus’ undefeated record in Italy this season, but did give them their league-leading 12th draw. With the result, Milan opened up a three point lead at the top of the table, however Juventus still has a game in hand.
These were most of the major talking points from this weekend overseas, but as always feel free to comment with any things you think were left out or your thoughts about the biggest talking point from everything this weekend.
(image courtesy of mirrorfootball.co.uk)
