League action from the Weekend
La Liga, the Bundesliga and Serie A were in show this past weekend plus the fourth round of the FA Cup took place this past weekend with some interesting results. Here are some of the highlights.
FA Cup action
The fourth round of the FA Cup started on Friday with Manchester United knocking Arsenal out of the Cup with a 3-1 win. Tottenham's injury woes have come back to bite them as they lost to Crystal Palace 2-0 while Manchester City and Chelsea went through to the fifth round of the Cup. The shocks of the round were League 1 side AFC Wimbledon knocking out West Ham United 4-2 and Championship side Millwall eliminating Everton, beating them 3-2 at The Den. Wolves and Brighton will play replays after their games ended in a draw.
Six in six for Barça
Following their defeat in the Copa Del Rey against Sevilla on Wednesday, Barcelona went back to winning ways and made it six straight wins in La Liga after beating city rivals Girona 2-0 yesterday at the Montilivi. Nelson Semendo put the defending champions in front in just nine minutes in the clock. The hosts pressured the Blaugrana but were down to ten men when Bernardo was given a red card, giving Barça the advantage. Lionel Messi wrapped all three points for Barcelona scoring a delicate finish to keep them five points clear.
Valencia jump up to 7th
Valencia seems to have recovered from their slow start to the season as they go up to 7th place defeating relegation threatened Villarreal 3-0 on Saturday at the Mestalla. Mouctar Diakhaby opened the scoring in just four minutes. Two goals in the second half from Denis Cheryshev and Rodrigo sealed the win for Los Che while relegation seems to be becoming a reality for Villarreal as they sit 19th with only 18 points, three points off from safety.
BVB put five past Hannover
Borussia Dortmund go two wins in two start the return of the Bundesliga from the winter break giving Hannover 96 a 5-1 hammering on Saturday at the Westfalenstadion. Achraf Hakimi put the leaders in front in the 24th minute. In the second half, Dortmund scored three in the space of seven minutes from Marco Reus, Mario Götze and Raphaël Guerreiro. Despite Hannover getting one back, it was just nothing more than a consolidation goal as BVB scored their fifth from Axel Witsel as the Black and Yellow are not slowing down in the title race.
Bayern score four
Speaking of the title race, Bayern Munich are not that off Dortmund cutting the gap to six points after beating Stuttgart 4-1 at the Allianz Arena yesterday. Things were going easy for Bayern going in front in just five minutes from Thiago but Anastasios Donis equalized for Stuttgart to keep it level at halftime. In the second period, the Bavarians kicked it up a gear scoring three goals from an own goal, Leon Goretzka and Robert Lewandowski to keep the pace behind Dortmund as the title race heats up.
Goalless at Milan
Krzysztof Piątek made his debut from the bench for AC Milan as the Rossoneri drew with Napoli in a goalless draw. It wasn't really due both sides not having big chances as the game had 11 shots on target between the two but more to do with the poor finishing on show, particularly from Napoli. Napoli had big chances from José Callejón and Piotr Zieliński but were saved by Gianluigi Donnarumma. Piątek almost made an impact when he came on but was denied by an intervention by Kalidou Koulibaly. The result keeps Napoli second while Milan remain at fourth.
Player of the Weekend: Archaf Hakimi
From Dortmund's 5-1 win against Hannover, the highlight of the game is full-back Archaf Hakimi. The full-back on loan from Real Madrid, has been having a great season at Dortmund and was instrumental, getting a goal and assist. He also made 105 touches, a pass accuracy of 88.2%, 4 tackles and 2 interceptions. A likely tug of war between BVB and Madrid for his services in the summer.
FA Cup action
The fourth round of the FA Cup started on Friday with Manchester United knocking Arsenal out of the Cup with a 3-1 win. Tottenham's injury woes have come back to bite them as they lost to Crystal Palace 2-0 while Manchester City and Chelsea went through to the fifth round of the Cup. The shocks of the round were League 1 side AFC Wimbledon knocking out West Ham United 4-2 and Championship side Millwall eliminating Everton, beating them 3-2 at The Den. Wolves and Brighton will play replays after their games ended in a draw.
Six in six for Barça
Following their defeat in the Copa Del Rey against Sevilla on Wednesday, Barcelona went back to winning ways and made it six straight wins in La Liga after beating city rivals Girona 2-0 yesterday at the Montilivi. Nelson Semendo put the defending champions in front in just nine minutes in the clock. The hosts pressured the Blaugrana but were down to ten men when Bernardo was given a red card, giving Barça the advantage. Lionel Messi wrapped all three points for Barcelona scoring a delicate finish to keep them five points clear.
Valencia jump up to 7th
Valencia seems to have recovered from their slow start to the season as they go up to 7th place defeating relegation threatened Villarreal 3-0 on Saturday at the Mestalla. Mouctar Diakhaby opened the scoring in just four minutes. Two goals in the second half from Denis Cheryshev and Rodrigo sealed the win for Los Che while relegation seems to be becoming a reality for Villarreal as they sit 19th with only 18 points, three points off from safety.
BVB put five past Hannover
Borussia Dortmund go two wins in two start the return of the Bundesliga from the winter break giving Hannover 96 a 5-1 hammering on Saturday at the Westfalenstadion. Achraf Hakimi put the leaders in front in the 24th minute. In the second half, Dortmund scored three in the space of seven minutes from Marco Reus, Mario Götze and Raphaël Guerreiro. Despite Hannover getting one back, it was just nothing more than a consolidation goal as BVB scored their fifth from Axel Witsel as the Black and Yellow are not slowing down in the title race.
Bayern score four
Speaking of the title race, Bayern Munich are not that off Dortmund cutting the gap to six points after beating Stuttgart 4-1 at the Allianz Arena yesterday. Things were going easy for Bayern going in front in just five minutes from Thiago but Anastasios Donis equalized for Stuttgart to keep it level at halftime. In the second period, the Bavarians kicked it up a gear scoring three goals from an own goal, Leon Goretzka and Robert Lewandowski to keep the pace behind Dortmund as the title race heats up.
Goalless at Milan
Krzysztof Piątek made his debut from the bench for AC Milan as the Rossoneri drew with Napoli in a goalless draw. It wasn't really due both sides not having big chances as the game had 11 shots on target between the two but more to do with the poor finishing on show, particularly from Napoli. Napoli had big chances from José Callejón and Piotr Zieliński but were saved by Gianluigi Donnarumma. Piątek almost made an impact when he came on but was denied by an intervention by Kalidou Koulibaly. The result keeps Napoli second while Milan remain at fourth.
Player of the Weekend: Archaf Hakimi
From Dortmund's 5-1 win against Hannover, the highlight of the game is full-back Archaf Hakimi. The full-back on loan from Real Madrid, has been having a great season at Dortmund and was instrumental, getting a goal and assist. He also made 105 touches, a pass accuracy of 88.2%, 4 tackles and 2 interceptions. A likely tug of war between BVB and Madrid for his services in the summer.
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