La Liga, Bundesliga and Serie A Round-Up For November
As we return from the international break, we witnessed some compelling matches and some surprising stories from the top European leagues this past weekend. If you were unable to keep on top of everything here is the weekly round-up of the main matches from Spain, Germany and Italy.
La Liga
The Spanish league is becoming increasingly tight, as only 6 points separate teams from 1st to 7th. At times, people can often criticize La Liga for being a ‘two-team league’ as the title is usually shared between Barcelona and Real Madrid. However, we spectators can have no complaints with the league so far this season, as it has been incredibly captivating, as all the top teams are dropping points to teams towards the bottom end of the division making it an exciting title race. Long may it continue!
The key game of the weekend was the match-up between Atletico Madrid and Barcelona which panned out exactly how many people would have anticipated. It was a cautious, cagey and careful match where Atletico Madrid allowed Barcelona a lot of possession before hitting them on the counter when possible. It wasn’t until the 79th minute until we saw a goal, and unsurprisingly it came from a set-piece. Diego Costa scored his first goal ever against Barcelona, as the hosts took the lead. Barcelona never knows when to give in though, as they equalised in the last minute. Ousmane Dembele found some rare space in the box, as he coolly took his time, and slotted the ball in the net to rescue a point. With the two sharing points, it gave Sevilla a chance to get the top spot, and they achieved that with a 1-0 victory over Real Vallalolid, with Andre Silva getting the only goal. Who would have thought Sevilla would be mounting a title charge going into December?
The main story from the weekend was about Real Madrid, as they were humbled 3-0 by Eibar. Newly appointed permanent manager Santiago Scolari tasted his first defeat, which was actually Real Madrid’s first ever defeat at Eibar – and what a tepid display it was by Los Blancos. Real Madrid look totally out of sorts, out of ideas, and it hard to imagine them as holders of the Champions League for the last three seasons. Real Madrid is still in the title race, subject to other sides performing inconsistently too, but their initial focus reaching Champions League places, as they currently sit in 6th position.
Bundesliga
Bayern Munich stole the headlines again in Germany, but for all the wrong reasons. The German champions welcomed 17th placed Fortuna Dusseldorf, and their head to head record was as one-sided as it gets. Even with Bayern Munich in inconsistent form, wouldn’t have any trouble overcoming their opponents from the north. After one hour on the clock, Bayern Munich raced into a 3-1 lead, as Thomas Muller was back amongst the goals. However, just like many times this season, Bayern Munich couldn’t hold onto the lead. Fortuna scored two goals in the last 10 minutes to secure the unlikeliest of points at the Allianz Arena – as it finished 3-3. Niko Kovac’s side dropped two vital points again, and the pressure is certainly cranking up on the Croatian coach. Could he be heading for the sack? Could we see the return of Arsene Wenger to management? Only time will tell.
Elsewhere, Borussia Dortmund continued their undefeated start to their season, as they won 2-1 at Mainz and they maintained their four-point lead at the top whilst increasing their gap between themselves and Bayern Munich to 9 points. Paco Alcacer was officially signed during the week for Dortmund, and he scored quickly after coming on the pitch to put his side on route to a victory. Mainz had equalised, but there time being level was short-lived, as Lukasz Piszczek quickly restored the lead for the league pacesetters. In other entertaining matches of the Bundesliga, we saw a rare impressive Schalke 04 performance, as they ran riot against 10 men Nurnberg, winning 5-2. Also, Hertha Berlin and Hoffenheim played out an enthralling 3-3 draw, where the hosts came from 3-1 down to rescue a point.
Serie A
It would be an understatement to say that Serie A was not at its most dramatic this weekend, as out of the 10 matches that had occurred, we only saw 18 goals. The most entertaining match-up was Atalanta’s visit to Empoli. The guests were hoping to get into the top 5, and looked on course to achieve that as they went 2-0 up inside the first 40 minutes. Their second goal came just moments after Empoli had missed a penalty, and you had a sense it just wasn’t going to be their day. But then, Empoli struck one goal back just before halftime, which set up to be a promising second half. It was completely frantic in the final 15 minutes, as Empoli had brought it back to 2-2 courtesy of a bizarre own goal, as Andrea Masiello couldn’t sort his feet out. Atalanta then misses a guilt-edged chance to re-take the lead and their misery was compounded when they had a player sent-off. A combination of a bad foul and dissent earned him two yellow cards in less than 30 seconds. Finally, to cap out an enthralling match, Empoli scored a header from the corner in the last moment of the match to complete the turnaround and to get themselves out of the relegation zone. Missed penalties, red cards, comebacks, woodwork hit, first club goals for players, own goals – it had the lot!
In other news, there were some expected and unexpected stories to share. First of all, Juventus extended their lead at the top with a 2-0 routine victory against SPAL, with Cristiano Ronaldo and Mario Mandzukic on the scoresheet either side of halftime. Last year’s runners-up Napoli were frustrated by a bottom of the table Chievo, as the match finished 0-0 which stunned manager Carlo Ancelotti, and everyone else watching. Inter Milan responded to their embarrassing defeat before the international break with a comfortable 3-0 victory against Frosinone, to stay in 3rd. In one of the shocks of the weekend, Udinese beat Roma 1-0, despite the visitors having 26 shots throughout the match, they couldn’t find a goal, as their mediocre season continues. Finally, Lazio and AC Milan cancelled each other out in a 1-1 draw, as Joaquin Correa scored a 94th-minute equaliser for the hosts, so AC Milan just missed out on an opportunity to overtake their opponents in the league as they stay in 5th, and Lazio maintains 4th position.
Scotty ✅
jordonc ✅
