European Leagues Weekend Roundup
A week off for most of these leagues allowed teams some time to set things right but a few, like Borussia Dortmund and Barcelona, didn’t make the most of that time. It looks like the Premier League and Bundesliga are already wrapped up at this early stage but who knows what could happen.
Let’s take a look at this weekend’s results for the bigger clubs across Europe’s top five leagues.
Primeira Liga(9) and Eredivisie(Round 11)
Porto now stands as the lone undefeated team in the league, as Sporting Lisbon suffered a humbling 3-0 loss to a Guimaraes side that now sits in their vacated third place position. Here are the highlights for that game. Porto and Benfica both won, so the gap remains one point between the two.
PSV still holds a solid four-point lead in the league with Ajax, Feyenoord and FC Twente next in line. All those sides won their weekend encounters, on the same day funnily enough, so there’s been no real change in the standings. There don’t look to be any upsets on the cards next weekend either but who knows.
Ligue 1(Round 12)
Le Classique is on next weekend between Marseille and PSG, and that should be fun to watch as Marseille still holds a four point lead in Ligue 1 after this last round. Marseille, PSG and Lyon won their games while Monaco and Lille tied. Lyon are now third in the table after some good form, and Monaco is slowly but surely making its way to the top four.
Ligue 1 highlights here
Serie A(Rounds 9 & 10)
Points were dropped and regained, and positions jumped, during rounds 9 and 10 of the Serie A. Juventus lost to Genoa during the middle of the week while Roma won their encounter to end up level on points. Inter were the only other big side to get into the win column as both AC Milan and Napoli drew in their games.
The big game for Serie A was during the weekend when Roma faced Napoli, and failed to enhance their title credentials with a 2-0 loss. Juventus gladly bounced back with a win of their own, with both AC Milan and Inter Milan losing. All those results mean things are as they were before the two rounds began with Juventus leading by three points. Napoli now sit in fifth place after a poor start to the campaign, and are slowly climbing up the table.
Serie A highlights here
Bundesliga(Round 10)
Der Klassiker, Bayern Munich vs. Borussia Dortmund, proved entertaining from start to finish with Bayern eventually coming back to claim a 2-1 victory and essentially wrap up the title. Borussia Mochengladbach continues to stay within range, and are already looking like making an impression like they did a few seasons ago. Bayer Leverkusen continued to drop points with a loss but Schalke did win. It’ll be interesting to see if the three expected challengers(Dortmund, Bayer and Schalke) can get into the European spots ahead of the trio currently in their spots; Mochengladbach, Wolfsburg and Hoffenheim.
Bundesliga highlights here
La Liga(Round 10)
The big result of the weekend was Barcelona’s loss to Celta Vigo at home. The Catalan side has now dropped to fourth place, with second place Sevilla also tumbling three spots after their loss. Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid and Valencia all won so things are a lot tighter at the top now. Only two points separate first place from fifth, and this La Liga season is shaping up to be a very interesting one. Real Madrid, on their current form, look the best bet but if Barcelona can sort out the Lionel Messi, Neymar and Luis Suarez triumvirate then they will be tough to beat.
La Liga highlights here
Premier League(Round 10)
The Manchester Derby was the pick of the games this round in the Premier League, and Manchester City came out on top with a 1-0 win over Manchester United. United were down a man yet still caused trouble, and a top four position does likely if they stay fit and everything comes together. All the London sides(Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham) won their respective encounters with, relatively, late goals to leave most fans in the capital happy. Liverpool continues to disappoint after a 1-0 loss to Newcastle, and a title challenge is looking very unlikely at the moment. Chelsea is still well ahead, and undefeated, so the title’s is theirs to lose.
Premier League highlights here
Until next time.
Always Thinking Football 