Spanish La Liga, Italian Serie A, and English Premier League witnessed nail-biting finishes as FC Barcelona, Atletico Madrid, Inter Milan, and Manchester United grabbed late winners. Meanwhile, Manchester City and Real Madrid failed to pick up all three points.
English Premier League
A stunning left-footer from Hakim Ziyech and a Thiago Silva header sealed three points for Chelsea against Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday. Both goals came in the second half after Harry Kane had a goal controversially ruled out for a foul on Thiago Silva in the 40th minute. Spurs tasted their first league defeat under Antonio Conte, while Chelsea picked up their first league win in 2022.
Two first-half goals helped Liverpool clinch a 3-1 win over Crystal Palace. Virgil Van Dijk headed home Andy Robertson’s corner in the eighth minute. The left-back set up the second goal, too, as Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain buried Robertson’s cross into the net. Palace pulled a goal back in the 55th minute. However, Fabinho restored the two-goal cushion in the dying minutes.
Manchester United climbed to fourth in the English Premier League table thanks to Marcus Rashford’s stoppage-time winner against West Ham United at Old Trafford. With a few seconds to go for the final whistle, Rashford tapped home from close range. The 24-year-old had also scored in United's 3-1 win over Brentford FC in the midweek.
An Aymeric Laporte goal in the second half earned Manchester City a point against Southampton, but it ended the reigning English Premier League champions’ 12-game winning streak in the league. The visitors took the lead as early as in the seventh minute. It took City a while to find the equalizer. Laporte scored from a Kevin De Bruyne free-kick in the 65th minute.
Spanish La Liga
A sensational final ten minutes saw Real Madrid snatch a draw against Elche CF at Santiago Bernabeu. Goals from Luka Modric and Eder Militao in the 82nd minute and injury time, respectively, helped the Spanish La Liga giants hold the 15th-placed Elche to a 2-2 draw. Karim Benzema, who limped off in the second half, missed a penalty.
FC Barcelona beat relegation-threatened Deportivo Alaves by a solitary goal. Frenkie De Jong scored the all-important goal from a Ferran Torres' pass in the 87th minute. The Catalan side, who moved to fifth in the points table, couldn’t create clear-cut chances despite dominating the possession.
Atletico Madrid struck twice in quick succession to grab a comeback win over Valencia CF. In a thrilling clash, Valencia went up 2-0 at half-time. Matheus Cunha opened Atletico’s scoring from a corner immediately after the hour mark. The hosts leveled the game through Angel Correa in the 90th minute. The winner came in the third minute of the added time when centre-back Mario Hermoso slotted the ball home into an empty net from the six-yard box.
Italian Serie A
A 90th-minute goal from former Manchester City striker Edin Dzeko sealed all three points for Inter Milan at San Siro on Saturday. The 35-year-old’s 12th goal of the 2021-22 campaign steered Inter to a 2-1 win over Venezia FC. The defending champions in Italian Serie A came back from behind to claim three points. In the first half, Nicolo Barella had canceled out Thomas Henry’s goal.
Dries Mertens scored a goal and set up another in Napoli’s 4-1 win over bottom-placed US Salernitana. Napoli took the lead through Juan Jesus in the 17th minute. Mertens made it 2-0 at the brink of half-time. Kosovo defender Amir Rrahmani and winger Lorenzo Insigne completed the rout in the second half. With the win, the Naples-based outfit moved to second in the standings.
AC Milan dropped to third in the points table after playing out a 0-0 draw with Juventus. Stefano Pioli’s men failed to convert their chances, while Juventus custodian Wojciech Szczesny stood tall. The visitors, on the other hand, had no shot on target.
German Bundesliga
Bayern Munich cruised past Hertha Berlin 4-1 in the German Bundesliga matchday 20 fixture. Corentin Tolisso and Thomas Muller found their names on the scoresheet in the opening 45 minutes. In the second half, Leroy Sane and Serge Gnabry scored in the space of four minutes to seal an emphatic win for Bayern. Joshua Kimmich, too, put in an impressive shift.
Donyell Malen grabbed headlines in Borussia Dortmund’s 3-2 win over TSG Hoffenheim. The Dutchman set up Erling Haaland’s opener and Dortmund’s second, scored by Marco Reus. He also played a crucial role in the eventual winning goal as Hoffenheim defender David Raum put the ball into his own net from Malen’s pass.
French Ligue 1
Lionel Messi came off the bench to make his first appearance in 2022 as PSG hit four past Stade de Reims at Parc des Princes. The league leaders led 1-0 at half-time through Marco Verratti. They scored thrice in the space of 13 minutes in the second half. Sergio Ramos netted his first goal in PSG colors, while an own goal and a deflected effort from Danilo Pereira sealed a 4-0 win.
Parameswaran Sankaranarayanan
Parameswaran Sankaranarayan is a sports enthusiast who has worked in print, website, and other digital platforms. He was part of the editorial team of first-ever Indian football-based website - IndianFootball.com (now defunct) - and passionately follows the latest happenings in world football. During his time as a journalist, he had the opportunity to interact with some of the iconic personalities in Indian sports and witness some memorable moments in Indian football.
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