Tottenham Hotspur 2-0 Manchester City - Premier League
Steven Bergwijn marked his debut with a superb volley as Tottenham won a bad-tempered Premier League affair with 10-man Manchester City to boost their top-four hopes.
The result lifts Spurs to fifth, four points behind fourth-placed Chelsea, while City remain second, 22 points behind leaders Liverpool who can win the title on 21 March when they play Crystal Palace.
The 22-year-old's goal came with Spurs' first shot on target, after Oleksandr Zinchenko had been dismissed for a second yellow card and City midfielder Ilkay Gundogan had seen a first-half penalty saved by Hugo Lloris.
Son Heung-min's effort, which deflected off Fernandinho as it flew past City goalkeeper Ederson into the bottom left corner confirmed a valuable victory for the hosts.
Pep Guardiola's City side had arrived in London chasing their fifth league win in six games and dominated possession but failed to convert a glut of glorious chances.
Lloris brilliantly flicked a Sergio Aguero effort on to the post and the Argentine was then at the centre of a chaotic few minutes towards the end of the first half, winning a penalty awarded by VAR following Serge Aurier's clumsy challenge.
Gundogan however, saw his spot-kick - which took four minutes to be given - saved by Spurs keeper Lloris, with VAR then asked to rule on whether the France goalkeeper had fouled City's Raheem Sterling as both pursued the rebound.
Tottenham's Toby Alderweireld and Zinchenko were booked as both sets of players confronted each other in the aftermath, while Spurs boss Jose Mourinho appeared angered at the referee's failure to book Sterling for diving when a second penalty was not awarded.
Sterling had earlier appeared fortunate to escape with only a 12th-minute booking, after replays showed his studs landing on the ankle and lower shin of Spurs midfielder Dele Alli.
City though were reduced to 10 men after the break, with Ukrainian Zinchenko receiving his marching orders for a foul on Harry Winks.
That allowed Spurs to gain a foothold in the game, with Bergwijn firing Lucas Moura's clever cross into the bottom right corner from 15 yards to set them on their way.
Real Madrid fought until the final seconds in their attempts to turn the result in their favour, but ultimately, they came up short and were knocked out of the Copa del Rey in the quarter-finals by Real Sociedad, with the hosts having trailed 4-1 at one stage, to bring their 21-match unbeaten run to an end. Real Sociedad went in front with what was their first real shot on goal. In the 22nd minute, Isak shot from range, Areola parried well, but Odegaard's follow-up struck Militão and deceived the goalkeeper.
Real Madrid then enjoyed two fine chances to level things before the break. The first fell to James. His effort from the edge of the box on 35’ forced Remiro into a superb diving save. With 42 on the clock, after god work by Vinicius Jr., Remiro was again alert to keep out Marcelo's volley. Two minutes later, as the madridistas poured forward, Isak shot over the bar when one-on-one with Areola.
Second half
Things took a turn for the worse on 54' when Isak, who had seen a goal ruled out for offside in the 49th minute, fired the ball past Areola after having been played in by Barrenetxea. However, the night was to still to get even worse for the LaLiga table-toppers, who conceded a third, with Isak once again on the mark. Real Madrid reduced the arrears in the 59th minute, when Brahim found Marcelo, who rifled the ball home, beating the La Real custodian at his near post. The hosts came close to scoring a second of the night five mintues later when some sublime individual play from Vinicius Jr. saw him evade the attentions of Gorosabel and Oyarzabal, before he contrived to send his effort wide of the upright. In the 69th minute, Merino struck Real Sociedad's fourth goal of the game.
Madridistas keep plugging away
There were now 20 minutes left on the clock and on 79' Vinicius Jr. headed home to make it 4-2 to the visitors, only to see his effort chalked off following a VAR check. Two minutes later, Rodrygo had the ball in the back of the net following a Vinicius Jr. pass and this goal did stand. In injury time, Nacho sparked hope of a comeback amongst those inside the Bernabéu as he powered home a towering header from Benzema's cross. A minute later, Real Sociedad were reduced to 10 men after Gorosabel was given his marching orders. However, no further goals were ultimately forthcoming.
Real Madrid fought until the final seconds in their attempts to turn the result in their favour, but ultimately, they came up short and were knocked out of the Copa del Rey in the quarter-finals by Real Sociedad, with the hosts having trailed 4-1 at one stage, to bring their 21-match unbeaten run to an end. Real Sociedad went in front with what was their first real shot on goal. In the 22nd minute, Isak shot from range, Areola parried well, but Odegaard's follow-up struck Militão and deceived the goalkeeper.
Real Madrid then enjoyed two fine chances to level things before the break. The first fell to James. His effort from the edge of the box on 35’ forced Remiro into a superb diving save. With 42 on the clock, after god work by Vinicius Jr., Remiro was again alert to keep out Marcelo's volley. Two minutes later, as the madridistas poured forward, Isak shot over the bar when one-on-one with Areola.
Second half
Things took a turn for the worse on 54' when Isak, who had seen a goal ruled out for offside in the 49th minute, fired the ball past Areola after having been played in by Barrenetxea. However, the night was to still to get even worse for the LaLiga table-toppers, who conceded a third, with Isak once again on the mark. Real Madrid reduced the arrears in the 59th minute, when Brahim found Marcelo, who rifled the ball home, beating the La Real custodian at his near post. The hosts came close to scoring a second of the night five mintues later when some sublime individual play from Vinicius Jr. saw him evade the attentions of Gorosabel and Oyarzabal, before he contrived to send his effort wide of the upright. In the 69th minute, Merino struck Real Sociedad's fourth goal of the game.
Madridistas keep plugging away
There were now 20 minutes left on the clock and on 79' Vinicius Jr. headed home to make it 4-2 to the visitors, only to see his effort chalked off following a VAR check. Two minutes later, Rodrygo had the ball in the back of the net following a Vinicius Jr. pass and this goal did stand. In injury time, Nacho sparked hope of a comeback amongst those inside the Bernabéu as he powered home a towering header from Benzema's cross. A minute later, Real Sociedad were reduced to 10 men after Gorosabel was given his marching orders. However, no further goals were ultimately forthcoming.
Inter mounted a heroic second-half comeback to topple AC Milan 4-2 in the Derby dello Madonnina on Sunday night, returning to the top of Serie A in the process.
The Rossoneri seemed to stun the hosts early on with their suffocating intensity out of possession, and they went close to taking the lead through Hakan Calhanoglu - whose effort from distance cannoned off the post.
Despite Milan's superiority, Inter started to threaten Gianluigi Donnarumma's goal as Diego Godin and Matias Vecino went close.
The 'away' side's dominance eventually paid off, however, as Ante Rebic tucked into an empty net after good work from Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Just before half-time, things went from bad to worse for Inter as Zlatan himself doubled the Rossoneri's lead, sweeping in at the back post after Franck Kessie had rather fortuitously knocked the ball into his path.
Remarkably though, Milan's two-goal lead swiftly evaporated within eight minutes of the restart. Marcelo Brozovic pulling one back for the Nerazzurri with an expertly taken volley before Vecino atoned for his earlier miss to level things up.
Milan halted the momentum after Vecino's equaliser but with 20 minutes remaining, Inter took the lead through Stefan de Vrij; the Dutchman glancing his header home expertly from an outswinging Antonio Candreva corner to beat Donnarumma.
The away side started to probe once more as they went in search for an equaliser, and they almost snatched a point through Ibrahimovic but his header rattled the post.
But in stoppage time, Romelu Lukaku ensured Inter would claim all three points as he nodded home substitute Victor Moses' cross from the right - the Belgian taking his goal tally in Serie A up to 18 for the season.
Serie A top scorers season 2018/19
26
Quagliarella F (Sampdoria)
23
Zapata D (Atalanta)
22
Piatek K (Genoa/Milan)
21
Ronaldo C (Juventus)
17
Milik A (Napoli)
16
Caputo F (Empoli), Mertens D (Napoli), Petagna A (SPAL)
15
Belotti A (Torino), Immobile C (Lazio), Pavoletti L (Cagliari)
12
Ilicic J (Atalanta)
11
Defrel G (Sampdoria), El Shaarawy S (Roma), Gervinho (Parma), Icardi M (Inter)
10
Insigne L (Napoli)
Year Winners Runners-up Att Venue
2019 Liverpool 2 Tottenham Hotspur 0 63200 Madrid
2018 Real Madrid 3 Liverpool 1 61500 Kyiv
2017 Real Madrid 4 Juventus 1 66000 Cardiff
2016 Real Madrid 1 Atlético Madrid 1+ 72000 Milano
2015 Barcelona 3 Juventus 1 70000 Berlin
2014 Real Madrid 4 Atlético Madrid 1* 61000 Lisboa
2013 Bayern München 2 Borussia Dortmund 1 86000 London
2012 Chelsea 1 Bayern München 1+ 70000 München
2011 Barcelona 3 Manchester United 1 86000 London
2010 Internazionale 2 Bayern München 0 75000 Madrid
2009 Barcelona 2 Manchester United 0 67000 Roma
2008 Manchester United 1 Chelsea 1+ 67310 Moscow
2007 Milan 2 Liverpool 1 74000 Athinai
2006 FC Barcelona 2 Arsenal 1 79610 Paris
2005 Liverpool 3 Milan 3+ 65000 Istanbul
2004 Fc Porto 3 As Monaco 0 52000 Gelsenkirchen
2003 Milan 0 Juventus 0+ 63215 Manchester
2002 Real Madrid 2 Bayer Leverkusen 1 52000 Glasgow
2001 Bayern München 1 Valencia 1+ 71500 Milano
2000 Real Madrid 3 Valencia 0 78759 Paris
1999 Manchester United 2 Bayern München 1 90000 Barcelona
1998 Real Madrid 1 Juventus 0 47500 Amsterdam
1997 Borussia Dortmund 3 Juventus 1 55500 München
1996 Juventus 1 Ajax 1+ 67000 Roma
1995 Ajax 1 Milan 0 49730 Wien
1994 Milan 4 FC Barcelona 0 70000 Athína
Five goals, a penalty, 10 yellows cards, two sendings off and three assists from Messi, it was yet another eventful meeting between Real Betis and FC Barcelona. Hosts Betis took the lead on 5' through a Canales penalty after Lenglet handled in the box. But four minutes later Messi set up De Jong with a wonderful through ball to allow the Dutchman to score the equaliser.
Betis found themselves ahead again on 26' as Fekir expertly buried his long-distance effort passed Ter Stegen. But again, Messi had an answer, this time the captain finding Busquets from his free-kick set piece and the Spanish defender side-footed the ball passed Robles to make it 2-2 in first-half injury time.
Messi had his third assist 25 minutes later, an it was almost a carbon copy of the second. This time the Argentine playmaker floated his free-kick set piece delivery towards Lenglet, who jumped high to guide the ball into the far corner with his head to give the visitors the lead for the first time in the game.
The French defender was sent off a few minutes later, just after Betis' Fekir had been given his marching orders. And like that, the game was played out with 10 v 10 and ended 3-2, but not before Messi had a late penalty appeal waved away, as Bastra's questionable challenge by the six-yard area denied the Barcelona striker his 15th LaLiga goal of the season. Barca back to winning ways after their Copa del Rey elimination mid-week.
Peep, peep, peep! The ref blows his whistle and that's it. Barcelona win 3-2 and come away with three points to keep themselves within touching distance of Real Madrid.
This was more like Real Madrid — the one that’s topped the table and has been impenetrable defensively.
After a shaky start to the game, where Osasuna looked to exploit a high line from Real Madrid’s defense, and had a couple breaks in the half-space between Dani Carvajal and Raphael Varane, the team stabilized itself and didn’t suffer much, nor did they let Thibaut Courtois really be tested more than twice the entire game.
Amid a tough start for Zidane’s men, Osasuna opened the scoring thanks to a goal (and if we’re being honest, an incredible goal) from Unai Garcia where he beats Casemiro to the ball and redirects his header low and into the far post.
From that point on, Real zipped up their defense. They did not blitz Osasuna offensively, but like in past games, they didn’t need to go on a scoring tear. They created good chances against an organized defensive scheme, and while they struggled with their build-up facing a high press at times, they moved well enough off the ball to get into good positions.
Isco was a key cog in creating those attacking avenues. His press-resistancy allowed him to drop deep and help Zidane’s men progress the ball, and his through-balls created two opportunities in the first half: One to Bale who couldn’t get to the ball before his defender; and one to Benzema who couldn’t score from a tough angle after trying to round the keeper.
Isco scored the equalizer in the 33rd.
It should be noted here that this was one of Gareth Bale’s poorest performances in a while. While he was a good target with his movement and presence in the box — that’s all he really was. His touches were poor — ditto his passing and 50 / 50 challenges. He looks terrified going into tackles, which affects his entire game.
The go-ahead goal came from Sergio Ramos five minutes after Isco scored his. Osasuna collapsed defending a corner, allowing Casemiro to win the ball at the far post, and leaving Ramos, Varane, and Bale all open across the six-yard box.
Lucas Vasquez scored Real Madrid’s third in the 84th, and Luka Jovic scored the fourth just before the final whistle to seal the win.
This was not particularly entertaining, and the second half felt like it was being played outside in my backyard rather than El Sadar — but hey, we don’t need anything else apart from three points to keep pushing towards the title.