FOOTBALL – There has been so much happening this week in Spanish and UK football including the controversial super league.
This week has seen action in La Liga, The Champions League and the Europa Leage as well as the potential of a new Super League.
La Liga
On Wednesday, top striker, Youssef En-Nesyri helped Sevilla win 0-1 against Levante in La Liga with the only goal of the match in the 53rd minute. Sevilla bagged all three points, keeping their title hopes very much alive.
With numerous attempts at goal, Real Betis held Athletic to a no score draw despite Fekir from Betis gaining a red card just 11 minutes into the game.
Real Madrid was away to Cadiz this week, and took all 3 points with a 0-3 victory. All 3 goals came in the first half. Karmin Benzema opened the score sheet after 30 minutes and scored again 10 minutes later. Odriozola scored in the 33rd minute.
Thursday´s games
Atletico Madrid won 2-0 at home against Huesco. With a goal in each half, the first came from Correa in the 39th minute and then by Carrasco after 80 minutes. Correa scored for the third time in 2 matches helping to keep Diego Simeone’s side top of the table. As reported by ESPN “In some moments you have to attack and in others you have to defend. The important thing is that we kept a clean sheet, which means we worked well defensively,” said Carrasco.
Barcelona
Barcelona welcomed Getafe at home in their 5-2 win. And what a game it was! Messi opened up the score within the first 10 minutes. This was followed 4 minutes later by an own goal from Lenglet of Barcelona. We then saw another own goal from Getafe´s Chakla giving Barcelona the advantage. Messi scored once again in the 33rd minute. The rest of the first half did not produce any further goals, and the teams went down the tunnel at half time with Barcelona 3-1 up. There were no more goals in the second half until almost the 70th minute when Unal scored for Getafe. The game was back on! Both teams fought hard, but in the final minutes of the game, Barcelona scored twice more. In 87 minutes by Ronal Araujo and in injury time by a penalty. The penalty normally taken by Messi, was offered to Griezmann, who put the ball firmly in the net to finish the game 5-2
Jinxed at home
Real Madrid dropped 2 points for the title race in their game against Real Betis. There was no score at the half time mark and the final score remained 0-0. Betis put up a good side and were worthy of the point. Real Madrid have not won against Betis at home for just over 4 years.
The table stands;
- Atletico Madrid 73 (32 games)
- Real Madrid 71 (33 games)
- Barcelona 68 (31 games)
- Sevilla 67 (32 games)
Barcelona, Atletico and Sevilla all play today, but Barcelona will still have one game in hand until their match on Thursday at home against Granada.
Champions League action
On Tuesday Real Madrid take on Chelsea at home in the first leg of the semi-final. The return leg will be played at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday, May 5. The other semi final games will be battled out between PSG and Man City.
Europa League
Another exciting week for football with Europa League semi final first leg matches also taking place. On Thursday April 29, Villarreal take on Arsenal at home. And Man United face Roma at Old Trafford. The 2nd leg matches will take place on Thursday, May 6.
Controversial Super League
According to Sky Sports, UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin has insisted the 12 clubs who attempted to set up the breakaway European Super League will face sanctions for their actions.
Premier League clubs Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester City, Manchester United, Liverpool and Tottenham announced their intention to establish a new midweek European competition; they were joined by Real Madrid, Barcelona, Atletico Madrid, Juventus, AC Milan and Inter
Since then, the UK clubs all pulled out. Furthermore, Atletico Madrid and the two Milan clubs withdrew later. Whereas Juventus, Real Madrid and Barcelona believe the European Super League still has a chance.
Real Madrid president was one of the leading figures in the proposed European Super League which fell apart when all six English clubs withdrew and others followed; Perez said: “I don’t need to explain what a binding contract is but effectively, the clubs cannot leave”
Real Madrid president Florentino Perez says the 12 clubs who founded the controversial super league cannot abandon it due to binding contracts, and he promised the project would return after a period of reflection.
Nine clubs, including all six in England have withdrawn.
