Where do you even begin when it comes to another frantic weekend in European soccer? From Liverpool‘s 4-3 win over Tottenham — and all the pitch-side drama — to Bayern Munich taking pole position again in the Bundesliga, this weekend had it all. (There was even an apology from the German FA for Borussia Dortmund after a contentious missed penalty call, which you don’t see very often.)
Elsewhere, Barcelona took another big step toward their LaLiga title, Napoli were forced to wait another few days to confirm their Serie A crown, and PSG put in another dud of a performance at home as they trudge toward the end of the Ligue 11 season. Plus Erling Haaland notched his 50th goal of the season as Man City ominously lurched ahead of Arsenal in the race for the Premier League.
It’s Monday, and Gab Marcotti reacts to the biggest moments in the world of football.
Liverpool ride Anfield roller coaster over Tottenham and into fifth place, but Klopp gets himself into trouble
As entertainment goes, you couldn’t really ask for much more than what Liverpool and Tottenham offered up at Anfield.
Fifteen minutes in, Spurs were 3-0 down and folks were joking about how they’d once again need to offer traveling fans a refund. And then, improbably, they mounted a comeback. Harry Kane got one back before half-time, they hit the woodwork twice, Heung-Min Son made it 3-2, Ryan Mason chucked on the kitchen sink in terms of forwards and in the third minute of injury time, Richarlison, of all people, chose this moment to score his first league goal of the season, rediscovering his Everton roots in the process.
For a minute and half, we all believed that for the second straight game Spurs had come from several goals back to snatch a point. And then came Lucas Moura‘s ill-fated back-pass into the path of Diogo Jota, who bagged the winner, silenced the traveling fans and cued up the Anfield roar.
And those were just the goals. We also had two red cards — Oliver Skipp on Luis Diaz and Diogo Jota on Skipp — that were passed over both by referee Paul Tierney (not his finest game) as well as VAR (this bit is a bit harder to explain), Jurgen Klopp appearing to injure his hamstring on the sideline, accusing Tierney of saying something “unacceptable” to him and then later asking why Tierney doesn’t like his team. (The latter may well earn him an FA charge, too: the PGMOL refutes any suggestion that Tierney said anything unprofessional to Klopp.)
