This weekend was an incredible one in European soccer’s top leagues. Where to begin?
How about an incredible Clásico between Barcelona and Real Madrid, with Carlo Ancelotti’s side taking a 2-0 lead before Barcelona scored four straight goals on their way to a 4-3 win and Hansi Flick’s fourth victory over Madrid since arriving as Barca manager. We also had Chelsea stumbling in their chase for a top-four finish (and a place in the 2025-26 UEFA Champions League) thanks to Nico Jackson’s red card and a listless display in a 2-0 defeat to Newcastle.
Serie A‘s title race got a little more tension as Napoli drew and Inter Milan won to close the gap to one point with two games remaining, while Bayern Munich celebrated their Bundesliga title following their final home game, and Borussia Dortmund continued their magnificent comeback. Liverpool‘s Trent Alexander-Arnold got a hostile reception from the home fans in his first appearance since announcing he’d be leaving the club this summer, and the Europa League finalists (Tottenham and Manchester United) both turned in miserable performances in home defeats. Here are some musings and reactions to the most memorable moments of the weekend.
Barcelona make it four wins in four Clásico and have LaLiga title just about clinched
Never say never and all that, but Barcelona navigated the last real hurdle separating them from winning LaLiga with Sunday’s 4-3 Clásico win over Real Madrid. In theory, they could win the title on Wednesday “on the sofa” when Real Madrid host Mallorca; most likely, it will come on Thursday in their derby with Espanyol.
Barcelona have gotten us accustomed to their roller-coaster games, so it’s worth reminding ourselves of a few things.
First off, it’s Hansi Flick 4, Carlo Ancelotti 0 in Clásico this season. That alone makes this a phenomenal campaign, never mind the double.
Second, in the space of 15 days, they faced Real Madrid twice and Inter twice in the Champions League semifinal, with only the “gimme” against Valladolid in the mix. Five games in which they went behind each time and battled back to at least tie the game, losing only one of them. This is pretty close to unprecedented stuff, and whatever mentality and toughness Flick instilled in this team is as much a hallmark of his work as the high line or high-octane attack. It’s a grueling season, not just physically, and the fact that they were mentally up for it speaks volumes about the work he’s doing.
On Sunday, they found themselves 2-0 down after just 14 minutes. This is when you expect fear, worry and self-doubt to creep in, especially after the disappointment of Champions League elimination. Nope. They just kept going, and by halftime, they were 4-2 up. That’s just not normal — or, at least, not what we’re accustomed to. Oh, and lest we forget, they did it without four starters: their top goal scorer (Robert Lewandowski), their first-choice fullbacks and their team captain.
This weekend, Jackson takes the headlines, and not in a good way. Already a goal down after two minutes away to Newcastle, his sending off after 35 minutes was a veritable body blow to Chelsea in a huge game that could help determine who gets fourth place and a spot in the Champions League.
It’s hard to tell what you’re thinking when you lead with your elbow in a VAR game, like Jackson did against Sven Botman. Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca says Jackson “must learn,” and he’s right. At 11 vs. 11, Chelsea might have gotten back into the game, at 11 vs. 10 against Newcastle with St James’ Park rocking, it was all going to be uphill.
Sure, throw Jackson under the bus, but he’s not the only one. Chelsea were outplayed from the start, and while the Blues were coming off a Thursday night Conference League semifinal, nine of their starting XI didn’t play in that game. The fact is, Chelsea were rattled by Newcastle even at full strength and looked unprepared for Eddie Howe’s switch to a back three. That’s on them and Maresca.
I’ve questioned manager Antonio Conte for sitting on leads and hanging on to results. Sometimes it works. When it backfires, you look silly, but most of the time, if you’re the better team, the best strategy is simply continuing to attack.
That’s not what happened in Napoli’s 2-2 draw at home vs. Genoa.
Even after going 2-1 up 20 minutes into the second half, Napoli created chances and pushed for a third goal. It didn’t come; instead, they were beaten by a pinpoint cross from Aarón Martín and a surgical header from Johan Vazquez.
Conte held his hands up and suggested it’s just the way football is; his defenders were in place, but they were simply beaten by a superb cross and finish. He didn’t even seek an alibi in citing the absences of Alessandro Buongiorno and Juan Jesus, which meant Mathías Olivera, usually at left back, was playing in the middle. It’s a credit to him, but it’s also the logical thing to do. They are still in the drivers’ seat for the Serie A title thanks to their one-point lead, and they control their own destiny.
Except things just got that little bit trickier. They travel to Parma next weekend to face an opponent that’s still at risk of going down. Potentially, Cagliari at home on the last day of the campaign could be tight, too: They may not be safe yet, either. Not that it means that much anymore. Genoa had nothing to play for but pride and they grabbed a point at the Maradona, scoring two headed goals, the first two Napoli conceded all season.
You can’t take anything granted in football. The title race is going down to the wire, and Conte knows it.
Quick hits
10. Alexander Sorloth makes history, so how about some respect? I’m guilty of it too, but for the record, calling him The Only Living Sorloth in Captivity isn’t meant to be disrespectful. In fact, the captivity part seems apt: he’s “captive” on the bench (just 13 LaLiga starts) this season while being his team’s high scorer. He already was on a per-90 basis, but he’s also now LaLiga’s top scorer in absolute terms too, with 17 goals, compared to Atleti forwards Julián Álvarez’s 15 and Antoine Griezmann’s eight. Those stats, of course, were inflated by Saturday night’s performance against Sorloth’s old club, Real Sociedad, when he notched a hat trick in the first 11 minutes before adding a fourth at the half-hour mark. Still, I don’t see how you can continue keeping him out of the starting XI. Griezmann is now 34 and has two years left on his deal. Assuming he stays — he’s said he wants to — it’s probably time for Diego Simeone to find him a deeper role or further limit his minutes.
Dan Thomas is joined by Craig Burley, Shaka Hislop and others to bring you the latest highlights and debate the biggest storylines. Stream on ESPN+ (U.S. only).
3. Red cards cost Juventus, and not for the first time: Two weekends ago, Kenan Yildiz got himself needlessly sent off against bottom club Monza; they were 2-0 up and cruising, and he somehow forgot VAR was a thing. Without him, they were held to a 1-1 draw vs. Bologna the following week (not all on him, of course, but they had taken the lead and he would have come in handy). On Saturday, with Juve 1-0 up away to Lazio — a game with huge top-four implications — it was Pierre Kalulu‘s turn to have a brain fart, lashing out at Taty Castellanos and getting his marching orders. Lazio would equalize in the sixth minute of injury time. I’m not saying it’s a linear correlation — Dusan Vlahovic‘s absence from the starting lineup weighed heavily as well — but it’s clear Juventus can’t afford to be in self-inflicted damage mode. Not when the stakes are so high.
2. Players barricaded in the training ground? Sevilla is a cautionary tale: You may have seen the report of furious fans armed with pyro and pent-up anger forcing Sevilla’s players to spend the night at the training ground, following their defeat to Celta on Saturday. The fans are furious at seeing their club slide toward the relegation zone — they’re four points from the drop, with two games to go — and saddled with €300 million worth of debt that, under LaLiga’s financial stability rules, means no new signing can earn more than €684,000, the lowest amount in the top two divisions. Oh, and their president is locked in a vicious battle for control with the former president, who happens to be a convicted embezzler and … his own dad. Yup, violence is to be condemned and all that, but how about some proper oversight? How about some grown-ups in the Accountability room, perhaps? This is the club that won two of the past five Europa Leagues. Monchi, the transfer guru, was there until two years ago. Transparency would allow crowd-sourced oversight and, to some degree, protect clubs from the sort of folks who — whether by incompetence, and sometimes worse — drive them into the ground.
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Laurens: Amorim right to be embarrassed by Man United’s season
Gab Marcotti and Julien Laurens question Ruben Amorim’s response to another Premier League defeat for Manchester United.
1. Europa League finalists embarrass themselves in the Premier League: There’s a weird symmetry in the fact that, a few days after reaching the Europa League final, both Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur should lose 2-0 at home (to West Ham United and Crystal Palace, respectively). United manager Ruben Amorim called United’s campaign “embarrassing” and added that he would “walk away” if it can’t be fixed. (Most likely, if it doesn’t get fixed, he won’t get the chance to walk away; he’ll be driven away.) Spurs boss Ange Postecoglou talked about the difficulty of playing league football while going deep in European competitions and the Carabao Cup (Spurs reached the semifinal). What’s best: Amorim’s brutal honesty or Postecoglou’s “explanation”? I’m not a fan of either. In Amorim’s case, there’s a middle ground between being delusional and spouting continuous negativity (even if it’s warranted). In Postecoglou’s case, it feels like passing the buck. Aston Villa also went deep in Europe and a domestic Cup; on paper, their squads are comparable. Yet they sit 25 points and 11 places above Spurs. Is it really the three extra games that Spurs played that explain the gap? Might it be the manager, too?
