Since we last had a coffee together and talked soccer, much has happened in footie land, including big matches in the Premier League, a new champion in Spain’s Copa del Rey, a big comeback in Serie A, drama in the Bundesliga and Ligue 1, a new leader in Major League Soccer, and the opening of the quarter-final round of the Champions League.
So let’s sit back and enjoy some more soccer and coffee together.
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Premier Pours: Arsenal End-up on Top
Brighton (11-10-10) vs Arsenal (22-5-4): 0-3
Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal cruised into top spot in the English Premier League with a 3-0 win over Brighton at the Amex on Saturday.
Scoring for the Gunners were Bukayo Saka from the spot, Kai Havertz, and former Seagull Leandro Trossard.
After the game, Arteta beamed about his team’s performance:
“I’m really happy, it was a big performance. They haven’t lost here since August and that tells you the story, they are a really, really good team, extremely well coached. They make life really difficult for you, but I think today we were outstanding and we needed that level to beat them today.” (Arseblog)
Manchester City (21-7-3) vs Crystal Palace (7-9-15): 4-2
Also on Saturday Pep Guardiola led his Manchester City team to a 4-2 victory at Selhurst Park, and a second-place tie with Liverpool.
Palace actually opened the scoring in this one, through Jean-Philippe Mateta, but City responded with four goals via Kevin De Bruyne (2), Rico Lewis and Erling Haaland.
Guardiola gushed about De Bruyne’s performance:
“For many years he has been one of the best players for our club. What he has done in England has been unbelievable. Many goals, assists and consistency. We had four or five months without him and now we need him at the end of the season. I think he likes to score goals but I don’t know if he enjoys it more to make an assist. He is so generous with that – but he has to continue.” (BBC)
Guardiola and Arteta had every right to be happy with their teams but would have to wait to see how Liverpool did on Sunday to see where they’d end up in the standings.
Manchester United (15-4-12) vs Liverpool (21-8-2): 2-2
On Sunday at Old Trafford, Liverpool got off to a strong start, taking a 1-0 lead in the 23rd-minute through Luis Diaz. At that point the Reds had at least temporarily regained top spot in the league.
However in the 50th-minute the game changed out of nowhere as Jarell Quansah served up a flat pass across the backline that United’s Bruno Fernandes intercepted and lofted first-time into the Liverpool net to make it 1-1. And soon after Kobbie Mainoo made it 2-1 United with a sublime curled finish into the top corner of the Liverpool goal.
While it wouldn’t have mattered to the standings, Mo Salah rescued a point with an 84th-minute penalty. It was not enough for Liverpool to regain first place though as Arsenal are equal to Liverpool on 71-points but Arteta’s men have a significant goal difference of +9.
With Pep Guardiola’s City just a point back in third spot, there isn’t much room for error for either of the top three teams or managers.
Maybe that is why Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp after the draw at Old Trafford resorted to something we haven’t seen much of since the days of Sir Alex Ferguson or Jose Mourinho – mind games.
Asked if he would be pulling for Manchester United when they face Arsenal in May, Klopp said:
“Probably. If we are still around then that would be great. But Arsenal are a good football team. If they [United] play like today, Arsenal will win the game, I am 100% sure. I am sorry to say that.” (BBC)
You say you’re sorry, Jurgen? No so sure about that.
Such an experienced manager as Klopp would know that his words carry weight. Could he been trying to distract Arsenal while at the same time making United extra-motivated to get a result in that looming big match?
Genius, I say.
Can’t wait to see how this title-tilt continues to unfold and if the mind games escalate.
Liga Con Leche: Spain pauses for Copa del Rey Final
Athletic Bilbao vs Mallorca: 1-1 (Athletic win on penalties)
There were no La Liga matches this weekend as Spain was on its traditional break due to the Copa del Rey.
While global fans of Spanish football will bemoan the absence of big teams like Real Madrid and Barcelona from the regular football calendar, in Spain the Copa is a very big deal. For the Spanish it is the equivalent of England’s exciting and romanticized FA Cup, producing upsets and giving smaller clubs a shot at glory that they don’t get in the top-heavy La Liga.
Going into the game with Mallorca, Athletic Club were the favourites, had won 23 Copas in their history, had not won it in forty years, and also had been defeated in the last five finals they had participated in. Gulp.
And so, with the game ending in a 1-1 draw and going to penalties, the pressure was great. However in the end Athletic’s Alex Berenguer was able to slam his penalty into the corner of the net and begin the celebrations at the Estadio La Cartuja de Sevilla.
Said coach Ernesto Valverde of the long-awaited victory:
“There will be a big party. None compare to this. because of the way we have been chasing this, because of what the cup means, because of the finals we lost.” (The Guardian)
Bundes Kaffee: Shame in Munich
Union Berlin (8-5-15) vs Bayer Leverkusen (24-4-0): 0-1
Xabi Alonso’s Bayer Leverkusen juggernaut continued on course as they defeated Union Berlin 1-0 on Saturday.
Florian Wirtz scored from the spot for the Die Schwarzroten (The Black and Reds).
FC Heidenheim (8-9-11) vs Bayern Munich (19-3-6): 3-2
Meanwhile, Thomas Tuchel’s plummeting Bayern Munich lost 3-2 to Heidenheim on Saturday, with Sporting Director Max Eberl saying the team should be ashamed of its performance:
“We should all be a bit ashamed today – and we have to make sure we represent the Bayern badge more worthy relatively quickly. This is not the Bayern Munich that I knew. I was surprised at the lack of stability that I found at Bayern. A lot needs to be changed. After the Dortmund defeat, today was a character test for us – We passed it in the first half, but failed in the second half.” (MSN)
Bayern sit 16-points behind first-place Bayer Leverkusen in the Bundesliga.
Serious Espresso: Inter’s double-shot comeback
Inter Milan travelled to Udinese on Monday in the final match of Serie A gameweek 31.
The Nerazzurri were down 1-0 and looking in danger of dropping all 3-points until a 55th-minute penalty was put away by Hakan Çalhanoğlu.
Given their large lead over second-place AC Milan, Inter could have been satisfied with a single point but they kept pushing for more and were rewarded with a 95th-minute added-time goal by Davide Frattesi.
Inter now have a 14-point lead over Milan and could soon have the league title in their hands.
Un Deux Trois: PSG draw with bottom-dwellers
Paris Saint-Germain attempted to rest as many players as possible ahead of their Champions League match versus Barcelona on Wednesday and it almost cost them a loss on Saturday to the lowest team in Ligue 1.
Clermont Foot sit in eighteenth in Ligue 1 and held a 1-0 lead over the league leaders at Parc des Princes until the 85th minute, when Gonçalo Ramos completed a one-two combination with 67th-minute substitute Kylian Mbappé and scored the tying goal.
It would have been PSG’s first loss in 27 matches and only its second in France’s top tier this year.
PSG though don’t have to worry too much about their position in the league as they are still 10-points ahead of second-place Brest, with six matches to go.
Manager Luis Enrique doesn’t seem too fazed by his team’s narrow escape in the match:
“The players are professionals. We are in an excellent dynamic and we will not stop giving everything in our matches.” (beinsports)
Sounds as though Enrique is already looking ahead to the Champions League.
Americanos: Red Bulls go top
FC Cincinnati (3-3-1) vs New York Red Bulls (4-2-1): 1-2
Sandro Schwarz’s New York Red Bulls find themselves atop the Supporter’s Shield standings after this week’s Major League Soccer games.
They went into a rowdy TQL Stadium and went down 1-0 early to FC Cincinnati, but came back with two goals to win a big road game.
Dante Vanzeir played a part in both Red Bulls goals, setting up the first by former Cincinnati player Frankie Amaya, and then scoring the winner.
Schwarz was happy with the three points but was perhaps more happy with how they won:
“It’s more important that we have this performance and that we have also have confidence. We were also dominant in an away game in Cincinnati, against a top team and against a top coach. It’s good to get these results, but it’s only seven games into the regular season.” (MLS)
Cincy’s loss dropped them all the way down to seventh-place in the current Supporter’s Shield standings.
Inter Miami (3-3-2) vs Colorado Rapids (2-3-2): 2-2
There were twelve other games in MLS on Saturday, including Inter Miami hosting the Colorado Rapids, which featured the return from injury of Lionel Messi.
Messi scored a sublime post-to-post goal and set up another, but it wasn’t enough to ensure all three points, as Gerardo Martino’s side conceded a late equalizer and make it a 2-2 draw with the Rapids.
Martino bemoaned the fact that his side were not able to take full advantage of Messi’s return:
“It’s the usual from Leo, what he provokes in our team, in his teammates, in people. And the most important thing is that he felt comfortable, he felt good, he felt loose… That’s why it’s a shame to drop two points. But I think we keep making mistakes that are making us lose points along the way.”
Somehow the Herons still sit fourth overall after eight games played in Major League Soccer.
Champions League Capper: Magnificent Night in Madrid
Real Madrid vs Manchester City: 3-3
This is the kind of game for which you could use the brain exploding emoji to capture its power. Wow, what a game at the Santiago Bernabéu!
And it wasn’t just the number of goals (6) but how they happened. And that the referee let the players play and not make it about himself with too many whistles.
Highlights in this game have to be the Foden and Gvardiol goals for City, and the sublime Valverde Volley to tie it for Madrid.
If you weren’t able to watch the match live try to watch a recording or at the very least the highlights.
Arsenal vs Bayern Munich: 2-2
If you were like me and had two screens going for this Champions League day but due to the quality of the Real-City match didn’t watch much of the Arsenal-Bayern match live, you will have to rely on highlights. Unless of course you are an Arsenal or Bayern fan.
In this quarter-final, Arsenal got on the board early at home at the Emirates through Bukayo Saka.
Bayern then took a 2-1 lead through Serge Gnabry and then Harry Kane on a penalty.
Leandro Trossard leveled the game 2-2 in the 76th-minute to ensure that the Gunners were on an equal foothold for advancement to the semi-finals.
Wednesday’s Games
The other side of the quarter-finals will be played just after we publish this newsletter.
Atletico Madrid will host Borussia Dortmund at the Metropolitano.
While Paris Saint-Germain will host Barcelona at Parc des Princes.
If Wednesday’s games are anything like Tuesday’s do yourself a favour and try to watch the remainder of the Champions League quarter-final action - while of course sipping on your favourite coffee.
That’s all for now, my friends.
See you next Soccer Recapp Wednesday!
Soccer Recapps are served to you every Wednesday by our very best baristas.
This week’s Recapp was presented by former player and coach, John Vidovich, who now spends his days searching for the best coffees and teams in the world.
You can find John on X @johnv1d and @team_picture.
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