Weekly Match Summary

A weekend that had many surprise results, some of which might have had a serious impact on the final outcomes in various competitions. There were surprise defeats for the likes of Paris SG and Bayern Munich as well as both Milan giants. Football from England was as entertaining as always with league and cup drama keeping fans entertained. 

Friday’s Highlights

The action started on Friday evening with a Premier League match between Nottingham Forest and Newcastle. The visitors scored a 93rd-minute winner to really reignite their charge for a top four position, if they win their games in hand, they will overtake Tottenham to reclaim fourth spot.

Elsewhere, there was a draw between Lyon and Nantes in France and between Gladbach and Bremen in the Bundesliga whilst in Italy we saw two home wins for Sassuolo and Atalanta. In Spain, Bilbao picked up a useful three points at Valladolid. 

Saturday’s Top Action

A number of Premier League matches were postponed this weekend due to the FA Cup quarter finals but the ones that did go ahead were certainly entertaining. Aston Villa made easy work of beating Bournemouth, winning 3-0 and Leeds managed an impressive 4-2 win at Wolves.

The other games were drawn with Brentford and Leicester sharing the spoils and there were important points gained by Southampton and Everton with their draws against Tottenham and Chelsea respectively. The first of the FA Cup quarter-finals saw Manchester City thrash Championship leaders Burnley 6-0. 

Borussia Dortmund scored six goals as they put out a statement with their 6-1 win over FC Koln on Saturday, allowing them to overtake Bayern at the top of the table. Elsewhere in the Bundesliga, there were wins for Bochum, Hoffenheim and Wolfsburg.

In Ligue 1, Lille and Lens continued their push for the top four with wins over Toulouse and Angers. In Italy, AC Milan suffered another loss, this time at the hands of Udinese, leaving them in fourth place.

The two early matches ended in draws in Spain, with wins later in the day for Celta Vigo and for Atletico Madrid. Besiktas kept up the pressure on the top two in Turkey with a comfortable win over Istanbulspor. 

Highlights From Sunday

There were goals aplenty in the remaining three FA Cup quarter-finals with Sheffield United beating fellow Championship team Blackburn 3-2 whilst Brighton hammered League Two Grimsby 5-0. The final match also had its fair share of drama with Fulham leading at Old Trafford. They went into the last quarter of the match only for them to implode when conceding a penalty, with two players and manager Marco Silva all being sent off. The result was an inevitable win for Manchester United, as they became the last team to complete the FA cup semi-final lineup. 

Monaco and Marseille joined Lens in picking up three points in Ligue 1 on Sunday as they all closed in a top four finish and managed to get closer to Paris SG, who surprisingly lost at home to fifth place Rennes.

In Germany, Union Berlin got their first win in five matches as they beat Eintracht Frankfurt, consolidating their place in the top four. The shock of the day came as Bayer Leverkusen beat Bayern Munich, with the defending champions giving up top spot in the league in the process.

Over in Italy, Napoli’s relentless march to the Serie A title continues as they beat Torino 4-0 whilst those around them falter. Inter lost at home to Juventus and Lazio managed a narrow 1-0 win over city rivals AS Roma in a feisty encounter.

In Spain, there were wins for Betis, Villareal, Real Sociedad and Getafe before the highlight of the day, the Classico in the evening. It was Barcelona that won the big match of the day thanks to a stoppage time winner, meaning that they are now 12 points ahead of their arch rivals. In Turkey, there were wins for Fenerbahce and Trabzonspor amongst others

Best of Midweek Matches

The next few days will be quieter than usual with International week approaching us. There are no top-level fixtures for the next three days, other than a few International friendlies on Wednesday. The International European Championship qualification matches start on Thursday. There are daily fixtures played over a week with highlights including Italy versus England, France against the Netherlands, Sweden taking on Belgium and Ireland playing France.