European football is about to return to the midweek evenings, and – as is customary – in April, Arsenal are playing domestic football on a Monday night instead of on Tuesday or Wednesday.What is not so customary about this week, though, is that England’s sole representative in the Champions League quarter-finals is Leicester City. The English champions will play Atletico Madrid, and whilst Diego Simeone’s side isn’t the toughest draw that Craig Shakespeare’s side could have drawn, it’s certainly not easy: every draw would have seen Leicester made underdogs.Still, the prospect of the English champions, with their searing counter-attacks, go head to head with Atletico, one of the best counter-attacking sides in European football makes this tie just as exciting the likes of Bayern Munich v Real Madrid, and Barcelona v Juventus.
Spain
And this weekend, Atleti played perhaps an even bigger game. Hidden away from a British TV audience due to the country’s 3pm blackout, Leicester City will probably have had to watch the highlights of the game if they didn’t find a dodgy stream to watch it.
If they did see it, they’ll have watched a spirited Atletico find a way to come back from 1-0 down at the Bernabeu to sneak a late equaliser courtesy of arguably the best player outside of the El Clasico clubs, Real and Barcelona. Manchester United have been sniffing around Antoine Griezmann of late, though the latest reports now seem to suggest that Atleti are doing all they can to keep the Frenchman by offering him a new contract. You can see why with his contribution to a side who have won as many league titles, and appeared in as many Champions League finals as Real Madrid over the last eight years.
That goal from Griezmann looked like throwing the title race wide open. Going into the weekend, Real Madrid were two points clear of their Catalan rivals with a game in hand to boot, but that draw saw them drop points and gave Barcelona the chance to go level on points.
As it happened, though, Luis Enrique’s side slumped to a 2-0 defeat away to Malaga to allow Real to actually extend their lead at the top of the table. And if one Manchester United target blew the doors to the title race wide open for Barcelona, it was another reported object of United’s affections, Neymar, who was sent off for two bookable offences, handing their lifeline straight back to Real Madrid as quickly as it arrived. His red card will see him serve an automatic one-game ban and miss next weekend’s clash with Real Sociedad, but he may also see that ban extended for appearing to applaud the fourth official as he walked down the tunnel.
The title could be coming back to the Bernabeu for the first time since 2012.
Italy
It’s as you were in Italy, though, as Juventus warmed up for the visit of Barcelona on Tuesday with a routine 2-0 win over Chievo.
Gonzalo Higuain scored twice for the Old Lady as a goal in the first half and another one in the second put the game beyond Chievo and put his side nine points above Roma, before their game with Bologna the next day.
Yet, with the pressure well and truly on, Roma cut the lead back to six points after an impressive 3-0 victory – and including Edin Dzeko’s 34th goal of the season.
Whilst Juventus have to think about Barcelona in the Champions League, as well as keeping their treble dreams alive, Roma don’t have any more distractions in their quest for an unlikely comeback and first league title since 2001. There may be six points between the two sides, but they will meet each other just three weeks before the end of the season, and just a week after local rivals Torino attempt to spoil the Juventus party – there’s still life in Roma yet. Indeed, the capital side’s goal difference is one better than Juve’s, mostly thanks to Dzeko’s strike rate.
But perhaps the biggest game of the weekend was Napoli’s trip to the capital to face Lazio, in what could have been a Champions League shootout. Lazio, only four points behind third-placed Lazio, were hoping to close the gap to just one point to make Napoli’s run-in that bit more difficult – but a 3-0 victory for Maurizio Sarri’s side means the gap is a much more comfortable seven points, as the Champions League spots look sewn up.
Germany
If there was ever a title race after Christmas in Germany, there certainly isn’t one now.
Bayern Munich’s 4-1 victory over Borussia Dortmund on Saturday put paid to any slim hopes of a title race. More importantly, though, the result will surely impact the form of two teams with very difficult Champions League quarter-final ties this week.
Bayern will face Real Madrid on top form, after two early goals put Dortmund on the back foot, before adding two more after half time: though presumably Real Madrid will be more inclined to stop Arjen Robben from cutting in onto his left foot than Marc Bartra was.
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For Dortmund, however, a heavy defeat was not ideal preparation for taking on perhaps the most fearsome attack in world football right now, Monaco. They’ll have to do much better to stop Kylian Mbappe and co, though any attack with Ousmane Dembele, Christian Pulisic and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has a chance against Monaco, whose defence can often look porous.
More worrying for Dortmund, however, is the fact that they now find themselves in fourth spot in the league table. Although Hertha Berlin in fifth are surely too far back (seven points) to sneak into the Champions League places, a fourth place finish would see Thomas Tuchel’s side face a qualifying round before the group stages – though as Monaco have shown this season, victory in a European play-off round can really kick-start a season.
France
Speaking of title races around Europe sounds a little bit like clutching at straws, these days. Spain, Italy and Germany – not to mention England – all look to be heading in one direction, barring a major collapse this season. France, however, is a stunning exception.
In fact, Friday night showed that there are still three teams in this race, even if Nice have played a game more than both Paris Saint-Germain and Monaco, and still find themselves in third.
From 1-0 down to Lille, Lucien Favre’s side came back to win the game 2-1 thanks to two goals from Mario Balotelli. That result briefly lifted Nice into second, but more important was the embarrassing 4-1 defeat for Lyon at home to Lorient of the relegation zone. That means Nice will be guaranteed a Champions League spot if they pick up three more points in their final six games.
It was also a result which was even more embarrassing for Memphis Depay, whose tweet before the match could well have been printed out and pinned to the dressing room wall in les Merlus’ (the hakes, oddly) dressing room.
Elsewhere, Paris Saint-Germain followed both Nice and Monaco this weekend, as all three picked up maximum points. Edinson Cavani scored his 42 goal in just 41 games this season – even if he did only make three passes in the first half – whilst Radamel Falcao netted for Leonardo Jardim’s side in a victory over Angers.
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