a coronation of prestige for Liverpool, Benzema still a savior, Juventus continues its comeback … What to remember from the European weekend

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Once again, the weekend was once again rich in emotions on European lawns. Spain and Italy enjoyed a flurry of goals, while Chelsea and Liverpool fought a high-quality battle in the League Cup final. In Germany, Bayern consolidated their lead in the standings.

Ninth League Cup title for Liverpool

The suspense lasted until the end across the Channel, during the League Cup final between Liverpool and Chelsea. Despite the absence of a goal, the clash between the two Premier League leaders was of a very high level and of crazy intensity. The goalkeepers particularly distinguished themselves at Wembley, in particular the doorman of the Blues, Edouard Mendy, a real wall against Sadio Mané and others.

It was finally the Reds who won after a daunting penalty shootout (0-1, 10-11). Kepa Arrizabalaga, who came into play especially for the session as against Villarreal, will not have managed to repeat his performance in the European Supercup (he had made two saving saves for the Blues last August). Worse, the Spanish goalkeeper is the only one to miss his shot, a miss that gave victory to Jordan Henderson’s teammates. The ninth League Cup title for Liverpool, a record.

Benzema-Vinicius, the duo that does it all

The La Liga days follow one another and look alike for Real: Karim Benzema and Vinicius Junior once again saved the championship leader against Rayo Vallecano (1-0). At the very end of the game, the Frenchman opened the scoring, perfectly served by his Brazilian teammate (83rd). La Liga’s top two scorers hold the White House to themselves. Karim Benzema thus scored his 19th league goal in 23 appearances this season, while Vinicius Jr. delivered his sixth assist (his third for the Frenchman).

A Madrid success which also allowed Benzema to reach a new milestone, that of 400 victories with Real Madrid in official competition (99 draws, 91 defeats). The Merengues maintain their six-point lead over their runner-up, Sevilla FC, winner of the derby against Bétis on Sunday (2-0).

History Yeremi Pino!

He atomized Espanyol Barcelona. Yeremi Pino achieved an incredible performance by scoring a quadruple with Villarreal against Espanyol Barcelona (5-1), at just 19 years old. All in less than forty minutes (14th, 20th, 45th, 53rd). The Spanish midfielder has thus become the youngest player to offer himself a quadruple in La Liga. And the second youngest player, among the five major European championships, after Ousmane Dembélé, author of a quadruple with Rennes against Nantes in March 2016.

For his second pro season, Yeremi Pino impresses (six goals and four assists in 25 games). The little yellow submarine prodigy has allowed his team to stay in the Top 6 of the ranking.

Vlahovic’s Juventus no longer stops

Top scorer in the Italian league (20 goals), Dusan Vlahovic once again distinguished himself against Empoli (2-3), scoring twice with Juventus Turin. Arrived from Fiorentina a month ago, the Serb continues to take care of his ratio: four goals and an assist in six games in all competitions with Juve. While the Turinese had been joined in the score by the promoted Tuscan, the two achievements of Vlahovic allowed his team to continue their impressive series of incivility. Juve, which has not lost since November 27, 2021 in Serie A, now remains on 13 games without defeat.

Big blow from the Neapolitans elsewhere. By winning on the wire against Lazio, Naples temporarily regained the lead in the Italian championship, tied on points with AC Milan. In front until the last minutes of regulation time, the team of Lorenzo Insigne was joined thanks to the equalizer of Pedro (88th), before Fabian Ruiz delivered his team in the very last seconds of the meeting (90th +4, 1-2). The Neapolitans, however, have one game more than Inter, currently third two points behind the leader, and the other Milan club.

Also worth noting is Giovanni Simeone’s hat-trick in the match between Hella Verona and Venezia (3-1). Author of a quadruple last October (against Lazio, 4-1), the Argentinian, the son of Diego Simeone, has scored 15 goals in Serie A since the start of the season (third top scorer in the Italian championship).

Bayern fly to a 32nd title

The Bavarians carried out a very good operation during the 24th day of the Bundesliga. Winners in Frankfurt (1-0, goal from Leroy Sané in the 71st) on Saturday, Julian Nagelsmann’s players took advantage of Dortmund’s draw on Sunday (1-1 in Augsburg) to take off in the standings. The leader is now eight points ahead of his runner-up, Borussia, ten days before the end of the championship. Bayern can begin to dream of a 32nd Bundesliga title, the ninth in a row.


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