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player ready...The weekend around the wide world of soccer ran the gamut of emotions and landmark moments across the European leagues.
From Liverpool’s and Inter’s constant frustrations popping up again, to a promising start for Manchester United’s great new hope, and the rightful coronation of PSG’s new all-time great, the Top Five is here again to recap the hot topics of the soccer weekend.
Before you now is the latest weekend edition of 90 Minutes’ Top Five.
1. Back to square one
Liverpool’s victory over Manchester City seems like such a distant memory.
Since that 4-3 thriller took place on January 14, the Reds have suffered two inexplicable losses, the latest coming on Saturday, being eliminated from the FA Cup in the fourth round by West Brom at Anfield, featuring a strong presence by the vaunted VAR system.
Although VAR is dominating the headlines and talking points, the real story is Liverpool’s defense yet again, even with Virgil Van Dijk on the pitch from the get-go, proving to be the spoiler to what, otherwise, should have been a bounce-back performance following the loss to Swansea five days earlier. After Mohamed Salah opened the score in the sixth minute, it took only took Jay Rodriguez four minutes to shred the Reds’ back line and turn the game right on its head. To add insult to injury, Joel Matip made it three after an own goal, making the night for Jurgen Klopp’s defense even more of a nightmare.
As far as VAR is concerned, this match showcased all the rights and wrongs of the system. Referee Craig Pawson went to the monitors several times during the match, in which VAR helped to ultimately make the correct decision every time. However, the constant stopping of the game, plus the time it took to review each situation, affected the flow of the match, which once again brought out criticism towards the system itself.
But regardless of what VAR did or not, whatever feeling of progress or page-turning came out of the City victory has been killed in a matter of two mind-blowing losses.
2. New king of Paris
Move over, Ibra. El Matador is king now.
Edinson Cavani scored his 157th goal for the French club in Saturday’s victory over Montpellier, making PSG history in the process. With the goal, the Uruguayan became the all-time leading scorer in club history, surpassing Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s record.
Cavani’s new honor is the most appropriate and deserving recognition for his consistency and greatness since arriving from Napoli in 2013, a year removed from Ibrahimovic’s move to Paris from AC Milan.
Since then, Cavani has found himself bumping shoulders with other alpha male-types, whether it was Ibra himself or, currently, Neymar and Kylian Mbappe. But through all the off-the-pitch situations, from acquiescing the striker role to Ibra, to the infamous penalty kick drama with Neymar, Cavani remains the true alpha male in the PSG locker room that always delivers.
157 goals later, Cavani now has his rightful place as one of the all-time greats in PSG’s history.
3. So far, so good
Not even a week went by before Jose Mourinho busted out his shiny new toy.
Friday’s FA Cup fixture against fourth-divsion featured the Manchester United debut of Alexis Sanchez, wearing the historic number seven jersey in the Red Devils’ 4-0 win.
The big talking point coming in to the the match was the positioning of Sanchez in the United lineup, and how exactly he would fit into the equation tactically. On paper, Sanchez was listed a starting as a left winger in a 4-3-3 formation. However, once the match unfolded, Sanchez was seen floating across the front line, constantly calling for the ball and looking to create offense.
The Chilean managed to provide some of the spark that United lacked in recent months, creating two of the four goals, and frequently feeding balls to Marcus Rashford and Romelu Lukaku.
It is only one match against a fourth-division opponent, but Alexis Sanchez’s performance is an encouraging sign for Manchester United’s rest of the season.
4. Inter’s free, free-falling
As Napoli and Juventus battle it out in a tight Scudetto race, Inter is drifting away farther and farther from the top of Serie A.
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The Nerazzurri find themselves in the middle of a nine-match winless streak after failing to defeat relegation-threatened SPAL on Sunday, blowing a one-goal lead in the final minutes of the match.
After rattling off a very impressive 15-match streak without a loss to start the season, during which Inter reached the top of the league for the first time in years, Inter’s season has free-fallen in spectacular fashion.
It all began on December 12, in what actually was one of their best performances of the season, drawing 0-0 with Juventus in Turin. That performance was followed by a less-than-impressive shootout win over third-division Podernone in Coppa Italia at the San Siro. Since then, Inter racked up losses to Sassuolo, Udinese, and AC Milan, and draws with Lazio, Fiorentina, Roma, and SPAL, averaging less than one goal per match.
Luciano Spalletti’s side now find themselves 13 points off the lead, out of the race for their first Serie A title since 2010, and even struggling to hold on to Champions League places.
5. Petersen bomb
The season has been going from bad to worse for Borussia Dortmund, from the ridiculously short Peter Bosz era, to the Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang soap opera, among others.
This weekend, Dortmund continued its lost season by barely salvaging a draw against Freiburg. However, the match did leave us with the best goal of the weekend, courtesy of Freiburg’s Nils Petersen, who had himself quite the match at the Signal Iduna Park.