The eyes of the wide world of soccer were glued to the high-profile El Clasico with hope of a spectacle worthy two of the best clubs in the world. It was a spectacle, all right, but for the wrong reasons.
This weekend, Barcelona and Real Madrid boxed to a time-limit draw, the Chicago Fire received a rough welcome back home, Chelsea heated up the top four race, and the chase for the Scudetto took a very familiar turn.
Relax from a feisty Clasico with the latest edition of 90 Minutes’ Top Five.
1. Escapeability
Barcelona’s unbeaten season just survived its most dangerous threat in more than one way.
The Catalans pulled out a draw from a tense, feisty edition of El Clasico despite the heightened hostility and the absence of Sergi Roberto for the entirety of the second half.
Not only did they keep their unblemished record, but also plowed through a match that decayed into more of a backyard brawl for most of it rather than a soccer match between two of the best in the world.
Referee Alejandro Jose Hernandez Hernandez did not help matters, in fact made everything more volatile and dangerous for the home side and a Real Madrid team that has a Champions League final in the horizon, and suffered the absence of Cristiano Ronaldo due to injury.
What should have been a premiere spectacle ended up being a broken mess of a street game among angry school boys reminiscent of the Mourinho-Guardiola days.
Barcelona will go on their merry way to an unbeaten season, and Madrid perhaps to a 13th European title. Instead, the referee’s decisions and the scuffles dominate the post-game talk.
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2. Not all was lost
Home, not-so-sweet home.
The Chicago Fire’s return to home soil did not go the way of recent results, succumbing to Eastern Conference leaders Atlanta United, 2-1 on Saturday.
But despite the result, a big-picture evaluation of the match does yield more positive aspects than negative for Veljko Paunovic’s team.
Yes, they made two costly mistakes that ended up being the difference. Take away those first seven minutes in the second half, and the Fire had arguably the most complete performance of the season along with the Red Bulls game.
For starters, Chicago finally got off to a strong start to a game, one in which Paunovic deviated from the back three defensive line to a back four, with Bastian Schweinsteiger farther up the pitch.
That move brought along another improvement, on the offensive side. Schweinsteiger’s involvement in the attack provided the kind of help in transition and creation the Fire lacked since switching to the 5-2-3 formation.
These two aspects of the team’s play have been the biggest ills plaguing the Fire, costing them game after game.
Facing one of the best teams in MLS like Atlanta United was a good temperature check for the Fire. Paunovic’s team is still not quite up to par, but Saturday’s loss showed plenty of reasons to believe they are on the right path.
3. Better late than never
After declaring their options for Champions League dead not so long ago, Antonio Conte and Chelsea suddenly find themselves with a real chance to actually make it.
Tottenham’s inexplicable to West Ham opened the door for the Blues, who took full advantage by defeating a Liverpool side featuring its best XI with Mohamed Salah aboard.
As Arsene Wenger was bidding farewell to the Arsenal faithful, one of the players discarded by the French manager in January, Olivier Giroud, delivered another stellar performance as the starting striker.
Just like Spurs’ losses have been Chelsea’s gains, the same can be said about Olivier Giroud and Alvaro Morata’s situation.
The Spaniard has struggled mightily with injuries in the second half of the season, costing him his spot in Conte’s XI. Thankfully for the Italian, he was able to bring on Giroud, the man who has a great hand in Chelsea’s current situation in terms of the top four.
Chelsea need one more stumble by Spurs and a victory of their own to overtake Mauricio Pochettino’s club in fourth place.
4. At the doorstep
Today’s’ Serie A update will not be quite as exciting as in previous weeks after this weekend’s results.
The one-hot Scudetto race is on the brink of a very familiar end. Six-time defending champions Juventus took a giant step towards seven in a row, despite a bit of an early scare.
Juve fell to an early deficit but ended up overcoming Bologna in Turin on Saturday, putting even more pressure on their immediate rivals.
On Sunday, Napoli shot themselves in the foot for the second consecutive week, this time dropping two more points thanks to a late draw with Torino at the San Paolo, extending their gap to six points with two games left.
In other words, get ready for the same images of Juventus lifting the Italian league trophy once again come next week when they visit Roma. Then again, we know Roma can be the perfect spoilers just when things seem all wrapped up.
5. Goal of the Weekend
This weekend was anything but the best for Stoke City after being relegated from the Premier League for the first time in their short top-flight history.
They went down, but they went down with a bang.
Say what you will about Xherdan Shaqiri, the man can launch some absolute bombs. Saturday was no exception, blasting a free kick past Wayne Hennessey.
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