A Merseyside Derby to remember…
Thankfully, Sadio Mane more or less ensured that we saw an entertaining game by scoring very early on. Ultimately, Liverpool should feel hard done by especially considering the fact that Van Dijk was injured early on – with no punishment to Pickford, the culprit- and they had a very good goal chalked off as Mane was adjudged to have been offside.
Ultimately, Carlo Ancelotti and Everton would be thankful to VAR that they were able to maintain their unbeaten run and maintain their spot on the top of the Premier League table. The absence of Richarlison due to his straight red may pose a bit of a problem for the upcoming fixtures and this is where Carlo Ancelotti gets to earn his money as a manager.
For Liverpool, this was a marked improvement especially against their town rivals away from home especially as they were whitewashed the last time they played away from home. On another day, they would have been going home with three points in the bag. A long-term injury to Van Dijk is potentially a huge problem for Klopp. On the bright side, the re-introduction of Joel Matip could not have come at a better time. They cannot afford to lose any other defender, or any other important player for that matter.
Real Madrid lose at home, Barcelona lose at Getafe.
Hosting newly promoted Cadiz should have been a very straightforward win for Real Madrid, till it was not. Well, no football game is straightforward these days. Cadiz could have scored more and even Sergio Ramos even went on to clear a goal bound effort off the line.
For Real Madrid, not being able to claw even a draw after going behind in the 17th minute is not a good look. It is still early days and luckily, their closest rivals also lost during the weekend as well.
For Barcelona, they were really poor against Getafe. They had just a handful of chances specifically the one where Antoine Griezmann messed up a great chance. Again, their only luck is that their rivals were (more or less) as bad as they were. The dependence on Messi is still glaring for all to see and the departure of Suarez will ultimately be felt. If Ronald Koeman and his gang want to keep getting good results, then the likes of Dembele, Griezmann would have to come to the party.
Zlatan owns the Milan derby..
From testing positive to corona virus to scoring twice in the derby, Zlatan got the penalty (and missed it, although he converted the rebound) and then scored the second to give Stefano Pioli the lead against Inter Milan. For Milan, being top of the Serie A is an impressive feat. All that is left is for them to maintain that position for 38 games.
