Hope you had a good weekend ? This weekend was a very action packed one in the world of sports; with the football season getting to the business end.
Below, we give you all the sports updates and the interesting talking points from this weekend;
NADAL, DJOKOVIC WIN TITLES IN ACAPULCO AND DUBAI RESPECTIVELY
Djokovic and Nadal maintained their dominance of men’s tennis by winning tournaments on opposite sides of the world on Saturday. In Dubai, Djokovic beat Stefanos Tsitsipas in straight sets to win his 21st consecutive match. While in Acapulco, Nadal eased to victory at the Mexican Open by outclassing Taylor Fritz. World no. 2, Rafael Nadal won the title at the ATP 500 event in Acapulco for the third time, beating Taylor Fritz 6-3, 6-2 in an hour and 14 minutes for his first success here on hard courts. It is the 85th ATP crown for Rafa and the 22nd on hard courts, celebrating for the first time since the US Open last September to stay in the know.
REAL MADRID WINS EL-CLASSICO!
Real Madrid beat Barcelona in a thrilling El Clasico to move above their rivals at the top of La Liga. Vinicius Junior drove in via a deflection in a second half packed with chances after Isco saw a shot saved and an effort cleared off the goalline. Substitute Mariano struck in added time as Real moved a point clear of Barca.
Real Madrid finished third last season – 19 points behind champions Barca – but the tight nature of the title race this time around added significance on the fixture in the Spanish capital Sports.
Real Madrid manager Zinedine Zidane said: “We deserve our victory for everything we did, in attack and defence. It has been a complicated week for us and we had the chance to turn things around, and we did that. “But this win also doesn’t change anything. We have a long way to go and we have to continue. We’ve got three important points but we’ll have more difficult games and we will be criticised again.”
Barcelona manager Quique Setien spoke as well: “We were clear about what we had to do. We had to wait for our moment and be patient and try to keep the ball. “In the second half I can’t understand why we started to lose the ball so easily. We were able to breathe life back into Real Madrid. It was a shame we weren’t to take the form of the first half into the second.”
MAN CITY WIN FIRST SILVERWARE OF THE SPORTS SEASON
Manchester City’s dominance of English football continued after they won a third successive Carabao Cup. Goals from Sergio Aguero and Rodri before Mbwana Samatta’s reply saw City beat Aston Villa 2-1 at Wembley.
Pep Guardiola has won two Premier Leagues, three League Cups, an FA Cup and two Community Shields with City since he became their manager. “Since we started to win, the last nine [domestic] competitions we played, we won eight,” he told BBC Radio 5 Live. “That is awesome. No club before in the history of domestic trophies, not counting Europe, won the amount of titles in a row as we have won”.
LIVERPOOL FALTER IN BID TO MATCH ARSENAL’S INVINCIBILITY
Liverpool will win the title but there will be no unbeaten league campaign for Jurgen Klopp’s side after they were thrashed 3-0 by relegation-threatened Watford on Saturday evening.
Ismaila Sarr, with two goals in six second-half minutes, took the game away from Klopp’s side before Troy Deeney, Watford’s captain and talisman, added a third.
Arsenal’s 49 match unbeaten record remains intact. The Gunners’ stunning unbeaten record had looked under threats this season, with Liverpool beating all before them. Liverpool posted 25 wins and one draw in their first 26 games of the season to steam roll everyone at the top of the Premier League table. Those 26 games, added to 18 at the end of last season meant the Reds were on an astonishing 44-game unbeaten run. Jurgen Klopp’s side was chasing two incredible records. They were 11 games away from going a whole season unbeaten. Thereby matching, and in fact bettering Arsenal’s Invincible of the 2003/04 campaign, until they lost.
CORONA VIRUS AFFECTS FOOTBALL GAMES IN ITALY
Six Serie A games in Italy were cancelled over the weekend as Italian authorities battle to contain the spread of corona virus. The league said it has been rescheduled for Wednesday, 13 May alongside the five other games, including Juventus’ game at home to Inter Milan.
Fans from Atalanta were screened for symptoms as they entered the stadium at Lecce before a 7-2 win. The virus has killed 34 people and infected more than 1,600 in Italy. The Italian government has stopped sporting activities in the northern regions of Lombardy, Veneto and Emilia-Romagna. These areas have been worst hit, until 8th of March, unless they are held behind closed doors. It follows last weekend’s disruption when four Serie A games in Milan, Bergamo, Verona and Turin were suspended and Serie B side Cremonese drove 300 miles to Ascoli, only to be sent home upon arrival.