Friday, 25.10.2024
Twitter: @flyingwingback
Valencia had a disappointing 2013/14 season, finishing eighth in the La Liga. Nuno Espirito Santo took over as manager in July 2014, and by anyone’s standards, let alone a manager with as little experience as him, he has done fantastic things with the club.
Boca Juniors extended their unbeaten run to fifteen matches with this comprehensive win over an out-of-form Estudiantes team.
Both sides were without arguably their most established players with Boca’s Fernando Gago currently injured, and Alvaro Pereira unavailable for Estudiantes as he is on international duty with Uruguay.
Historically the biggest match in English football, the latest edition of this great rivalry served up the drama, controversy but overall the quality this fixture has become famous for.
Atletico Madrid scraped past Bayer Leverkusen at the Vincente Calderon to make it into the Champions League quarter-finals. Just like the first leg, it was a tight affair played between two teams that revolve their play around intense pressing and quick transitions.
It was unlikely that this year’s edition of Chelsea-PSG in the Champions league would top last year’s in terms of drama, but it certainly did and was an interesting match tactically too.
With Olympique Marseille’s recent drop in form, rumours about Bielsa’s future and players (Doria) speaking out publicly against the manager, it looked like L’OM’s title hopes were over. 1-6 was probably a flattering scoreline, but an encouraging one nonetheless.
Borussia Dortmund bounced back from their midweek loss to Juventus to extend their Bundesliga winning run to four matches with a complete domination of a defensive Schalke side in the Ruhr derby.
Barcelona ended any speculation that their form would drop off following their loss to Malaga at the weekend with an impressive performance, particularly in the first half. Despite being outclassed in the first half, City could take some positives due to their second half display, coming close to scorer an equaliser.
Villarreal and Red Bull Salzburg are two of the few European teams that are leading the resurgence of the 4-4-2 after the formation became very rarely used in top-level teams in the late 2000’s/early 2010’s.
This match was probably the most highly anticipated Copa Libertadores match of this week due to the nature of the rivalry between the two Brazilian giants as well as the clubs being among the most successful in recent Libertadores history, each winning the competition within the last ten years.