Barcelona can’t catch Real Madrid, Philipp Lahm is hanging up his boots and Juve may be running away with the title for good this time.
La Liga
Barcelona have played two more league games than Real Madrid and they still can’t catch the leaders (they trail Real by a point). And it looks like they won’t be making up any ground this week as Real Madrid travel to last place Osasuna. Barca, also on the road Saturday, should come away with three points of their own against 12th place Alaves.
Sevilla, who were tied on points with Barca before last weekend, are still in third despite drawing with Villarreal. They are now winless in their last two league matches and travel to 11th-place Las Palmas on Sunday. Atletico Madrid are trying to stay relevant in La Liga as they currently sit in fourth, four points behind Sevilla. Fernando Torres is somehow still scoring goals, netting a brace last week against Leganes.
Bundesliga
Bayern Munich finally stopped winning as they played visiting Schalke to a 1-1 draw last Saturday. On top of that, longtime captain Philipp Lahm announced that he’ll be retiring after the current Bundesliga season ends. On the bright side, second-place RB Leipzig also lost on Saturday. The leaders get to travel to 17th-place Inglostadt. Expect them to get their groove back.
Although they’re still seven points clear of third-place Frankfurt, the sheen of RB Leipzig has taken on a few smudges. The out-of-nowhere side have lost three of their last six league matches. They, too, get a bit of a reprieve on the weekend in the form of 16th-place Hamburg, who Leipzig host on Saturday.
Borussia Dortmund were the latest club to nick Leipzig’s armor, winning 1-0 in Dortmund. American Christian Pulisic has taken on the role of supersub lately, evidenced by his entrance at halftime of BVB’s cup tie against John Brooks and Hertha Berlin on Wednesday.
Here is a video of Christian Pulisic's assist for BVB in the German cup today vs. Hertha. https://t.co/dBjmwxF73r #USMNT
— Brian Sciaretta (@BrianSciaretta) February 8, 2017
Two minutes later he was assisting on the equalizer, scored by Marco Reus. Dortmund would go onto win in penalties, although Pulisic missed his PK. BVB also have a favorable matchup this weekend as they travel to dead-last Darmstadt on Saturday.
Serie A
There were three midweek Serie A matches this week for some reason, and they included top two Juventus and Roma. Roma sent Fiorentina back to Florence with their tail between their legs after a 4-0 beat down. Edin Dzeko was at it again with another brace. This brought the Romans within four points of the leaders.
However, the very next day, Juve extended their lead to seven points, winning 2-0 away to Crotone. Napoli continue to nip at Roma’s heels from third place. After hanging seven goals on Bologna last Saturday, they’re two points out of second place. Napoli host 16th-place Genoa on Friday.
Roma and Juve will both be expecting three points on the road this weekend: the Romans face 19th-place Crotone while Juventus take on 15th-place Cagliari.
Next: Will Arsenal finish in the top four?
Bonus Goal
You can bet if an American playing in Europe found the back of the net over the previous week we’ll find the video and put it here. This week it’s Bobby Wood utilizing his pace and strength to blow by Cologne’s defense and score during Hamburg’s big German Cup win on Tuesday. They may be third from the bottom in the Bundesliga table, but continuing this cup run could lead to more inspired play in the league.
https://twitter.com/si_soccer/status/829045207383552000
Well played, Bobby. Well played.