Barcelona’s horrifying result allows Real Madrid to go top, Bayern Munich and Juventus appear to have their respective league’s titles in the bag.
La Liga
Barcelona’s month-long La Liga winning streak came to a screeching halt on Sunday as they were shocked by Deportivo La Coruna, 2-1. The loss was even more of a letdown considering they had just completed a highly improbable come from behind win over PSG in their Champions League round of 16 tie on Wednesday that saw Barca erase a 4-0 first-leg deficit and turn it into a 6-5 aggregate win.
Real Madrid were more than happy to take over first place in La Liga, which they did by beating Real Betis thanks to goals from Cristiano Ronaldo and Sergio Ramos. They are now two points ahead of Barcelona and still possess that valuable game in hand.
The Barca loss also allowed third-place Sevilla to stay within three points of second place even though they drew at home to 17th-place Leganes. They will travel to fourth-place Atletico Mardid, winners of four of their last six league matches, on Sunday in what is the highest profile La Liga match of the week.
Real Madrid are also on the road as they travel to seventh-place Athletic Bilbao on Saturday. This is by no means a gimme for the leaders: Bilbao have won two on the bounce and drew away to Sevilla back on March 2. Barcelona will desperately want to get back on track as they host 13th-place Valencia on Sunday. How they bounce back after their terrible loss to Deportivo will say a lot about whether they can hang with Real Madrid for the rest of the season or not as they head into the international break.
Bundesliga
Third-place Borussia Dortmund failed to make up any ground on second-place RB Leipzig as both clubs lost on the weekend. BVB remain six points behind Leipzig thanks to a 2-1 away loss to fifth-place Hertha Berlin. RB Leipzig, likewise, had a disappointing showing at home against 14th-place Wolfsburg, losing 1-0. It seems no one wants to make a run at leaders Bayern Munich, who handed Eintracht Frankfurt their fifth straight Bundesliga loss.
Both Bayern and Dortmund advanced to the quarterfinals of the Champions League while Leverkusen’s campaign ended at the hands of Atletico Madrid. Christian Pulisic capped of a sparkling run of form for BVB with the opening goal of a 3-0 win over Lotte in the DFB Pokal this week.
https://twitter.com/si_soccer/status/841725656580919296
This marked the third goal — along with two assists — for the 18-year-old American in Dortmund’s last four games. His club will meet Bayern Munich in the semifinals in the German Cup; the sides have faced each other in the competition every year of the last six.
As for the Bundesliga, BVB host 17th-place Ingolstadt on Friday. On Saturday, Leipzig travel to 15th-place Werder Bremen, who are unbeaten in their last four matches, winning three. Bayern Munich, now 10 points clear at the top of the Bundesliga, travel to ninth-place Borussia Monchengladbach on Sunday.
Gladbach will be without U.S. international Fabian Johnson after he was forced to leave their Europa League match against Schalke on Thursday after only 16 minutes due to an apparent hamstring injury. It appears Johnson will miss the vital USMNT World Cup qualifiers during the international break next weekend.
Serie A
In the Champions League, Serie A leaders Juventus are on to the quarterfinals after strolling past Porto by an aggregate score of 3-0. Napoli flamed out against Real Madrid, losing 6-2 on aggregate.
Juve have built up an eight-point lead at the top of the table, winning five of their last six Serie A matches. They found the winner against seventh-place AC Milan last Friday in the 97th minute when Paulo Dybala buried a penalty. Juventus will travel to ninth-place Sampdoria on Sunday
The clubs ostensibly chasing the leaders — Roma, Napoli, Lazio, Inter Milan — all won last weekend. Second-place Roma host 13th-place Sassuolo while third-place Napoli travel to 17th-place Empoli, losers of their last five league matches, on Sunday.
Bonus Goal
This right here is outrageous. Manchester United castoff — currently playing for Lyon in Ligue 1 — Memphis Depay uncorks a rainbow from the damn midfield stripe against Toulouse.
United fans will be wondering where that was during his time in England.