The Euro Preview: Messi and Ronaldo play best when it matters most
Lionel Messi is leading Barcelona to the Liga title, while Cristiano Ronaldo is keeping pace by trying to get Real Madrid a third straight Champions League.
La Liga
Europe’s major domestic leagues are largely about crowning a champion, but it’s also about the top teams gaining access to the Champions League. In Spain, two clubs, Barcelona and Real Madrid, are the ones typically contending for the league title. This season, Barca are running away with it, while Real’s inconsistent form has hurt them in the table.
Nonetheless, there’s still a talent gap between Barca and Real and the remaining Liga field. Real, currently third in the standings, are trying to guarantee a spot in next season’s top European competition.
Barca and Real’s success is largely due to the two best players in the world. For the Catalan giants, Lionel Messi remains the focal point in midfield and attack. The squad revolves around him. The Argentine has nearly single-handedly dragged this team to success this season. His 24 league goals (and 12 assists) in 26 matches, out of the team’s 72 overall goals, are a testament to that. Messi is expected to start for Ernesto Valverde’s side when they host 12th-place Athletic Bilbao this Sunday at the Camp Nou. Barca hold an an eight-point lead over Atletico Madrid in the table.
A recent power ranking composed by Sky Sports of Liga players, taking into account several factors, found that the 30-year-old Messi may be having the season of his career. In its assessment, Sky Sports noted: “This season Messi is the top scorer in La Liga. He’s got the most assists too. Put them together and he’s directly contributed to exactly half of Barcelona’s goals as they head towards the title: 36 of their 72 goals. They couldn’t have done it without him.”
The defending league champions, meanwhile, have also become increasingly reliant on Cristiano Ronaldo. The team’s fortunes both grew and fell on the shoulders of the Portuguese striker for much of this season. His 18 league goals in 22 games have him scoring at nearly a similar rate as his rival Messi.
Following last Saturday’s 2-1 win against Eibar, Real coach Zinedine Zidane praised Ronaldo as being “from another galaxy” after his two-goal performance. Ronaldo has now scored in his last seven games across all competitions. Real Madrid host seventh-place Girona on Sunday at the Santiago Bernabeu.
“What he has is so positive. He knows he is going to score. He is a different player, special. His stats speak for themselves,” Zidane said. “We did not play at our best, but Cristiano knows what to do, with few chances he can score many goals.”
For World Cup fans the good news is that both players are hitting their stride just in time for this summer’s tournament in Russia.
Serie A
After months of chasing Napoli, Juventus have taken control of Italy’s top flight. Indeed, the battle for the scudetto shows Juve in control with a four-point lead.
“We know that it is totally up to us now in the league,” Juventus’ star playmaker Paulo Dybala said earlier in the week. “We knew it was going to be hard after the emotions of [the Champions League victory against Tottenham] Wednesday and we could have eased off, but we showed personality and experience [against Udinese].”
Last Sunday’s 2-0 victory at home versus Udinese, coupled with another 2-0 win in its makeup match Wednesday against Atalanta in Turin, has propelled Massimiliano Allegri’s side. At the same time, Napoli manager Maurizio Sarri said he isn’t at all surprised to see Juventus jump ahead.
“If they win [the league], then of course you’ve just got to applaud them,” he told Mediaset after his side’s scoreless draw at Inter Milan on Sunday. “We’re not the richest or the strongest club in Italy, anyway. We are not the ones who are obligated to win.
“We’ve just got to try the best we possibly can to the end. My boys performed well and if other teams get 105 points, then all credit to them,” he added. “But let it be clear, this group still believes they can absolutely win it all.”
Juventus play at 18th-place Spal on Saturday. Napoli host 13th-place Genoa the following day at the San Paolo.
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Bundesliga
It was just last week that this space was singing the praises of Marco Reus. And why not? He’s one of the best players in Germany. The Borussia Dortmund striker signed a contract extension four years through 2023.
The club said last Friday that the 28-year-old Reus’ earlier-than-expected decision to commit to his hometown side allows them to plan for the future. One has to wonder what Dortmund could have achieved this season had Reus have been healthy since August.
“There are several factors for my contract extension,” he told reporters on Sunday after Dortmund’s dramatic 3-2 home win against Eintracht Frankfurt. “First of all, it’s important to have clarity about my future ahead of the deciding stretch of the season and ahead of a World Cup.
“Second of all, it’s about showing the club and my teammates that something can develop here. I hope it’s a signal,” he added. “I hope that we finish the season on a Champions League spot and then continuously build something sustainable. If that happens, I think we will have bright future.”
Reus recently returned to the lineup after an eight-month layoff following a rupture of his right cruciate ligament suffered during Dortmund’s DFB-Pokal final win last May versus Eintracht Frankfurt.
Dortmund, currently in third place in Germany’s top flight, face 12th-place Hannover on Sunday. On the same day, league leaders Bayern Munich play on the road against sixth-place RB Leipzig.
Bayern currently hold a commanding 20-point lead atop the table against Schalke 04.