da betcris：
da esport bet： Club football is back, and it’s always tough to get back into the swing of things again. After two weeks of complaining about missing football, when it does come back you realise you’ve found other things. Then you snap out of it and profess your love to football once more.The saving grace of the international break is that the fixtures just afterwards are usually interesting ones. You can’t spend two weeks in the wilderness complaining about football only to find out that the biggest game of the first weekend back is the fourth placed team playing a midtable mediocrity.The weekend just past didn’t disappoint like that. Oh. No.We had massive games in Germany, Italy and Spain as well as in England, where the Euro Roundup kept a smug eye on the fairly dull occasion that was Manchester United v Arsenal, and a jealous eye on Tottenham v West Ham.This week’s Euro Roundup is concerned that English football might get its groove back…
Germany
It all kicked again in Germany on Friday night, minimal waiting for club football to return.
And what a kick off it was: RB Leipzig defeated Bayer Leverkusen 3-2 after trailing 2-1 at half time in a game which saw two goals in the first five minutes. The Euro Roundup is always baffled by the hatred elicited by RB Leipzig given the lack of hatred there seems to be for the likes of Bayer Leverkusen, a club whose name is given by the German pharmaceutical company whose company owns Monsanto, the manufacturer of the controversial (!) agricultural chemical Roundup.
Well, in the Capitalism derby, Bayer (whose name is allowed to appear on Leverkusen’s badge, were defeated by Red Bull (whose name isn’t).
That victory laid down a marker to the rest of the league and put Leipzig on top spot in the Bundesliga table ahead of Bayern Munich’s trip to Dortmund for the biggest game of the weekend.
It turned out it was a huge game, in fact, as Dortmund beat Bayern thanks to an early Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang goal, leaving Bayern three points off Leipzig at the top, and only three points ahead of Dortmund below them. This season could get interesting at the top yet. Or Leipzig could run away with it.
Elsewhere, Schalke’s climb up the table continued with a win over Wolfsburg and high-flying Hoffenheim could only manage a draw at home to bottom of the table Hamburg, whose position at the bottom of the table was actually improved with that point. But they’re still five points adrift of safety. Hoffenheim, on the other hand, are currently on a run of 11 Bundesliga games without defeat, which is their best top flight run ever.
France
The international break in Ligue 1 ended before it finished anywhere else, as Monaco took on Lorient in an early Friday tea-time fixture and managed a comprehensive 3-0 win to keep the pressure on PSG – who played on Saturday – and Nice – who played on Sunday.
So onto PSG, who rested players ahead of their midweek Champions League showdown with Arsenal to see who will top that group. PSG didn’t have it all their own way, An injury to Angel di Maria was a downer for the Parisians – though his first goal of the season was definitely a plus – whilst they had Kevin Trapp to thank for some wonderful saves before they finally put the game to bed in a 2-0 win.
And then it was on to Nice who maintained their lead at the top of the table thanks to a 1-0 win away to St Etienne. It’s as you were, then in Ligue 1.
Italy
Of all the leagues in Europe, the one we expected to be the least competitive in terms of a title race was probably France, but with the money that Juventus spent in the summer poaching the best players from other clubs in their own league, perhaps it shouldn’t be surprising that Serie A is the league which looks least likely to have a title race this season.
That said, the intrigue in Italy isn’t in who wins the title – Juve are now a full 7 points ahead of Roma who were defeated this weekend – but in the battle for the league’s other two remaining Champions League spots.
Only six points separates second place from eighth place, but only two of those seven teams can make it into the Champions League. Napoli, Fiorentina and Joe Hart’s Torino all won this weekend, whilst Atalanta’s victory over Roma lifted them into the Champions League chase. The 2-2 draw in the Milan derby means that the only two clubs in the top eight who didn’t win were second and third placed Milan and Roma. So just when you think there may be a chance of a title race, it’s only the teams just below Juventus who lose….
Spain
There was a time only a few weeks ago when the Euro Roundup was bragging about Spanish football and telling everyone it met about how tight the top of the table was. You had the normal three powerhouses towards the top of the table, but Sevilla, Athletic Bilbao and Villarreal were up there, too. Well, not any more.
Real Madrid opened up a four point gap at the top of the table this weekend: their 3-0 victory over city-rivals Atletico left them nine points ahead of Diego Simeone’s side, four above Barcelona, and kept their status as the only unbeaten side in the league intact. It also leaves Cristiano Ronaldo with yet another broken record….
And as we always say about Barcelona, they are incredibly vulnerable after the international break: with so many of their main players having to travel to South America for international duty, it’s hardly surprising that their worst results seem to come in the first game back.
Their 0-0 draw with Malaga meant it was a great weekend for Real Madrid, and also for Sevilla, who came from behind to beat Deportivo La Coruna 3-2 thanks to yet another late showing.
Elsewhere, Valencia’s curse continues: they drew 1-1 with Granada and are currently only two points above the relegation zone. But if Osasuna win the Monday night game against Leganes, that gap will be cut to only one point. It seems a long time ago that Valencia were challenging for European places, let alone titles.