Kane gave Bayern hope and Atlético unexpectedly failed. Events of the day in football.
Georgy Ilyushchenko February 25, 2024, 01:30 Moscow time Audio version: Your browser does not support the audio element.
And also Newcastle’s defeat against Arsenal, a great Barça and Morata’s great mistake.
Football Saturday was quite hectic. We talk about the biggest and brightest things in our traditional summary.
Manchester United got a draw and lost it immediately.
In the first round, United barely beat Fulham thanks to Bruno’s goal in added time (1-0). A much safer victory was planned, because the Mancunians accumulated up to 13 points in the last five rounds, which few expected from them. And the meeting took place at Old Trafford. As a result, the “dacha residents” not only did not give in, but even had three points taken away from them.
Bassey approached Pereira’s corner, but hit his teammate directly. To score on the second try. The 89th minute marked the comeback for the locals, and Maguire scored! Bruno shot at goal from distance. Leno managed, but Harry was relentless in finishing in empty spaces. United raced to victory but were hit with a counterattack. At 90+7, Iwobi, after a pass and a pass, eliminated two opponents on the swing and cleverly shot into the near corner. Now the gap between Manchester United and fourth-placed Aston Villa is eight points. Goodbye Champions League?
Surprisingly, this hasn’t happened since 2009:
Manchester United miraculously equalized in the 89th minute! But he still managed to lose
Villa almost lost a big lead
Talking about the people of Birmingham. His significant advantage over Manchester United was made possible by his success in the match against Nottingham Forest. Although it wasn’t that easy. In the forty minute, the lead was three goals: Watkins and Louis wrote their names on the scoreboard twice. It was too early to relax and the Foresters showed it: at the beginning of the second half, with the help of Nyakate and Gibbs-White, they were already trailing by a single goal. In both goals there were many moments: not a game, but a complete swing. If Nottingham had returned, their fans would have created legends about it. And yet, the decisive blow was for Bailey.
Villa almost lost a big lead
Photo: Catherine Ivill/Getty Images
City almost stumbles against Bournemouth
Guardiola’s team received three points early, because Bournemouth had not yet won the Premier League in 2024. What does it have to do with City, right? As it turned out, there is somewhere. Midway through the first half of the game, Kovacic threw at Haaland, and the Norwegian fired a rebound off the grass. Neto deflected the shot straight towards Foden, who scored easily. The favorite controlled the game calmly and did not especially try to crush his opponent.
The locals felt the relaxation of the champions and began to create moment after moment. Just evaluate the shot statistics: 13 for Bournemouth and 15 for City. In the 90th minute, Unal missed the best opportunity: the Turk nodded, Ederson couldn’t stop, but the ball went slightly wide of the post. The blue Manchester is once again one point behind Liverpool. And Arsenal are ahead of him.
City almost stumbles against Bournemouth
Photo: Clive Rose/Getty Images
Arsenal left Newcastle no chance
If anyone expected intrigues here, the “gunners” severely disappointed him. Newcastle just didn’t show up. Only Willock, who closed Burn’s pass and ruined the former team’s spirit a bit. It’s just that earlier Arsenal gifted the Magpies four goals and dominated the entire 90 minutes. At first, Botman cut the ball into his own goal after a corner kick from Saki. Later, Martinelli crossed for Havertz, and the German finished from the goal line.
In the second half the beating continued. Saka burst into the area, overtook her opponent and shot beautifully into the far corner. A little later, White took a corner kick to the near post and the ball bounced off Miley and into the goal. At the same time, Karius could have helped, but he remembered the old days and played clumsily. The result in shots was 17:3. If the Gunners are not slowed down by defensive play, like Porto in the Champions League (0-1), it will be difficult to stop them.
Barça crushed Getafe
Barcelona is too unstable and can lose points out of nowhere. And then there is the game against Getafe, where the Catalans only managed to score one goal in their last four games. And yet, now they have no problem. Already in the first half, Barça had several one-on-one opportunities and should have scored at least three times, but Raphinha only got it right once.
What didn’t work in the first half worked in the second: Félix, de Jong and Fermín showed off their rival, and each goal was the result of magnificent strikes. Simply in the best traditions of that same team with Xavi, Iniesta and Messi. The Blaugrana even temporarily took the lead over Girona in the table, but the neighbors still have to face Rayo Vallecano on Monday.
This was really powerful:
Barça made fun of an uncomfortable rival. This had not happened for almost eight years.
Morata wasted a super opportunity and did not get the three points for Atlético
The “mattress boys” missed Las Palmas (5-0) a week ago and seemed to wake up after a series of failures. But then there was a defeat in the Champions League against Inter (0:1), and now there is also an offensive draw with Almería. At the same time, Correa opened the scoring in the second minute: Reinildo burst through the left wing, overtook two people and crossed through the center, where no one interfered with the Argentine. Another defeat could be expected, but it did not come. Instead, in the 28th minute, Romero equalized the gap: he turned around, surrounded by several opponents at once, and shot from distance into the near corner.
At the beginning of the second half, Atlético once again expressed its desire to add the three points: it launched a counterattack that De Paul finished off with a rebound from a defender. The joy was short-lived: in the 64th minute, Romero scored a double, pushing the ball to the nearest nine. Morata had to save Madrid in the end, but he ruined everything: he saw a mistake in the Almería defense and shot high from several meters over the goal. It seems that the memes about the striker have been forgotten, but here he is. Classic.
Atlético – Almeria
Photo: Francisco Macia/Quality Sport Images/Getty Images
Kane saved Bayern in the final minutes
The Munich team is eight points behind the magnificent Bayer Leverkusen. Many people no longer perceive intrigue in the Bundesliga, and if Leipzig had gotten a draw from Bayern, it could have been completely buried. But Kane, even despite the trophy-less curse of him, doesn’t want to completely miss his chance at gold. In the 56th minute, Harry took advantage of a Schlager rebound and beat Blaswich. “RB” was not going to give up and attacked the opponent properly.
Neuer had to drag like in his best years. Ask Sheshko himself, who did not beat Manu one on one. In the 70th minute he didn’t save either: Benjamin took advantage of the new opportunity and scored with a rebound off Goretzka’s foot. Draw? No. In added time, Choupo-Moting threw the ball to Kane and the Englishman sent it into the goal. So far there is no definitive clarity about the fate of the silver salad bowl.
“Bavaria”
Photo: Matthias Hangst/Getty Images
Borussia M and Bochum finally put on a show
And very briefly about two less important, but extremely spectacular encounters. Bochum is doing well in the second round in a row: earlier they embarrassed Bayern (3-2), and now they had a penalty shoot-out with Borussia M. Gladbach scored twice midway through the first half: Ngumu and Weigl scored from a penalty instead . Until the 72nd minute the numbers on the scoreboard did not change, but then the fun began: goal from Reitz – response from Hofmann, goal from Sibacho – response from Schlotterbeck, goal from Honor… and that’s it. 22:16 in shots: The teams took the entertainment to the maximum. Spectators of the match probably remembered how they kicked the ball in the yard: goals were scored there with approximately the same frequency.
Sassuolo defended twice and still lost
The spectators of the match between Sassuolo and Empoli were not bored either. Only there the ending mattered. The visitors took the lead twice in regulation time: Luperto and Niang scored from a penalty. The Senegalese has three appearances on the field (100 minutes), three goals and all from penalties. What can I say, teacher? The locals defended themselves on both occasions thanks to the efforts of Pinamonti (also from a penalty) and Ferrari. In the 90+4 minute, Empoli scored again (thanks to Bastoni) and Sassuolo no longer had time for the feat. 19:14 in terms of shots: The statistics are worse than those of Borussia M and Bochum, but also very good.
There are also many interesting events on February 25. And not only in football:
14 important events on Sunday: Beach World Championship final, NBA, hockey and lots of exciting football
