They fell last week in the Champions League to Bayer Leverkusen, Chelsea, and Arsenal, respectively, however the trio of Manchester City, Barcelona and Bayern Munich showed character in picking themselves up with wins in yesterday’s domestic league matchups.
When Phil Foden struck the winner in the second minute of added time,vs Leeds yesterday, Pep Guardiola’s leap was laced with relief at Manchester City’s pursuit of Arsenal still being live.
They are back up to second, as of yesterday though, four points behind the Gunners, who travel to Chelsea on Sunday (today).
This was Leeds’s fourth straight league reverse but the fight shown augurs well for Coach Daniel Farke’s job security.
City had spurned a two-goal interval advantage after Dominic Calvert-Lewin, a half-time substitute, terrorised the hosts.
The 28-year-old scored in the 49th minute, then claimed the penalty that led to Lukas Nmecha’s 68th-minute equaliser, rattling Josko Gvardiol enough for him to scythe the striker down.
City’s response was admirable. The substitute Rayan Cherki fed Foden who ran left across Leeds’s area before beating Lucas Perri.
Yet Leeds’s second-half display again illuminated City’s defensive frailties – they are too easily raided along the flanks, in particular.
Guardiola said: “We are not a team to win these types of games a lot. When we knew it was 10 minutes extra time we said: ‘Let’s go.’ We had two or three chances to score, we were able to close and it was massively important for our mood. Tomorrow we see Arsenal and Chelsea, but it’s important to be as close as possible to the top.”
After 59 seconds, a diagram of City at their best was offered. Nico González swiveled and tapped the ball to Gvardiol, whose 45-yard diagonal hit Matheus Nunes. The right-back leaped to control, relayed the ball infield to Bernardo Silva, darted forward, received possession again and found Foden, whose finish pinballed off the bar.
An apt riposte to Tuesday’s 2-0 loss to Bayer Leverkusen, as Foden and Nunes were two of the 10 changes that backfired on Guardiola.
City were rampant and a second goal soon lit up the scoreboard. When Foden’s corner from the right came back to him he rammed the ball at goal and a flying Perri palmed away for a corner on the other side.
This came in from Tijjani Reijnders, Nico O’Reilly beat a flailing Perri to head down and Gvardiol finished. The video assistant referee’s check for offside proved negative and City cruised.
The charge regarding Farke is that he is out of his depth at this level. His team were being cast the same, so a rare foray that featured Wilfried Gnonto passing to Nmecha had to be converted instead of being blasted over.
At the interval, Farke hooked Gnonto and Daniel James for Calvert-Lewin and Jaka Bijol, switching to 3-5-2, and there was an instant dividend.
Nunes, twice, was City’s culprit. First, a loose pass ceded possession. Then, when Calvert-Lewin got the better of a covering Gvardiol, Nunes could have hacked clear. But the auxiliary defender dawdled and Calvert-Lewin poked home.
Gianluigi Donnarumma was jeered by the travelling support for requiring attention – perhaps as this allowed Guardiola to have a pitchside pow-wow.
Farke, too, was dubious. “It’s in the rules, it’s smart,” he said. “If I like it, if it is fair play, I keep it to myself and leave it to the authorities to find solutions.
“If I’m honest, I would have blown the whistle 2-2 at 90 minutes, not play the extra 10 minutes. I don’t criticise Pep for this – he did not go down.”
Guardiola said: “I didn’t speak with Gigio. When it happened I looked back to the dugout and said: ‘James [Trafford], warm up’. I don’t know. Next press conference you can ask me and I will ask Gigio.”
The chat did zero good, because after Jayden Bogle’s header into City’s area a hapless Gvardiol was spooked by Calvert-Lewin, who was upended. This was the clearest penalty Peter Bankes will give yet still Rúben Dias moaned to the referee in comical manner.
Up stepped Nmecha, whose initial effort was saved by Donnarumma before the forward rolled the rebound in.
Guardiola’s order to up the tempo resulted in goalmouth scrambles involving Bernardo Silva, O’Reilly and the anonymous Erling Haaland but Leeds escaped.
Sadly for them, they could not avert City’s box-office finale but on this evidence Farke is still being heeded by his players. “My players should take pride,” he said.
Olmo Double Takes Barca Temporarily Top, Díaz Fires Up Bayern’s Late Rally
Barcelona recovered from an early setback to secure a 3-1 victory over Alavés, with first-half goals from Lamine Yamal and Dani Olmo and a late second for the latter sealing the win at the Camp Nou.
The win lifts the defending La Liga champions to the top of the table on 34 points, two ahead of second-placed Real Madrid, who have a game in hand at Girona on Sunday (today).
Alavés stunned the hosts in the first minute when Pablo Ibáñez struck from close range but Barça hit back seven minutes later, with Raphinha assisting Lamine Yamal to hit a powerful one-touch finish into the top corner.
Raphinha was instrumental again in the 26th minute with another assist, this time for Olmo who expertly curled the ball home first-time from inside the box as the Blaugrana went ahead.
Olmo put the result beyond doubt in added time, finishing off a smooth one-two with Lamine Yamal, whose through ball left him free inside the box to slot home with composure.
In Germany, the Bundesliga leaders, Bayern Munich, needed stoppage-time goals from Luis Díaz and Nico Jackson to beat struggling St Pauli 3-1, coming from behind for the second straight week and hitting the woodwork three times.
Bayern’s comeback win means they set a Bundesliga league record of 44 consecutive rounds at the top of the table.
Díaz headed in for a 2-1 lead early in stoppage time and Jackson slotted in their third goal as the hosts bounced back from their first defeat of the season across all competitions, Wednesday’s 3-1 loss at Arsenal in the Champions League.
Bayern found themselves 1-0 down in the sixth minute when St Pauli, who have now lost their last nine league games, pressed high and won possession, Andréas Hountondji finishing the move with a powerful shot.
With more than 80% of possession in the first half, Bayern desperately tried to come back as they had done last week when they recovered from two goals down to crush Freiburg 6-2.
They hit a post with Lennart Karl’s curled shot in the 23rd and again through Tom Bischof’s deflected effort 12 minutes later.
Raphaël Guerreiro, however, made no mistake when he drilled in from a Díaz assist a minute before half-time to level.
Bayern were again in control after the break but St Pauli stayed compact and disciplined.
Harry Kane hit a post with a volley late in the game before Díaz put them in front early in stoppage time and Jackson added his goal at the very end to lift them to 34 points.
*PHOTO CAPTION: Foden (right) drills a shot to score,vs Leeds… yesterday.
Results From Across Major Domestic Leagues In Europe, Saturday 29 November:
ENGLAND: Premier League
Brentford – Burnley 3:1
Manchester City – Leeds 3:2
Sunderland – Bournemouth 3:2
Everton – Newcastle 1:4
Tottenham – Fulham 1:2
FRANCE: Ligue 1
Monaco – PSG 1:0
Paris FC – Auxerre 1:1
Marseille – Toulouse 2:2
GERMANY: Bundesliga
Bayern Munich – St. Pauli 3:1
Hoffenheim – Augsburg 3:0
Union Berlin – Heidenheim 1:2
Werder Bremen – FC Koln 1:1
Bayer Leverkusen – Dortmund 1:2
ITALY: Serie A
Genoa – Verona 2:1
Parma – Udinese 0:2
Juventus – Cagliari 2:1
AC Milan – Lazio 1:0
NETHERLANDS: Eredivisie
Excelsior – NAC Breda 1:0
Sittard – Heracles 1:1
Nijmegen – Sparta Rotterdam 3:1
SPAIN: LaLiga
Mallorca – Osasuna 2:2
Barcelona – Alaves 3:1
Levante – Ath Bilbao 0:2
Atl. Madrid – Oviedo 2:0
