Club football made its highly anticipated return from the international break this weekend, showcasing a mix of remarkable performances and disappointing outcomes. Flashscore brings you the highlights in our regular weekly ‘Winners and Losers’ column.
Winner: PSG
Just one point is all that stands between PSG and their 13th French championship title. Under the management of Luis Enrique, the team has dominated the Ligue 1 season, remaining unbeaten and holding a staggering 21-point lead with only seven matches still to play.
This past weekend, PSG delivered a resounding 6-1 victory over St Etienne away from home, marking their 38th consecutive unbeaten match away from the Parc des Princes — a record that ties AC Milan’s achievement in the top-five European leagues from 1991 to 1993.
In stark contrast, Atletico Madrid’s season has gone from bad to worse in just three weeks. What initially seemed like a minor setback—a 2-1 defeat against Getafe after leading until the 87th minute—has transformed into a troubling trend for Diego Simeone’s squad.
Their misfortunes continued as they squandered a 2-0 lead against Barcelona, ultimately losing 4-2. Most recently, they led Espanyol 1-0 but ended up with just a 1-1 draw, allowing Antoine Griezmann to become the top appearance maker for a non-Spanish player in La Liga’s history.
Add to this a Champions League last-16 exit via penalty shootout against their fierce rivals Real Madrid, and March is a month Atletico fans would prefer to forget.
Now, with nine rounds left in La Liga, Atletico find themselves nine points adrift of leaders Barcelona and six behind Real Madrid, who occupy second place.
Quick Trivia Quiz: Who was the most scrutinised player at the beginning of the 2024-2025 season in Spain? Which player matched Cristiano Ronaldo’s debut season tally of 33 goals at Real Madrid?
The answer to both queries is Kylian Mbappe. The French forward netted two goals in a 3-2 victory against Leganes, needing just four more to level Ivan Zamorano’s record for the best debut season at the Santiago Bernabeu.
It’s a rarity to include Galatasaray among the losers, but the reigning Turkish champions experienced their first defeat of the Super Lig season this weekend.
Galatasaray fell 2-1 to Besiktas, managed by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, the ‘baby-faced assassin’ known for disrupting rivals’ winning streaks. His tenure at Manchester United included ending Manchester City’s 28-match unbeaten run in March 2021 and halting Liverpool’s 17 consecutive Premier League wins with a draw at Old Trafford in 2019.
Despite the loss, Galatasaray maintains a six-point cushion at the top of the league, although Fenerbahce with a game in hand could stir things up as the season draws to a close.
When it comes to desirable strikers, one name that seems to resonate with fans is Gyokeres from Sporting Lisbon.
With two penalties scored against Estrela, he has reached 30 goals in the Portuguese league — the next closest is Samu from FC Porto with 15 goals. Since the end of last year, he has only had one domestic match without either a goal or assist, boasting an impressive tally of 14 goals and six assists across 14 league and cup games.
Such statistics have attracted the attention of club giants, and it seems likely that Sporting will struggle to hold onto him come summer. Arsenal supporters are eagerly awaiting any news.
No footballer relishes the thought of scoring an own goal, and doing so in the very first game of the season is nothing short of a nightmare.
This unfortunate fate befell Emil Kornvig during the opening round of the Norwegian championship, as his side fell 3-0 to Fredrikstad.
While the midfielder may not have been directly at fault, his misfortune resulted in one of the most unusual own goals witnessed on the pitch.
To wrap things up, we’d like to highlight a few honourable mentions.
Crystal Palace secured their place in the FA Cup semi-finals with a 3-0 away win against Fulham, marking their sixth consecutive away victory in all competitions without conceding a goal — a feat never before achieved by any team in the English top flight.
Meanwhile, Ajax, who were languishing near the bottom of the Eredivisie at the start of last season, are now poised to clinch yet another Dutch title. They triumphed over PSV with a 2-0 win at their rivals’ home ground and currently lead by nine points with just seven matches left to play, making title number 37 appear likely.
Lastly, in Portugal, history was made as the first-ever Premier League match officiated by a woman took place, with Catarina Campos refereeing the 27th round clash between Casa Pia and Rio Ave.
Compiled by SportArena.com.au.
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