📰 Table Of Contents
Bundesliga
- Biggest win: Hertha BSC 4-1 Borussia Mönchengladbach
- Shock result: Hertha BSC 4-1 Borussia Mönchengladbach
- Star Performance: Ellyes Skhiri (1.Fußball-Club Köln) – two goals vs Eintracht Frankfurt
Another week, another string of headline results in the Bundesliga despite there being little way of surprise at the top of the table. All four clubs sitting in the Champions League places won at the weekend as Bayern Munich, Union Berlin, Borussia Dortmund, and SC Freiburg enjoyed full points hauls at the weekend, with Union’s key win away in Saxony against RB Leipzig coming in as the pick of the bunch.
Union Berlin are Europe’s surprise package this season 💥 pic.twitter.com/vcFJfXtBfe
— GOAL (@goal) February 12, 2023
Two shock results to bookend the weekend docket to Sunday will draw just as much praise early this week while sitting as the perfect advert for arguably the most closely contested league out of all of Europe’s top-five competitions thanks to a big 3-0 win by 1.FC Köln over European motivated Eintracht Frankfurt, while the top result of the weekend goes to struggling capital side Hertha BSC who ran-through domestic giant Borussia Mönchengladbach with a 4-1 win at the Olympiastadion. Finally, the Xabi Alonso train is back on track at Bayer Leverkusen with a 3-1 win at hapless TSG 1899 Hoffenheim, with academy starlet Florian Wirtz back at his best with a key performance that could push the club further up the table come the end of the season.
La Liga
- Biggest win: Unión Deportiva Almería 2-3 Real Betis Balompié
- Shock result: Getafe Club de Fútbol 1-1 Rayo Vallecano de Madrid
- Star Performance: Rodri (Real Betis Balompié) – 1 goal/1 assist vs Unión Deportiva Almería
Spanish giants Barcelona extended their lead at the top of the La Liga table after a narrow 1-0 win at Villarreal on Sunday to extend the gap to bitter rivals Real Madrid to 11-points before the holding La Liga champions clash with bottom-feeders Elche on Wednesday. Diego Simeone’s Atlético Madrid extended their unbeaten run to five with a road win over Galician outfit Celta Vigo to remain in the Champions League places to respond to Real Betis’ high-scoring away win on Saturday after the Sevilla-based side won 3-2 at Almería.
💚💚💚
REAL. BETIS. BALOMPIÉ. pic.twitter.com/Yh2WJLDWyN
— Real Betis Balompié 🌴💚 (@RealBetis) February 11, 2023
Basque neutral favorites Athletic Club closed on Rayo Vallecano after their slip against Getafe thanks to a 2-1 win at hapless Valencia to push the club to just one point outside the top six after arresting a recent poor run of form that saw them drop three straight while only picking up two points across their last five league fixtures. Sevilla and Cadiz also booked three-point hauls of their own. All told, the race for Europe remains hotly contested this season despite Barça potentially running away with the title in what is Xavi’s first full season in charge at his boyhood club.
Ligue 1
- Biggest win: Stade de Reims 4-0 Espérance Sportive Troyes Aube Champagne
- Shock result: Football Club de Nantes 1-0 Football Club Lorient Bretagne Sud
- Star Performance: Wissam Ben Yedder (Association Sportive de Monaco) – two goals/1 assist vs Paris Saint-Germain
There were a number of big wins on the scoresheet across play in the top flight of French football this past weekend, but none more important than AS Monacoo’s delightful 3-1 home win against table-topping Paris Saint-Germain at Stade Louis II that featured a superb performance from French international Wissam Ben Yedder after leading the line expertly while contributing a 100% goal contribution rate against Messi and co.
𝐕𝐈𝐂𝐓𝐎𝐈𝐑𝐄 😍🔚
𝑃𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑋𝑋𝐿 des Rouge & Blanc qui s’imposent dans ce choc du haut de tableau !!!
𝗗𝗔𝗚𝗛𝗘 𝗠𝗨𝗡𝗘𝗚𝗨 ❤️🤍
🤝 @VBET_fr3⃣-1⃣ #ASMPSG pic.twitter.com/OIJO7Wr994
— AS Monaco 🇲🇨 (@AS_Monaco) February 11, 2023
Will Still’s Stade de Reims continue to turn heads in the Gallic nation this season after a 4-0 drubbing on Troyes in front of home support, with Arsenal loanee Folarin Balogun once again finding the back of the net while still sitting top of the goal chart, one strike ahead of former Gunners stat Alexandre Lacazette who led Lyon to a big win over Lens on Sunday night. Nantes secured a Brittany derby win over Lorient to improve their chances of finishing in the top five, while Nice, Marseille, Toulouse, Lille, and Montpellier also got into the win column. With the Champions League set to get back underway this week, all eyes will be on PSG to see if the perennial French champions slip up under pressure on the home front.
Serie A
- Biggest win: Società Sportiva Calcio Napoli 3-0 Unione Sportiva Cremonese
- Shock result: Unione Sportiva Lecce 1-1 Associazione Sportiva Roma
- Star Performance: Jaka Bijol (Udinese Calcio) – one goal/one assist vs Unione Sportiva Sassuolo Calcio
Nine straight home league wins.
Napoli’s longest run since 1989-90, which is the last time they won the league ⏳ pic.twitter.com/p2KLcfmQH2
— B/R Football (@brfootball) February 12, 2023
AC Milan finally got back to winning ways over Torino with a 1-0 home win that ended a horrendous run of form that saw the current league holders slip down the table into fifth, and despite the win, are a whopping 18-points adrift of the league leaders. Atalanta also enjoyed putting checks into the win column as they look to push second-sitting Inter Milan (due to play later today) while Roma slipped up against bottom-half outfit Lecca on the road which was just about the shock result of the weekend.
Juventus have strung wins together in the last two matchdays while The Old Lady are prepared to defy their 15-point deduction and still search for a finish in the European places but are still ten points shy of the top-six. Finally, Monza’s run of form remains superb of late, and are now undefeated in six (3-3-0) after a 1-0 win on the road against Bologna and are now sitting 9th in the table much to their credit.
