An entertaining weekend saw Inter Milan and Porto take the bragging rights in their respective derby clashes, while Everton’s resurgence continued with another win on Saturday. Here are the Winners and Losers from European Football: February 8-9. Bet on football here.
WINNERS
Inter Milan
Inter Milan staged a marvellous second-half comeback from 2-0 down to stun AC Milan 4-2 in the Derby della Madonnina on Sunday night. The result saw Antonio Conte’s men go top of Serie A, leapfrogging Juventus who lost away to Hellas Verona on Saturday. The Nerazzurri are now unbeaten in 16 league games and host Napoli on Wednesday in the Coppa Italia, before a crucial showdown against fellow title challengers Lazio next Sunday.
Getafe’s top four ambition
Getafe took another step towards Champions League qualification on Saturday as they comfortably beat Valencia 3-0. Getafe are third in la Liga but moved five points ahead of Valencia in fifth. This was Getafe’s fourth straight league win, in which they scored nine goals and conceded none. This is another splendid season for Jose Bordalas side. Three years ago, they were second bottom in the Spanish second division before Bordalas was named coach. Since then, they’ve been promoted to La Liga, reached the Europa League Round of 32 and are challenging for a place in the Champions League this season. It has been a remarkable transformation. Can they keep this up?
FC Porto
FC Porto cut the gap at the top of the Primeira Liga table to four points after a thrilling 3-2 win over Benfica at the Estádio do Dragão keeping their title hopes alive on Saturday. The two bitter rivals went toe-to-toe in a frenetic, goal-packed first half which saw four of the five scored in that period. This was Porto’s second win over their arch-rivals this season who have dropped just the six points this season.
LOSERS
Borussia Dortmund
Two late strikes from Leon Bailey and Lars Bender saw Bayer Leverkusen condemn Borussia Dortmund to their first defeat in 2020 and deal a huge blow to their title chances. In an entertaining first half, Kevin Volland scored twice while Mats Hummels and Emre Can each netted for the visitors. Raphael Guerreiro gave Dortmund the lead just after the hour mark only for the hosts to fight back in the dying embers. Bailey and Bender scored in successive minutes to seal all three points for Leverkusen. Dortmund are still third on 39 points but are now four points behind leaders Bayern Munich.
Juventus
Hellas Verona produced a stunning upset by coming from behind to beat Serie A leaders Juventus 2-1 on Saturday, inflicting a third defeat of the season on the reigning Italian champions. Since Inter registered a huge win in the Milan derby, Juventus dropped to second in the table level on 54 points, the same as Inter, but have an inferior goal difference.
Fernando Marcal
Olympique Lyonnais’ defender Fernando Marcal had a night to forget as his bizarre own goal helped Paris St-Germain claim a comfortable 4-2 win to restore their 12 point lead at the top of Ligue 1. With no PSG player in sight, Marcal smashed a shot into the roof of his own net from Julian Draxler’s pass at the start of the second half. The loss saw Lyon drop to 9th, eight points off a Champions League place.
Crystal Palace
Crystal Palace’s winless run continued after they suffered yet another defeat in the Premier League. The Eagles lost 3-1 to a rejuvenated Everton side who inflicted a third straight defeat on them. The Eagles remain six points above the relegation zone in 14th place, but the worry is all of those below them now have a game in hand. The good news is their next few fixtures are against sides around them. Can they arrest this situation?