Six Premier League games were played during the week to recover postponed matches from various days and allow the competition to reach its last days in a situation of equality for all teams. Newcastle showed their improvement with a win against West Ham (1-5), the fourth in a row, which has allowed Eddie Howe’s team to regain third place after a losing streak during the month of February. West Ham, for its part, remains in a difficult situation, although it continues to have one game less than the five teams below it. Tied on points with the magpies, in fourth place, is United, who beat Brentford 1-0 with a goal from Marcus Rashford. On Tuesday Brighton had played, and beat Bournemouth (0-2) at home. The season for Roberto de Zerbi’s team is fabulous, and right now their chances of qualifying for the Champions League are real, since despite being seven points behind United, the seagulls still have two fewer games.
In the rest of the games, Emery’s Aston Villa beat Leicester (1-2) in the first match of the foxes without Brendan Rodgers as coach. The one who was champion of the Premier in 2016 is in an agonizing situation, despite having a squad to maintain the category with ease. Leeds beat Forest 2-1 in a vital match for salvation. The Whites have improved since the arrival of Javi Gracia on the bench and are slightly out of the zone below, which is still very tight. Finally, Chelsea and Liverpool drew 0-0 in a bland match that did not satisfy both. Spaniard Bruno Saltor sat on the Stamford Bridge bench for the first time after being named caretaker manager following the sacking of Graham Potter.
DFB Kopal:
Freiburg gave the big surprise in the quarterfinals of the German Cup after beating Bayern Munich. The defeat (1-2), which occurred at the last minute thanks to a penalty from Höler, was the first blow of the Tuchel era. Despite the disappointment, the Bavarians can still hold on to the Bundesliga and the Champions League. In the other match on Tuesday, Eintracht eliminated Union Berlin (2-0). The Berliners are thus eliminated from both Europe and the Cup and can focus their efforts on achieving a qualification for the Champions League that would be historic. On Wednesday, Leipzig and Dortmund met with victory for the Red Bull team (2-0). The Borussers thus close a week to forget, in which they have lost the leadership of the Bundesliga and have been left out of the cup. The last quarterfinal match was between Nuremberg, the only second-tier team that was still alive in the competition, and Stuttgart, bottom of the Bundesliga and the Baden-Württemberg team won by the minimum (0-1). Stuttgart, Leipizg, Freiburg and Eintracht will therefore play the semifinals of the German Cup.
Italian Cup:
The first match of the first leg of the Italian Cup semifinals was loaded with controversy. Inter and Juventus faced each other in Turin in a match full of rivalry. The locals were better and deserved to take the lead, but they didn’t get it until the eighty-third minute, when Juan Cuadrado made it 1-0. When it seemed that the game was going to end like this, a handball from Bremer led to a penalty in favor of Inter, which Lukaku converted. The Belgian player, tired of the racist insults he received throughout the match, celebrated the goal, raising one hand to his mouth and saluting with the other. The referee, who understood the striker’s gesture as a provocation, showed him the second yellow card. In the final minutes, a brawl led to the expulsions of Cuadrado and Handanoviç. Tempers will rise to a second leg in which Inter hopes to have Lukaku, since they announced that they will resort to his second card.
In the other semifinal, Fiorentina put the pass on track after beating the modest Cremonese away from home (0-2). The bottom team in Serie A, who has only won one game in the league, has had a spectacular run in the Cup, where they have eliminated Roma and Napoli, but it seems that their dream ends here, as both the result and what Seen on the pitch, they invite us to think that it will be very difficult to achieve a comeback in Florence.