Open Mike Monday: City Implode, Arsene Wenger's Orange Card, La Liga Tightens Up

Manchester City did what we all expected, Manchester United bored us to death and Arsene Wenger quipped wise about a brand-new disciplinary measure.

And that was just in England. On the continent, German giants set up a mouth-watering collision, Spanish titans came closer together and an Italian icon picked up steam.

It was a frantic weekend in world football, and these are the five stories that caught my eye.

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Most Inevitable Collapse (Or, United Strike Again)

Looking back, we should have seen this coming—every last one of us.

Manchester United have all but sewn up their 20th English title following Manchester City's loss to Arsenal on Sunday. And none of us are surprised. Not really.

United, the defending champs, are on the verge of their fifth title in the last six and 13th in the 20-year history of the English Premier League.

In truth, it's only a formality. The Red Devils now lead the league by a whopping eight points despite trailing by five as recently as March 3.

But inevitable or not, this season was at least supposed to be a little different. Er, wasn't it?

This is not a vintage United squad, and City's owners had, by all accounts, built a title-worthy roster with their virtually unlimited resources.

During United's midseason midfield crisis, Sir Alex Ferguson had been forced to call upon a retired 37-year-old Paul Scholes to save his skin.

City, meanwhile, had skated happily along, bringing in yet another midfielder in David Pizarro, apparently for the sole reason that they could.

Last fall, City humiliated United 6-1 at Old Trafford. City exulted. Fergie fumed. Roberto Mancini basked. We all marveled.

And City kept on winning, starting the season with 15 straight home triumphs.

Yet here we are, not even halfway through April, and Manchester United are champions again in all but name.

Barcelona boring? Not even half as much as Manchester United.

Best Made-Up Stat (Or, Arsene Wenger's Famous Orange Card)

Lost (somewhat) in all the hullabaloo about United and City were the freshly rediscovered genius of Arsene Wenger and yet more refereeing controversy.

With that victory over City on Sunday, the Gunners have now won eight of their last nine matches and are the favorites for third spot.

Catching City, who are still 10 points ahead, might be impossible, but ever since that loss to United last August (you know the one), Wenger's team has posted the same number of Premier League victories as Manchester City while collecting only two fewer points.

That's a heck of a stat, but it's nothing compared to the fun Wenger had on Sunday, making up an entirely new category in the wake of Arsenal's win over City.

"If the referee had a television it would have been a red card," Wenger said of Manchester City forward Mario Balotelli's horrifying tackle on Alex Song in the first half.

"(Balotelli) was on the fringe in many situations. He flirted with orange [between yellow and red cards] a few times. In the end he got the second yellow card."

In all seriousness, Balotelli's various orange-card offenses served as yet further evidence as to why officials would benefit from the help of television replays. Earlier in the day, Manchester United benefited from another.

Knotted in a scoreless tie with QPR, United earned a dubious match-winning penalty despite Ashley Young's obvious presence in an offside position. Having escaped the linesman's attention behind QPR's line, Young then fell over under slight contact from Shaun Derry.

United probably would have won the match anyway, considering their dominance throughout. But that's beside the point.

Once again, we've all seen how much help referees really could use.

The question is: Would they accept it if they could?

Best Imminent Showdown (Or, German Giants Collide)

Bundesliga leaders Borussia Dortmund host second-placed Bayern Munich on Wednesday. I'm thoroughly excited, and you should be too.

For my money, these are two of the best five teams in Europe this season. The winner of this match will almost surely take the Bundesliga title, and if that's not your huckleberry, there's this:

Bayern are the only team standing between you and an El Clasico Champions League final (sorry, Chelsea, but it's true) this season.

Don't you want to see how good they really are?

I do.

Best Promise of a Photo Finish (Or, La Liga Tightens Up)

Speaking of El Clasico, Spain's two giants are now only four points apart atop the La Liga table.

And unlike England, that margin really could disappear at any time.

Real Madrid had maintained a 10-point cushion over Barcelona for much of 2012, but after Sunday's scoreless draw at home to Valencia, Jose Mourinho's side finally started seeing Guardiola's Pep Boys in the rearview mirror.

That's because Messi and Barca won again, and in the process they scored one of the slickest team goals you're likely to see all season. (Or any season, really.)

Forget all that stuff I said about the Bundesliga title race for a minute. Barca and Real are the two best teams in Europe this season, in whatever order you prefer.

This race is going down to the wire, and it's going to be a lot of fun to watch.

Most Under-the-Radar Giants (Or, Juventus Awaken)

Did you realize that Juventus are still undefeated in Serie A?

It might have slipped your attention, seeing as the Bianconeri had trailed AC Milan for most of the season.

Now, though, Antonio Conte's team top the table by one point, and they need to survive only seven more matches to finish the season unbeaten.

What's more important, they'll surely tell you, is winning the league. And Saturday's 2-0 away win over Palermo was nice, but more promising are the dual facts that Juventus haven't dropped a point since March 11 and haven't conceded a goal since March 7.

So, then. How does one say Invincibles in Italian?