Who Is Hot and Who Is Not in World Football After Weekend of Dec. 12-14
The weekend of world football gave us plenty of interesting matches, results and talking points as it always does, and as usual, we've selected some of our biggest storylines and notes from those games to bring you a roundup of who impacted outcomes or teams in a big way.
In this week's "Hot or Not" feature, we look far and wide, from Mexico to Milan, from the Premier League to Portugal, to encompass everybody worthy of note—at both ends of the scale.
Feel free to add your own names or discuss further the deeds of those represented here in the comments section below!
Hot: Luciano Vietto
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Villarreal forward Luciano Vietto isn't a clinical scorer of goals just yet, but his all-round play and ability on the field mark him out as a top talent in La Liga nonetheless.
Last week, his good performances saw him enter our top 20 player rankings for La Liga, and then, we also named him one to watch for the weekend. He turned out to be the match-winner for his side in their 1-0 win at the Vicente Calderon against Atletico Madrid.
Vietto's fifth league goal of the season keeps his side in the hunt for the Champions League places.
Not: Hatem Ben Arfa
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Steve Bruce and Hull City are struggling in a big way, so what they don't need is one of their most talented footballers deciding that he isn't going to do what is asked of him.
That's seemingly the case with Hatem Ben Arfa though, with Bruce telling The Times (via ITV) he didn't know where the player was:
"Sometimes transfers work out and sometimes they don’t. And it’s fair to say that with Ben Arfa I can’t see there being a future. Unfortunately he wants to do his things his way, which is fair enough. So unless he changes, then I treat him like every other player.
But there has been no fallout, he has been omitted from the squad because when you are up against it, then I believe you need to show a bit of resilience and unfortunately Hatem sees it differently. He is not AWOL. He could be in Paris though. I’ve no idea where he is. He could be in Hull for all I know.
"
No help there, then, as Hull look to escape the Premier League relegation zone.
Hot: Lima
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Over in Portugal, the big game of the weekend saw the top two go head-to-head, and Benfica ran out 2-0 winners over rivals Porto thanks to a brace from Brazilian forward Lima.
He struck either side of half-time, his fourth and fifth goals of the season, to inflict a first loss of the league campaign on Porto and send Benfica six points clear at the top of the table.
With just one more gameweek to come before the winter break, Benfica now know they'll be top until January at the earliest.
Not: Tigres' Burbano, Alvarez, Guzman
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Over to Mexico now and our only foray outside of Europe this time, where the Liga MX Apertura stage came to a definitive end as America lifted the title. They beat Tigres UANL 3-0 in the final second leg, winning 3-1 on aggregate.
Scenes of celebration aside, questions have to be asked of Tigres' players' mentality and control, after they received an unprecedented three red cards in an eight-minute spell after falling 2-0 down on the night and their chances of victory slipped away.
Hernan Burbano was dismissed for pulling back a man through on goal—straight red, no question—before Damian Alvarez took a wild swing at an opponent and was similarly shown a straight red. Goalkeeper Nahuel Guzman was then shown a second yellow for a trip, and Tigres saw out the game with just eight players, conceding another goal soon after—while Luis Mendoza also saw red for America.
Hot: Olivier Giroud
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Back to the Premier League, Arsenal picked up an impressive and deserved 4-1 win over Newcastle United at the weekend as Alexis Sanchez and Santi Cazorla both impressed, but Olivier Giroud was the standout man.
The centre-forward showed poise, confidence and good movement to hit a brace and trouble the away defence throughout his time on the pitch until being subbed late in the second half.
The French striker has been in great form since returning from injury and took his two goals extremely well.
Not: Chelsea Divers Willian, Costa, Cahill
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Staying in the Premier League, Chelsea saw two players booked for diving in their weekend win over Hull City, Willian and Diego Costa, and they should have seen another handed out to Gary Cahill. With the centre-back already on a yellow, Chelsea would have been down to 10 men at a time when Hull were gaining a foothold in the game, although a goal down, too.
The referee failed to give it, and manager Jose Mourinho failed to acknowledge his player's attempt to con the official after the game, a disappointing stance given the clear and obvious evidence shown around the world.
There was no need for it; Chelsea were comfortably the better side in the game, and Cahill is lucky not to be suspended for the trip to Stoke City—not that it's any comfort to Steve Bruce and Hull.
Hot: Alexandre Lacazette
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Over to France and Ligue 1, where Lyon took advantage of two surprise results at the top as both PSG and Marseille suffered 1-0 defeats away from home, against Guingamp and Monaco, respectively.
Lyon played bottom-club Caen on Friday night and took the points with a 3-0 win, thanks to another brace from star forward Alexandre Lacazette, who has been on a path to stardom so far this term.
Now the clear top scorer in the league, Lacazette has 15 for the season, and Lyon are just a point behind PSG and one further away from Marseille as the title race in Ligue 1 starts to close up.
Hot: Giacomo Bonaventura
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We'll finish off with another hot player, AC Milan attacker Giacomo Bonaventura, who inspired his side to an important 2-0 win over Napoli in Italy's Serie A.
A little inconsistent again this season, Milan closed up the gap at the top end of the table with the win—and by preventing Napoli from taking any points—which came courtesy of one goal and one assist from Bonaventura, who played from the left of the attack.
Just two points separate third from seventh in Serie A now, with Milan leapfrogging Napoli up into sixth this weekend.
