Top 10 Performances from Around the World After Weekend of Jan. 23-25
Another fantastic weekend of world football action came to a close on Sunday night with big games in Italy and Spain, but even before then we had seen our fill of surprising results, quality performances and a range of team displays from the unpredictable to the outstanding.
Our top 10 performances of the weekend usually focus on top-flight domestic action, but we have two variations on that theme this time: one international tournament which is currently ongoing and several lower-league sides to name through domestic cup action.
Here are our top 10, in reverse order.
10. Lower-League Heroes
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The FA Cup in England is the great leveller: the one-off game where a lower-league club can experience the thrill and the challenge of playing a giant in the national game—and can pull off a shock result. The following sides all deserve recognition for their part in the fourth round, played over the weekend.
Cambridge United (League Two, fourth tier) hosted Manchester United and held them to a 0-0 draw on Friday night. On Saturday's early kick-off, Blackburn Rovers (Championship) beat 10-man Swansea City 3-1 at home, before Fulham (Championship) held Sunderland to a 0-0 draw away from home.
Bolton Wanderers (Championship) did the same to Liverpool at Anfield, with Rochdale (League One, third tier) playing at home to Stoke City on Monday night, in the last of the potential giant-killings.
Also a very quick note for Watford—second-tier sides and below don't get mentioned here for league performances usually—after they produced the second-half comeback of the season in the Championship; 2-0 down at the break, they rallied and destroyed Blackpool by hitting SEVEN goals in 34 minutes, winning 7-2!
9. Montpellier
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To the top flights now and Ligue 1 first of all, where Saturday evening saw Montpellier pick up the biggest and most impressive win of the weekend in France.
A top-half battle between themselves and Nantes could have been very close—just one point separated them at kick-off—but the home side produced a huge second-half performance to run out winners by a 4-0 scoreline.
Top scorer Lucas Barrios continued his impressive run by scoring the last, following on from a hat-trick last weekend.
8. Adelaide United
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All the way South as far as you can go now, to the Australian A-League and Adelaide United.
The title hopefuls took the lead as early as the second minute against Newcastle Jets and never looked back, showing great consistency, a clinical edge and a relentlessness about their play to continue to rack up the goals.
The scoreline finished 7-0, putting Adelaide to within four points of top spot.
7. Lazio
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Lazio vs. AC Milan had been billed as a game of two old powers looking to get back toward the Champions League places. If there had been any doubt beforehand as to which side was better-equipped to do so, the second half should have killed off any lingering thoughts that it might be Milan.
Miroslav Klose had a big impact off the bench, helping to create one and score another, with Marco Parolo netting a brace for Lazio as they won 3-1, with all their goals coming in the second half.
Lazio moved up to third, the final Champions League slot, with Milan dropping to 10th.
6. Maritimo
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Just a couple of match weeks back, Portugal's big three finally got themselves into the top three positions, after Sporting had endured a tough start to the campaign. This week it was Porto who slipped up, losing 1-0 away to Maritimo.
Bruno Gallo's winning goal was enough for the home side, who played out the final 15 minutes with 10 men, keeping them in 11th position in the table.
Meanwhile, Benfica can now go nine points clear of Porto at the top if they win on Monday night against Pacos de Ferreira.
5. Equatorial Guinea
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Our single international entrant this weekend comes from the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations in Equatorial Guinea—and it is indeed the hosts who impressed the most.
Their final group-stage match against Gabon was pretty straightforward: win and go through or fail to win and go out. A second-half penalty from Javier Balboa got the home crowd excited, before Iban Salvador's late effort wrapped up the win and put the nation in party mood.
With the 2-0 win, Equatorial Guinea qualified from Group A in second place, behind Congo.
4. Valencia
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To La Liga now and Valencia's top-four hopes were given a huge boost on Sunday night as they faced direct rivals Sevilla...and overcame them, winning 3-1 at the Mestalla.
Nuno's side started with a positive outlook in their diamond formation, with attacking midfielder Dani Parejo showing great running and composure to score twice—one a penalty—in the first half-hour, before he was harshly adjudged to have given away a penalty at the other end. Carlos Bacca scored it, but then saw another one saved by Diego Alves just minutes later in a crazy first half.
Javi Fuego finished matters with an unusually confident-looking finish as Valencia leapfrogged Sevilla into fourth, though the Andalucians still have a game in hand. That said, the match in hand is against Real Madrid.
3. Middlesbrough
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Back to the FA Cup fourth round now and one of our top three sides is Middlesbrough, the Championship outfit who overcame reigning Premier League holders Manchester City.
Boro are challenging for promotion this term and had won their last two league games, but a game at the Etihad Stadium was a different proposition entirely. The second-tier team defended well, kept their hosts at bay and struck with intent in the second half, scoring twice to run out 2-0 winners.
Patrick Bamford and Kike were the scoring heroes.
2. Barcelona
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Our top-rated "big club" is Barcelona, who produced another fantastic second half in their match at Elche on Saturday afternoon. Leading just 1-0 at the break, Barcelona turned on the pace and the style after the interval to run out 6-0 victors.
The most appealing aspect of the game was the Lionel Messi-Neymar link-up, which saw the latter score twice in a matter of minutes from assists from Messi, who also netted a brace himself.
Barcelona's win keeps them within a point of leaders Real Madrid at the top of La Liga.
1. Bradford City
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Our top pick for performance of the weekend goes to Bradford City, currently seventh in League One, the third tier of English football, as they dumped Chelsea out of the FA Cup fourth round with an incredible 4-2 victory at Stamford Bridge.
The big win is all the more surprising as the blues, top of the Premier League, led 2-0 after less than 40 minutes and looked entirely comfortable—before the Bantams sprung the mother of all cup comebacks.
Jon Stead and Mark Yeates were the catalysts for the unlikely comeback, netting one goal each and both playing superbly, but the endurance and the drive to keep attacking from the League One side was the most impressive aspect of the game—three goals came in the final 15 minutes, when Chelsea's strong mentality and superior fitness were supposed to be telling.
Boss Jose Mourinho called the loss "a disgrace," "unacceptable" and said that he was "embarrassed," per The Telegraph, but for Bradford there was only elation, disbelief and well-deserved anticipation at what could come in Round 5.
