Top 10 Performances from Around the World for Weekend of March 20-22
A huge weekend of football around the globe saw some of the biggest names in each domestic league face off against each other, such as Barcelona and Real Madrid, Liverpool and Manchester United, and Feyenoord and PSV.
It will come as a surprise to nobody that the winners of those fixtures enter our top 10 based on importance to the league campaign, quality of opposition and the scorelines themselves. But we also have a number of other teams who put in a top-class 90 minutes and pulled out important victories.
Here is our rundown of the 10 best performers for the weekend beginning March 20.
10. Barcelona
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We get started with El Clasico, in which Barcelona pulled out a much-improved second-half performance to overcome Real Madrid and take a 2-1 victory at Camp Nou.
Despite Real having the better of the first half, there was nothing to separate the sides at the break after Jeremy Mathieu and Cristiano Ronaldo both scored, with Real perhaps having the odd chance more. However, the Catalan side were far, far better in the next 45 minutes.
From the 60th minute onward, gaps started to appear in midfield, which Barca made full use of. Luis Suarez swept his side back in front after a super diagonal ball from Dani Alves found him running between the centre-backs. Barcelona could have opened up a bigger gap after missing several chances, but the win was enough to establish a four-point lead at the top of La Liga.
9. Manchester City
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Into the Premier League. Manchester City had it easy against West Bromwich Albion after their opponents went down to 10 men just two minutes into the match, with Gareth McAuley shown a red for a last-man challenge (committed by team-mate Craig Dawson).
Wilfried Bony, Fernando and David Silva eventually found the route to goal as the Baggies sat back and invited pressure, with City getting back to winning ways with a 3-0 scoreline.
It helped City momentarily close the gap on leaders Chelsea—though it's once again six points after the Blues' win over Hull City on Sunday.
8. Valencia
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Valencia have been on a tremendous run of late and made it six wins out of their last seven in La Liga with a 4-0 crushing of Elche on Friday night.
Their opponents might be fighting relegation, but Los Che still knew they'd have to work hard to open them up and create chances—and that they did, with a much more clinical edge compared to recent displays. Paco Alcacer finally found the net again, and Valencia remained in third place heading into the last 10 games of the season.
They face Villarreal next time out.
7. Feyenoord
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Feyenoord's title hopes have long been extinguished in the Eredivisie, but they still wouldn't have wanted to succumb to defeat against rivals and league leaders PSV—and so it proved with a 2-1 home win on Sunday.
Two goals in four minutes from Anass Achahbar were enough for the home side to hold off PSV, who pulled one back when Memphis Depay struck his 17th of the campaign. A third win on the bounce for Feyenoord leaves them in third, a massive 16 points off PSV.
Next up is a trip to AZ, the side one place below them, and it is a must-win tie to stay in the automatic Europa League place.
6. Freiburg
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One of two games from the German Bundesliga in our top 10 this week saw relegation-troubled Freiburg somehow pull a huge result from nowhere to defeat Augsburg by a 2-0 scoreline at home.
It was just a third home win of the campaign for Freiburg, with both goals coming in the final 20 minutes of the game—Jonathan Schmid and Nils Petersen getting on the scoresheet.
The points were enough to see Freiburg out of the relegation play-off spot, overtaking Hamburger SV on goal difference. Next time out they are at home once more, against Cologne.
5. Nice
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Over to France and Ligue 1 now, where the battle at the top continues—as in, the battle as to who can continuously drop points unexpectedly to not claim control of the title race. This time it was Lyon, who lost 2-1 at home to Nice on Saturday.
Carlos Eduardo opened the scoring for the visitors at the Stade de Gerland, and despite playing much of the second half with 10 men, Nice went on to claim all three points thanks to a late penalty from Valentin Eysseric. The win for the away side was all the more surprising because they had lost four in a row beforehand and had gone seven without a win in Ligue 1.
They are up to 12th in the table and are at home to Evian Thonon Gaillard next time out.
4. Rio Ave
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One of the big shocks in Portugal's Primeira Liga is seeing Benfica lose any game. On Saturday, they suffered just their third loss of the season away to Rio Ave.
The league's sixth-placed side were trailing by a goal with around 15 minutes left on the clock, but a late comeback and turnaround saw Rio Ave win 2-1 and Benfica end with 10 men after Luisao's red card.
The gulf at the top remains enormous, and there are still nine points separating first from third, but Rio Ave's second win in a row boosts their own hopes of finishing in a Europa League qualifying position this term ahead of a trip to Academica, who are 14th, on April 3.
3. Manchester United
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Manchester United went to Anfield to face big rivals Liverpool on Sunday and picked up a hugely important three points with a 2-1 win.
Juan Mata scored a superb brace, sweeping home a right-footed effort and picking out a terrific airborne volley for the second to put his side a couple of goals clear. A late missed penalty by Wayne Rooney didn't prove costly as United made the most of a tremendous start to the game, dominating possession and territory for large spells.
United increased the gap between themselves and the Reds to five points, putting themselves in pole position to secure a top-four finish.
2. Veracruz
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Just one game from outside Europe makes our top 10 for this weekend, which comes from the Liga MX as Veracruz ran riot against Apertura winners Club America.
The Clausura's top scorer, Julio Cesar Furch, scored yet another, his seventh in 10 games. Ricardo Vazquez, Leobardo Lopez and Leiton Jimenez also found the target for the home team, who stay in second but opened up a four-point gap between themselves and America with the 4-0 victory. The losing side dropped a place to fourth.
At the top of the Liga MX, Veracruz are now just a point off leaders Tijuana, they have the best defensive record in the standings and have only lost once in 11 games.
1. Borussia Monchengladbach
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The big result and performance of the weekend goes to German Bundesliga side Borussia Monchengladbach, who picked up a fantastic 2-0 win over leaders Bayern Munich at the Allianz Arena.
A brace from forward Raffael—the first after a howler from Manuel Neuer—gave BMG the win and keeps up their Champions League hopes, leaving them third and giving them an eight-point buffer to fifth-placed Schalke. It was also just the second loss of the league campaign for Bayern.
Gladbach are away to Hoffenheim next time out and will hope for continued consistency to the end of the season.
