Top 10 Performances from Around the World for Weekend of April 10-12
A busy weekend of domestic action around the world of football produced some surprising and notable scorelines, some big performances on both a team and individual level and some headline-making soundbites from players and managers alike.
We've taken a thorough look at the biggest leagues in Europe and beyond to come up with our usual ranking of the top 10 performances, taking into account scoreline, location, quality of opposition and how the result affected league standings, among other factors.
Here are our biggest performances of the weekend, which also include Friday night's matches.
10. Newcastle Jets
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Firstly, a brief mention for Russian outfit Krasnodar and Swiss side Basel, both of whom just missed out on our top 10.
Just making the cut is A-League side Newcastle Jets, who defied the season-long form book to surprise everybody; bottom of the table, they travelled to league leaders Melbourne Victory and picked up a 1-0 win—just their third success of the season.
Edson Montano was the scorer, lifting the Jets off the bottom of the table and leaving three teams tied at the top on points.
9. Colorado Rapids
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MLS has had an intriguing start to the 2015 season, with some sides showing very different form to that which was displayed at the end of last year.
Colorado Rapids had been fairly similar, though—they ended last year with four straight defeats and started this term with no wins in four. On Friday, they finally recorded a victory with a 4-0 thumping away to Dallas, second in the Western Conference and with only one defeat prior to the game.
Dominique Badji, Dillon Powers, Gabriel Torres and Dillon Serna hit the goals to temporarily lift Rapids to eighth in the Western.
8. Crystal Palace
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Crystal Palace's second half of the season has been extremely impressive, with Alan Pardew's men taking another convincing victory at the weekend to follow up their win over Manchester City last time out.
Yannick Bolasie netted himself a first Premier League hat-trick as Palace thundered into a four-goal lead at Sunderland, with the final scoreline reading 4-1 after the Black Cats netted a last-minute consolation.
It was a fourth straight win for Palace, who moved up to 11th in the Premier League table as a result. Ninth place is as high as they could realistically finish, but on current form, they look a good bet to achieve it.
7. Almeria
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Almeria are the latest team battling relegation in Spain's top flight to pick up a crucial win, following Levante and Eibar's midweek victories.
The Andalusian side beat fellow relegation strugglers Granada 3-0, picking up not only a vital three points for themselves but also stopping a direct rival from gaining ground. Thomas Partey chose a great time to hit his first two goals of the season to send his team toward the win.
It lifted Almeria out of the bottom three up to 16th and left Granada four points from safety—though later results meant Almeria dropped into 17th place, making the win all the more important.
6. Napoli
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The battle for European places in Serie A is getting tight, and Napoli returned to form with a vital victory as they seek to regain a top-three position.
They picked up a 3-0 win over Fiorentina, who suffered a double blow this week—this defeat followed their Coppa Italia exit to Juventus in midweek.
Dries Mertens, Marek Hamsik and Jose Callejon netted the goals to move Napoli back up to fourth, though they remain seven points off the pace for a top-three finish and the Champions League spot it brings.
5. Queretaro
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Down to Mexico now and the Liga MX, where Queretaro had a terrible start to the Clausura campaign—but have bounced back with four wins from five.
The weekend saw them beat league leaders Tijuana by a 2-1 scoreline at home, underlining their recent improvement and helping them move up to 11th, while also helping Veracruz displace Tijuana at the top.
Willian and Orbelin Pineda scored the goals for the home side, who had Ronaldinho on the pitch for much of the game.
4. Borussia Monchengladbach
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The big matchup in the Bundesliga saw in-form Borussia Monchengladbach take another big step toward automatic Champions League qualification for next season, beating Borussia Dortmund 3-1.
A fourth straight win for BMG, they were ahead in the first minute of the match through Oscar Wendt and never really looked back, going three goals clear three-quarters of the way through the game before BVB's late reply.
While Dortmund remain mid-table after one win in five, Gladbach are still strong in third and now have a 12-point gap down to fifth.
3. Celta Vigo
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Celta Vigo versus Rayo Vallecano was always likely to be a watchable affair, given they are two offensive sides who play attractive football and have few quantifiable targets left for the season, but it ended in a surprisingly goal-laden and one-sided 90 minutes.
Celta ran out 6-1 winners despite going a goal down in the opening seconds of the match, with talented young forward Santi Mina the hero with a four-goal haul.
Joaquin Larrivey scored the other two, with all seven of the game's goals arriving in the first hour or so of play. Celta go up to 10th with the win.
2. Parma
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If there was one accumulator-ruiner over the weekend, it was this match.
Top against bottom in Serie A. The most in-form and strongest squad against a bankrupt club. Champions elect against relegation certainties, yet Parma somehow upset the odds to beat Juventus 1-0.
Jose Mauri's goal on the hour means Parma now actually have two wins in a row, but they remain rock bottom. Juve are now 12 points clear at the other end after Lazio's 4-0 win over Empoli. Even so, it was a huge shock to see Italy's basement club pick up the three points.
1. Manchester United
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The big performance and result of the weekend has to go to Manchester United, as the Premier League side dispatched city neighbours and reigning champions Manchester City by a 4-2 scoreline on Sunday.
City started the game well and opened the scoring early on, but United roared back to blitz their opponents and turn the game around before half-time, with Marouane Fellaini and Ashley Young both heavily involved in the team's best work and scoring a goal apiece.
Juan Mata scored a third, offside but not flagged, before Chris Smalling made it four as City's defence became ever more ragged and exposed. Even a late Sergio Aguero goal didn't dampen the good mood at Old Trafford as United opened a clear gap between themselves in third and City in fourth.
