His double brought Juventus victory over Udinese

Eurofootball

Last weekend, Juventus won an important victory in the Italian Championship. The Turin team defeated Udinese at home with a score of 2:1, maintaining their leadership in Serie A. In Spain, Barcelona drew 0:0 away with Villarreal and allowed first-place Real to go seven points ahead. In Germany, all contenders for the title won. And in England, Liverpool knocked Manchester United out of the national cup.

Italian Championship

The match between the two contenders for the Scudetto opened the second round of the Italian championship. Serie A leader Juventus hosted Udinese, which was in third place and three points behind it.

In the first half, the Turin team had the initiative. In their composition, Marcelo Estigarribia, who rarely made it into the starting lineup, especially stood out. In the second minute, Fabio Quagliarella brought the Paraguayan one on one through the left inside zone, but the midfielder was unable to beat Samir Handanovic, who was defending the goal. Shortly after the transfer to Estigarribia, Alessandro Matri failed to convert another one-on-one opportunity. And only shortly before the break, Estigarribia crossed from the flank to Quagliarella's head, after whose shot Handanovic made a save, finding himself powerless only against Matri's finishing move - 1:0.

In the second half of the meeting, the Udinese players picked up the pace, forcing the Turin team to make mistakes even with simple passes. After one of the “cuts” performed by Arturo Vidal and a three-on-two attack from the guests, Antonio Floro Flores equalized the score. The draw did not last long. Soon, Alessandro Matri, with a shot from under the defender, still brought Juventus a victory - 2:1.

It allowed the Turin team to score 44 points and maintain their lead in Serie A. Milan have one point less than the Turin team, which on Sunday, thanks to goals from Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Antonio Nocerino and Massimo Ambrosini, beat Cagliari 3-0 at home.

Spanish Championship

In the Spanish championship, Barcelona, despite its complete superiority over Real in head-to-head meetings, risks losing the championship title in the confrontation with Madrid. After the 20th round, the advantage of Jose Mourinho's team over its main competitor grew to seven points.

Barcelona played away to Villarreal on Saturday. Pep Guardiola's team, as always, had enough chances to finish the match in their favor. Lionel Messi missed a couple of one-on-one opportunities, and host goalkeeper Diego Lopez stopped dangerous shots from Daniel Alves and Francesc Fabregas. However, the match ended in a 0:0 draw.

The Madrid club hosted Zaragoza on the same day and allowed the opponent to open the scoring early in the meeting - Lafitte closed in Carlos Aranda's cross. True, in the future only Real players scored. Kaka distinguished himself by breaking into a striking position from deep in the field. Cristiano Ronaldo put his foot down after a perfect cross from Mesut Oezil, who then set the final score at 3:1 with a shot from an acute angle.

German Championship

In the 19th round of the German championship, all contenders for the championship title won. Bayern Munich, which leads the championship only due to its superiority in additional indicators over Schalke and Borussia from Dortmund, which are on a par with it, defeated Wolfsburg at home - 2:0. Anatoly Tymoshchuk sat on the bench for the entire match, and goals from Mario Gomez and Arjen Robben brought victory to his team. Borussia Dortmund beat Hoffenheim at home - 3:1 - Shinji Kagawa scored a double for the hosts, and Kevin Grosskreutz also scored. Schalke defeated Koln on the road with a score of 4:1. Moreover, the players from Cologne were leading 1:0 after the first half thanks to an accurate strike by Lukas Podolski. In the second half, Schalke responded to the German national team player's goal with a brace from former Shakhtar striker Ciprian Marica, who replaced the injured Raul in the starting lineup, as well as goals from Klas Jan Huntelaar (from the penalty spot) and Marco Heger.

Borussia Monchengladbach also won on Sunday, one point behind the top three. In the away game with Stuttgart, Lucien Favre's team scored three unanswered goals through the efforts of Mieke Hanke, Marco Reus and Igor de Camargo.

FA Cup

In England, Liverpool once again demonstrated its cup character, taking only seventh place in the national championship. Kenny Dalglish's team, having previously stopped Chelsea and Manchester City on their way to the League Cup final, beat Manchester United in the FA Cup Round of 16 at home on Saturday. As host captain Steven Gerrard then admitted, his team did not deserve the victory. “The Manchester players had more possession of the ball and controlled the course of the game,” the footballer emphasized. In the 88th minute the score was tied - the visitors responded to Daniel Agger's goal with a precise shot from Park Ji-sung. But then Dirk Kuyt responded to Andy Carroll's pass and took Liverpool into the last 16.

Sergey Melnik

Italian Championship. 20th round

Catania--Parma 1:1. Juventus-Udinese 2:1. Fiorentina--Siena 2:1. Roma--Bologna 1:1. Cesena--Atalanta 0:1. Chievo-Lazio 0:3. Genoa-Napoli 3:2. Lecce--Inter 1:0. Palermo--Novara 2:0. Milan-Cagliari 3:0. Team position. 1. Juventus - 44 points. 2. Milan - 43. 3. Udinese - 38. 4. Lazio - 36. 5. Inter - 35. 6. Roma - 31.

Spanish Championship. 20th round

Espanyol--Mallorca 1:0. Rayo Vallecano--Athletic 2:3. Real--Zaragoza 3:1. Villarreal--Barcelona 0:0. Betis-Granada 1:2. Levante-Getafe 1:1. Real Sociedad--Sporting 5:1. Racing--Valencia 2:2. Malaga-Sevilla 2:1. Team position. 1. Real - 52 points. 2. Barcelona - 45. 3. Valencia - 36. 4. Levante - 31. 5. Espanyol - 31. 6. Athletic - 29.

German Championship. 19th round

Hannover--Nurnberg 1:0. Augsburg--Kaiserslautern 2:2. Bayern--Wolfsburg 2:0. Borussia D--Hoffenheim 3:1. Hertha--Hamburg 1:2. Werder--Bayer 1:1. Koln--Schalke 1:4. Mainz--Freiburg 3:1. Stuttgart-Borussia M 0:3. Team position. 1. Bayern - 40 points. 2. Borussia D - 40. 3. Schalke - 40. 4. Borussia M - 39. 5. Werder - 31. 6. Bayer - 30.

French Championship. 21st round

Auxerre--Nancy 1:3. Brest--PSG 0:1. Lorient--Sochaux 1:1. Lyon--Dijon 3:1. Nice--Montpellier 0:1. Toulouse--Caen 1:0. Lille--St-Etienne 3:0. Evian-Bordeaux 0:0. Valenciennes--Ajaccio 1:2. Rennes-Marseille 1:2. Team position. 1. PSG - 46 points. 2. Montpellier - 43. 3. Lille - 39. 4. Lyon - 38. 5. Marseille - 37. 6. Rennes - 35.

FA Cup. 1/16 finals

Watford (II Division)-- Tottenham 0:1. Everton --Fulham 2:1. QPR- Chelsea 0:1. Liverpool --Manchester United 2:1. Derby (II)-- Stoke 0:2. Stevenage (III)--Notts County (III) 1:0. Blackpool (II)--Sheffield Wednesday (II) 1:1. WBA-- Norwich 1:2. Hull (II)-- Crawley (IV) 0:1. Liecester (II)--Swindon (IV) 2:0. Millwall (II)--Southampton (II) 1:1. Bolton --Swansea 2:1. Brighton & Hove (II)--Newcastle 1:0. Sunderland--Middlesbrough (II) 1:1. Arsenal --Aston Villa 3:2.

Selected teams advanced to the 1/8 finals. In pairs where the matches ended in a draw, replays will take place on the fields of the clubs that played away.

Newspaper "Kommersant Ukraine" No. 12 dated January 31, 2012, p. 8

Authors:

Sergey Melnik

Themes:

Football

Alessandro Matri hit the pursuers