There is no doubt that we are in the middle of it. With a crowded December football schedule, the title race and storylines across Europe’s major leagues remain extremely competitive.
The biggest talking point was Real Madrid’s win over Alaves, which essentially strengthened Xavi Alonso’s job security. Elsewhere, Aston Villa continued their triumphant run in a competitive Premier League season, with Robin van Persie holding his own at struggling Feyenoord and Frank Lampard finding solace at thriving Coventry City.
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That was my biggest takeaway from this weekend’s action.
Barcelona extends La Liga lead, Real Madrid eases pressure
Hansi Flick’s side put more pressure on Xavi Alonso and Real Madrid with a 2-0 victory over Osasuna this weekend, moving well ahead of the table thanks to a brace from Brazilian Rafinha. It was Barca’s fifth consecutive win in all competitions as they continue to improve since losing to Chelsea in the Champions League last month.
Ahead of Real Madrid’s game against Alaves on Sunday, the Catalan side lead the table with 43 points, seven more than Real Madrid. In Sunday’s game, los blancos After losing to Manchester City on Wednesday and winning just two of their past eight games, they know they have to deliver.
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Kylian Mbappe, who returned from injury, opened the scoring, his 70th goal since joining the club in the summer of 2024. This season? He has contributed 21 goals, matching Harry Kane’s tally – the most in Europe’s top five leagues. But Real Madrid continued to perform incoherently throughout the game and a Carlos Vicente goal in the 68th minute made Xabi Alonso’s side pay the price.
The last 20 minutes made Real Madrid fans extremely anxious, but Rodrygo, who opened the scoring against Manchester City, scored again with a strong assist from Brazilian teammate Vinicius.
In the end, Real Madrid took all three points, and Xabi Alonso finally won the victory after a period of struggle. los merengue Now four points behind Barcelona, the issue of adaptation to his system remains.
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Aston Villa continue to disrupt the Premier League title race
Arsenal saved Mikel Arteta’s side with a dramatic 2-1 win over Wolves on Saturday thanks to Jason Mosquera’s 94th-minute own goal, before Manchester City continued their pursuit of the Gunners with a 3-0 win over Crystal Palace on Sunday. Guardiola’s side currently have 34 points, two points behind the league leaders.
But he was followed by fellow countryman Unai Emery, and Aston Villa beat West Ham United 3-2 to add another victory for Villa, thus accumulating 33 points after 16 league games. The club even struggled against the Hammers and had to come back twice, but such is the resilience you’ve seen at Villa of late, and the constant pursuit of victory. Having Morgan Rodgers certainly helped as his brace led the team to victory. The winner is a beautiful thunderbolt:
Villa are one win away from Arsenal, but most notably, victory against West Ham made it nine consecutive wins in all competitions and a club record six in a row in the Premier League.
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So the problem still exists? Are Villa in contention for the title?
“We don’t feel pressure. We feel ambitious and we try to challenge in Europe and the Premier League,” Emery told Sky Sports after the game. “Enjoy every game, try to prepare well and then rest. The players have to feel comfortable. That’s the process we are doing. Now it’s Manchester United [next Sunday]”.
Whether people want to argue about the fact that Villa can legitimately compete for the title is not something Emery is particularly interested in, as his entire message to the team is clear: prepare, compete, rest and repeat. Everything else is just noise.
One thing is for sure, Emery continues to build a well-oiled machine for Aston Villa and whether they are competing for the title or not, they are a fantastic team under the Basque tactician.
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Robin van Persie showed defiance as Feyenoord lost to Ajax
classicismA tight rivalry between Amsterdam’s Ajax and Rotterdam’s Feyenoord takes place on Sunday, and although both teams are well behind PSV Eindhoven in the Eredivisie, the game is not lacking in importance as they try to earn bragging rights and a chance to close the gap on the league leaders.
Ajax won 2-0, meaning it was Feyenoord’s seventh defeat in the past 10 games. Club coach and legendary striker Robin van Persie said after the game that he would not change his mentality or the team’s philosophy.
“I really don’t care what other people think about it. I put pressure on myself as well. I said we want to be champions,” he said after the loss. “If you’re nine points behind PSV, you know they’re going to fight you back. But I’m not going to run away from that. I’ve never done that as a player either.”
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Frank Lampard finds home at Coventry City
The former England midfielder has endured some tough times as a manager, including spells at his former clubs Chelsea and Everton, but appears to have found a home at Coventry City.
The Sky Blues confirmed their five-point lead at the top of the table and the club’s seventh consecutive home win after defeating Bristol City on Saturday.
“It was definitely not our best performance, but sometimes in the endurance test of a season you look at all the games, the games where you have easy wins, the games where you have to fight and fight to win,” Lampard told BBC radio station CWR. “Games that give you such a challenge [but you] Keeping clean sheets and scoring goals, we showed a lot of fighting spirit in the team. “
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That relationship between club, manager and community continues to shine so far as Lampard looks to lead Coventry back to the Premier League after 25 years.
