Arya News - Real Madrid`s narrow win gave Los Blancos short-term relief while the Villans` relentless rise continues to disrupt the Premier League`s established order.
There’s no doubt about it, we are in the thick of it. Due to the congested nature of December’s packed soccer schedule, the title races and storylines from Europe’s biggest leagues remain extremely competitive.
The biggest talking point was Real Madrid’s victory over Alaves , which essentially strengthened Xabi Alonso’s job security. Elsewhere, Aston Villa continue to rack up victories in a very competitive Premier League season, Robin van Persie is sticking to his guns with a struggling Feyenoord while Frank Lampard has found solace in a surging Coventry City.
Here are my biggest takeaways from this weekend’s action.
Barcelona extends La Liga lead, Real Madrid eases pressure
Hansi Flick’s side added more pressure to Xabi Alonso and Real Madrid this weekend with a 2-0 victory over Osasuna and it was thanks to the Brazilian Raphinha, who scored a brace to lead the way at the top of the table. It was Barça’s fifth straight win in all competitions as it continues to improve since losing to Chelsea last month in the Champions League.
Before Real Madrid’s fixture against Alaves on Sunday, the Catalan side led the table on 43 points, seven more than Madrid. And on Sunday in that game, Los Blancos knew they had to deliver after losing to Manchester City on Wednesday and only winning twice from their last eight matches.
Kylian Mbappé, back from injury, opened the scoring making it his 70th goal for the club since arriving in the summer of 2024. This season? He’s matched Harry Kane with 21 goal contributions — the most out of Europe’s top five leagues. But Madrid continued to struggle throughout the game by playing a disconnected performance and in the 68th minute, the home side made Xabi Alonso’s side pay with a goal from Carlos Vicente.
The final 20 minutes proved to be anxious for Madrid fans but Rodrygo, who scored the opener against Man City, netted once again thanks to a great assist from his Brazilian teammate Vinicius Jr.
In the end, Madrid earned the three points and finally a victory after a period of struggle for Xabi Alonso. Los Merengues are now four points behind Barcelona but the issues of adaptation for his system remain.
Aston Villa continues to disrupt status quo in Premier League title race
After Arsenal’s escape Saturday with a 2-1 victory over Wolves thanks to a dramatic ending where a 94th-minute own goal from Yerson Mosquera saved Mikel Arteta’s side, Manchester City kept on the Gunners’ trail with a 3-0 rout of Crystal Palace on Sunday. Pep Guardiola’s team now has 34 points in the table and remain two points behind the league leaders.
But right behind both is another countryman in Unai Emery as Aston Villa’s 3-2 victory over West Ham sealed another three points for the Villans thus making it 33 points after 16 league matches. The club didn’t even play particularly well against the Hammers and had to come back twice from behind, but this is the resiliency that you see with Villa these days, and the continuous pursuit for wins. Having Morgan Rogers certainly helps as his brace led the charge toward the victory. The winner was a beautiful thunderbolt:
Villa remains one victory away from Arsenal but most notably, the win against West Ham gave the side its ninth straight victory in all competitions and sixth straight in the Premier League, which is a club record.
So the question remains? Is Villa in a title race?
“We are not feeling under pressure. We are feeling ambitious and we try to challenge in Europe and in the Premier League,” Emery told Sky Sports after the game. “Enjoy each match, try to prepare, then rest. The players must feel comfortable doing it. This is the process we are doing. Now it is Manchester United [next Sunday].”
Whether people want to argue over the fact that Villa can legitimately compete for the title is not something that particularly interests Emery as his entire message to the team is clear: prepare, compete, rest and repeat. Everything else is just noise.
One thing is for certain, Emery continues to create a well oiled machine with Aston Villa and title race or not, they are a fantastic unit under the Basque tactician.
Robin Van Persie defiant in Feyenoord’s loss to Ajax
De Klassieker , the heated rivalry between Amsterdam’s Ajax and Rotterdam’s Feyenoord, was played Sunday and despite the fact that both teams are trailing PSV in the Eredivisie by quite a margin, there was no shortage of importance as they tried to win bragging rights and a chance to close the gap on the league leaders.
Ajax won 2-0 meaning that it was Feyenoord’s seventh loss from its last 10 matches. The club’s manager, the legendary striker Robin van Persie, stated after the game that he was not changing his mindset nor the philosophy of his team.
“I don’t really care what other people think about this. I also put pressure on myself. I say we want to be champions,” he said after the loss. “If you’re nine points behind PSV, you know they’ll come back at you. But I’m not running away from that. I never did as a player either.”
Frank Lampard has found a home in Coventry City
The former England midfielder has gone through some tough times as a manager, including spells at his former club Chelsea and Everton, but with Coventry City, it seems that he has found a home.
After beating Bristol City on Saturday, the Sky Blues confirmed their five-point lead at the top of the Championship as well as the club’s seventh straight win at home.
“Absolutely not our best performance but sometimes in the endurance test of a season, you look at all the games, your comfortable wins, the games where you have to fight and dig in for the win,” Lampard said to BBC Radio CWR. “Games that give you challenges like that [but you] keep a clean sheet, get a goal and we showed a lot of spirit in the team."
So far, this relationship between club, manager and community continues to shine as Lampard looks to lead Coventry to make its Premier League return after 25 years.