None of the top clubs in international football are currently doing without any slip: Manchester United, who lost 2-1 to the bottom of the Premier League, Sheffield, on Wednesday, did just that. This meant that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s team missed overtaking city rivals City, who had taken the championship lead the day before. United fell behind twice through goals from Kean Bryan (23rd) and Oliver Burke (74th) – both scored for the first time in the House of Lords – only once managed to equalize through Harry Maguire (64th). For United it was the fourth home defeat of the season, with one game less you are one point behind City.
Leicester (without Christian Fuchs) missed a place behind with a 1: 1 (0: 1) at Everton to benefit from United’s mistake, the Foxes are missing a point on United. Liverpool FC, for whom things did not go as planned recently, are only in fifth place ahead of the duel with their direct neighbors Tottenham on Thursday.
Chelsea did not get beyond a goalless draw in Thomas Tuchel’s coaching debut at home against Wolverhampton Wanderers despite a dominant performance and are in eighth place in the table. “That gives me a good feeling for the future,” said former PSG coach Tuchel after the game to the BBC. “I didn’t expect that we would be at this level after one training session and two meetings.”
Favorite wins in Spain and Italy
In Spain and Italy, however, games in the national cup competitions were scheduled on Wednesday. FC Barcelona, which is in a crisis not only athletically but also financially, avoided a knockout round of 16, but struggled with the 2-1 win against second division club Rayo Vallecano. Lionel Messi (70th) and Frenkie de Jong (80th) – Messi was also involved in the 2: 1 – turned the game after 0: 1 deficit.
Juventus and Atalanta are already in the Coppa semi-finals in Italy. Turin moved into this with a 4-0 mandatory win against the second division SPAL Ferrara. Juve will now play in a return leg on February 3 and 10 against Inter Milan, which defeated city rivals Milan 2-1 on Tuesday.
Alvaro Morata laid the foundation for the success with a converted penalty (16th), which came about without the spared superstar Cristiano Ronaldo. Gianluca Frabotta (33rd), Dejan Kulusevski (78th) and Federico Chiesa (94th) followed suit. Before that, Atalanta from Bergamo had reached the semi-finals of the Coppa Italia thanks to a 3-2 home win against Lazio Rome despite being outnumbered and temporarily defeated 2-1. The opponent is the winner of the duel Napoli – Spezia. (red / apa / dpa / sda)
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