With the Bundesliga still on its winter holiday and nothing to report except for claims that Bayern Munich’s Arjen Robben was bitten by an alligator in Qatar, which ultimately turned out to be a joke by the Dutchman, our focus in this week's continental recap will be limited to Spain & Italy.
Spain
The top clubs all held serve over the weekend as Real Madrid, Barcelona, and Atlético Madrid all won their matches handily on Sunday. After knocking Real Madrid out of the Copa del Rey in mid-week thanks to two goals from a suddenly-rejuvenated Fernando Torres, Atlético Madrid defeated Granada 2-0 at home in the Vicente Calderon stadium in Madrid. Despite the win, coach Diego Simone reiterated that his goal for this season is merely limited to a “top 3 finish” domestically despite being only 4 points behind Real (though Real has a game-in-hand). Next up for Atlético is the first leg of the Copa del Rey quarterfinal against Barcelona on Wednesday.
League leaders Real Madrid defeated Getafe 3-0 thanks to two goals from Cristiano Ronaldo and one from Gareth Bale. Real was frustrated for the first hour of the match, as Getafe doggedly kept los Blancos scoreless, before CR7 was finally able to break through in the 63rd minute. Real remains 1 point ahead of Barcelona with one match in hand at the halfway point of the La Liga season. Barcelona (the best team ever to be considered “in crisis”) strolled to a 4-0 win over Deportivo La Coruna thanks to a Lionel Messi hat trick. Obviously Messi was able to put aside whatever issues he’s having with his manager and/or club on Sunday, as his side was dominant throughout the match. Barcelona will certainly be hoping to carry over this momentum, and Messi's greatness, into the midweek match against Atlético.
Italy
League leaders Juventus extended their lead atop the Seria A table with a 4-0 thrashing of Hellas Verona. Carlos Tevez scored twice in the match (so maybe they don’t need Mario Balotelli after all) and now Juventus is 5 points ahead of second-place Roma.
Roberto Pereyra slots the ball home for Juventus' 3rd goal. Photo: juventusfc | Twitter
Roma was held 1-1 by Palermo on Saturday. Palermo’s Paulo Dybala opened the scoring within two minutes and Roma was unable to match until forward Mattia Destro leveled the match shortly after halftime. Though Roma is now 5 points behind Juventus, they remain 8 points clear of third place Napoli. Napoli is in third place on goal differential ahead of Sampdoria, two points ahead of fifth place Lazio. In Italy, third place secures a spot in the Champions League qualifying, while the fourth and fifth place clubs head to the Europa League, making each point financially vital for these clubs.
The two prominent clubs from Milan continued to struggle, as AC Milan lost 1-0 to Atalanta on Sunday and Internazionale was held 0-0 by Empoli on Saturday. The clubs currently sit 8th and 9th in the table respectively. My how the mighty have fallen.
Follow Mike Smith on Twitter @thefootiegent
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