Tottenham faced a league-leading Manchester City side on Saturday and tried to neutralize them with physical play. It did not go well. It especially did not go well when Dele Alli stomped on the ankle of Kevin De Bruyne. Like a midfield incarnation of Maximus Decimus Meridius, Kevin De Bruyne had his vengeance and it was oh so sweet.
Since the Champions League went from using a second group stage to a 16-team knockout tournament in 2003-04, no league had ever qualified five teams for the knockout rounds — until now. With Liverpool’s 7-0 destruction of Spartak Moscow on Wednesday, the English Premier League officially placed five clubs into the Champions League Round of 16 in what is a remarkable turnaround for the league. Kind of.
A magnificent Jamie Vardy goal put the Foxes in front early in Leicester City’s match against Tottenham on Tuesday. Less than 13 minutes into the match, Vardy first-timed a lobbed pass over Spurs keeper Hugo Lloris in impressive fashion.
Vardy apparently does not care about level of difficulty. He just wants to score. Vardy entered Tuesday with a five-match scoreless streak and he ended it in style.
Real Madrid’s 46-goal victory over APOEL dumped Borussia Dortmund from the Champions League on Tuesday regardless of their result against Tottenham, but a Christian Pulisic-less BVB still succumbed to a 2-1 defeat to Spurs at the Westfalenstadion.
And it all started so well for the home side. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang gave Dortmund the lead in the 31st minute after Andriy Yarmolenko provided a filthy assist for the Gabonese striker.
Arsenal fans gave the mercurial Mesut Ozil a standing ovation as he was subbed off with the Gunners holding a 2-0 lead over archrival Tottenham they would not relinquish in the North London Derby on Saturday at Emirates Stadium. It was the type of adoration bestowed upon a man of the match who had given everything to defeat a hated foe.
And yet it was a performance that only made Arsenal fans grow more frustrated with Ozil and the team they love.
Arsenal fans are a sensitive lot. They want to think their club is the best in the world, even though it hasn’t been the best in England in well over a decade. They want to think their club plays the prettiest football in the league, even though that torch has long-since been passed to Manchester City. They want to think their club reigns supreme in North London, but as of last season that is no longer the case.