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La Liga & Serie A roundup: Barca’s lead grows; El Shaarawy is back

By Andy EdwardsJan 30, 2016, 5:59 PM EST
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A roundup of Saturday’s action in Spain and Italy’s top flights:

[ MORE: Barca favorites in Copa del Rey ]

Barcelona 2-1 Atletico Madrid — (RECAP)

Barcelona’s advantage atop the La Liga table grew a great on Saturday, as the Blaugrana knocked off second-place Atletico Madrid 2-1 and the Camp Nou. Ahead of kickoff of Saturday, Barca’s advantage was their game in hand over both Atleti and Real Madrid. At the end of day Saturday, that advantage stands at three points and a game in hand over Atleti.

Atleti went ahead through Koke’s opener in the 10th minute before Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez bagged goals eight minutes apart after the half-hour mark. The two Barca goalscorers were the targets of reckless challenges through, which eventually resulted in Atleti finishing the game with just nine men (FULL RECAP for more details and highlights).

Villarreal 1-0 Granada

Villarreal’s quest to return to the UEFA Champions League continued on Saturday, as El Submarino Amarillo (The Yellow Submarine) narrowly defeated 16th-place Granada. Bruno scored the game’s only goal, from the penalty spot, in the 55th minute to extend Villarreal’s unbeaten run to nine games in the league (seven wins).

Villarreal now have a 10-point advantage over Athletic Bilbao and Celta Vigo for the fourth and final Champions League place.

Team GP W D L GF GA GD Home Away PTS
Barcelona 21 16 3 2 54 17 37 11-1-0 5-2-2 51
Atlético Madrid 22 15 3 4 31 10 21 7-2-1 8-1-3 48
Real Madrid 21 13 5 3 58 20 38 9-1-1 4-4-2 44
Villarreal 22 13 5 4 29 18 11 9-2-1 4-3-3 44

Elsewhere in La Liga

Getafo 0-1 Athletic Bilbao
Eibar 1-2 Malaga
Real Sociedad 2-1 Real Betis

Sunday’s La Liga schedule

Sevilla vs. Levante (6 a.m. ET)
Valencia vs. Sporting Gijon (10 a.m. ET)
Las Palmas vs. Celta Vigo (12:15 p.m. ET)
Real Madrid vs. Espanyol (2:30 p.m. ET)

Roma 3-1 Frosinone

Stephan El Shaarawy is back. You remember him, right? You know, the spiky-haired wonderkid who burst onto the scene about three years ago as a 20-year-old and rocketed to the top of the “future superstars of the world” list. Well, about that… it’s been a pretty forgettable two and a half years for El Shaarawy, who faltered badly for two straight seasons before leaving AC Milan for the riches of Monaco.

France’s southern principality didn’t exactly work out well for El Shaarawy, either, so now he’s back in Italy. On Saturday, he made his debut for Roma and — wouldn’t you know it — scored the game-winning goal (below video) in the Giallorossi‘s 3-1 victory over Frosinone. In typical El Shaarawy fashion, it wasn’t just any goal; it was a spinning, back-heeled effort from 12 yards out to beat the goalkeeper at the near post. Long live El Shaarawy.

Radja Nainggolan and Miralem Pjanic were the other goalscorers for Roma, who are still the fifth-place side in Serie A, nine points back of leaders Napoli and three back of Fiorentina for the third and final Champions League place, but El Shaarawy’s arrival could be the spark they’ve been waiting for all season.

Team GP W D L GF GA GD Home Away PTS
Napoli 21 14 5 2 45 18 27 8-2-0 6-3-2 47
Juventus 21 14 3 4 38 15 23 7-2-1 7-1-3 45
Fiorentina 21 13 2 6 39 21 18 8-1-2 5-1-4 41
Inter Milan 21 12 5 4 26 14 12 6-2-3 6-3-1 41
Roma 22 10 8 4 40 25 15 7-3-1 3-5-3 38

Elsewhere in Serie A

Carpi 1-1 Palermo
Atalanta 1-1 Sassuolo

Sunday’s Serie A schedule

Chievo vs. Juventus (6:30 a.m. ET)
Napoli vs. Empoli (9 a.m. ET)
Genoa vs. Fiorentina (9 a.m. ET)
Torino vs. Hellas Verona (9 a.m. ET)
Udinese vs. Lazio (9 a.m. ET)
Bologna vs. Sampdoria (9 a.m. ET)
AC Milan vs. Inter Milan (2:45 p.m. ET)

Transfer news: Werner to Chelsea; Sanchez to Inter

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By Joe Prince-WrightMay 30, 2020, 3:24 PM EDT
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In the latest transfer news Timo Werner is reportedly being chased by Chelsea, while Alexis Sanchez could be staying at Inter Milan instead of returning to Man United.

[ VIDEO: Premier League highlights ]

First up, a juicy report from Bild says that Chelsea defender Antonio Rudiger is trying to convince his Germany teammate and close friend Timo Werner to join hm at Stamford Bridge.

Werner, 24, has dazzled at RB Leipzig this season (31 goals in 40 games in all competitions) and is widely expected to leave with Liverpool, Man United and many others clubs across Europe chasing his signature. Per the report, Chelsea have Rudiger working hard to convince his friend and former Stuttgart teammate that west London is the place for him.

The release clause on Werner’s current contract is said to be $60 million and Chelsea are one of the few clubs who have a healthy transfer budget as they had a transfer ban for a whole year and Frank Lampard has just spent $44 million on one new signing so far, bringing in Hakim Ziyech who will not arrive until later this summer.

Werner is exactly what Chelsea need. They have created so many golden goalscoring opportunities and although Tammy Abraham was putting them away at the start of the season, his form and fitness was a concern in the last few months before the suspension.

Olivier Giroud is their only other forward option and Werner would be perfect to finish off the chances this attack-minded Chelsea team create. Even better for him, he would actually play at Chelsea which may not be the case at Liverpool and Man United given their stacked attacking lineups.

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Heading to Manchester, it appears Alexis Sanchez may not be going back to his parent club next season.

Sanchez, 31, is on loan at Inter Milan for the 2019-20 season and the Daily Express claim that he could stay at Inter rather than heading back to Old Trafford despite Ole Gunnar Solskjaer previously saying he was open to the idea. Per the report, Man United are keen to loan Sanchez out to Inter once again on a similar arrangement and the Serie A side are willing to see how Sanchez does when the season restarts in a few weeks. With Marcus Rashford, Bruno Fernandes, Anthony Martial, Mason Greenwood and others around at Man United, he may struggle for minutes at Man United.

Would another loan be a good move for Inter?

Romelu Lukaku and Lautaro Martinez have been their main strikers this season under Antonio Conte, with Sanchez out injured for large chunks of the campaign and then doing okay when he did play. However, with Martinez chased by Barcelona, if they do sell the Argentine forward for over $115 million, having Sanchez around on loan would soften the blow.

The main problem with Sanchez is that over the last three years he has picked up consistent injury problems. If he can shake those issues off, we all know he is capable of scoring goals and creating havoc. Given this recent track record though, that’s a big if, as he’s scored just one goal and added three assists in 15 outings for Inter this season.

Premier League confirm zero positive COVID-19 test results

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By Joe Prince-WrightMay 30, 2020, 2:32 PM EDT
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Following the latest batch of tests on players and club staff the Premier League have revealed that zero out of 1130 COVID-19 tests taken on Thursday and Friday have come back positive.

Zero.

The fourth round of testing is the first time that no positive tests have come back, as a total of 3,882 COVID-19 tests have now been carried out with 12 positive results.

All players and staff at Premier League clubs will be tested twice a week during the strict return to training protocols put in place, as full contact training is now up and running and a restart date of June 17 has been set.

Here is the statement from the Premier League in full:

The Premier League can today confirm that on Thursday 28 May and Friday 29 May, 1130 players and club staff were tested for COVID-19. Of these, zero have tested positive.

The Premier League is providing this aggregated information for the purposes of competition integrity and transparency. No specific details as to clubs or individuals will be provided by the League and results will be made public after each round of testing.

Previous test results

Round 1: 17-18 May – 748 tested, with six testing positive from three clubs.
Round 2: 19-22 May – 996 tested, with two testing positive from two clubs.
Round 3: 25-26 May – 1,008 tested, with four testing positive from two clubs.

This is more good news for the Premier League as the UK government gave the green light for elite sport in the UK to return from June 1 in empty stadiums, as the top-flight of English soccer continues to clear each hurdle in its way to finishing the final 92 games of the 2019-20 season.

With just over two weeks to go until the action returns, Premier League clubs will have to keep these test results low for the restart to take place.

Bayern Munich batter Fortuna, go 10 points clear at the top (video)

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By Joe Prince-WrightMay 30, 2020, 2:21 PM EDT
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Bayern Munich are waltzing their way to an eight-straight Bundesliga title as they battered Fortuna Dusseldorf 5-0 on Saturday at the Allianz Arena to record an eight-straight win in the German top-flight.

[ MORE: Schalke lose again; Saturday recap ]

An own goal, two from Robert Lewandowsk and a goal each from Benjamin Pavard and Alphonso Davies did the damage to Fortuna as Bayern Munich are now just three wins away from securing the title, as they have five games left in the season.

Hansi Flick has now won 22 of his 25 games in charge of Bayern Munich after he took charge in November with the German giants struggling under Niko Kovac. Now, they are rampant and are one of the favorites to win the UEFA Champions League.

The Bavarian giants dominated early on as USMNT midfielder Alfredo Morales made an important clearance but Mathias Jorgensen was so lucky a few moments later.

[ MORE: Bundesliga schedule, stats ] 

A ball into the box found Benjamin Pavard and his scuffed effort was going wide before it hit Jorgensen and went into his own goal.

Bayern then doubled their lead as Thomas Muller’s shot was pushed wide and from the resulting corner Pavard nodded home to make it 2-0.

Lewandowski made it 3-0 before the break as he has now scored against all of the current Bundesliga clubs and had previously gone without a goal in five outings against Fortuna.

Kimmich’s surging round saw the loose ball find Muller and his pass to Lewandowski was perfect as he swept home to an empty net.

Lewandowski was at it again just a few minutes after the break as he finished off a slick Bayern move as the Bavarian giants put their foot on the accelerator.

Alphonso Davies made it 5-0 as he bulldozed his way through the Fortuna defense and slotted home, while Muller and Pavard went close to adding a sixth and Fortuna had the odd chance on the break.

In the end, the victory was as routine as possible for Bayern Munich who have more than one hand on the Bundesliga title.

USMNT’s Weston McKennie honors George Floyd with armband

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By Joe Prince-WrightMay 30, 2020, 1:47 PM EDT
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Schalke and USMNT midfielder Weston McKennie has released a statement after he wore a personalized armband with the message ‘Justice for George’ on it to honor George Floyd.

McKennie, an American international who has played in the Bundesliga for the last four seasons at Schalke, was born and raised in Dallas, Texas. He wore the armband in Schalke’s defeat at home to Werder Bremen on Saturday.

Following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, MN on Monday there have been widespread protests across the USA. A video showed former Minneapolis police officer, Derek Chauvin, putting his knee on George Floyd’s neck for more than 8 1/2 minutes. Chauvin was arrested Friday and charged with murder, authorities confirmed.

Weston McKennie released the following statement after wearing the armband at the weekend to honor George Floyd:

“To be able to use my platform to bring attention to a problem that has been going on to long feels good!!! We have to stand up for what we believe in and I believe that it is time that we are heard! #justiceforgeorgefloyd #saynotoracism

Here is a photo of McKennie wearing the armband which he put on before the game kicked off and wore on his left arm.