Another newcomer Marc Guia helped Barcelona out in the match against Athletic

The lack of sensational results during the matches of the last European football weekend was more than compensated for by the abundance of various important or simply interesting events, such as the enchanting debut for Barcelona of yet another young Catalan newcomer Marc Guia, who scored a goal just half a minute after appearing on the field in the match with Athletic. .

Spanish Championship

Among all the events of this European football weekend, in terms of notability, media coverage, or something, there was nothing equal to what happened in the tenth round of the Spanish championship. Barcelona, ​​closely following the two leaders – Real Madrid and Girona – hosted a very strong Athletic team and could not translate their obvious advantage into at least one goal scored. And then, in the 79th minute, her coach Xavi decided to make an unexpected substitution. He removed young Fermin Lopez from the field and replaced him with 17-year-old striker Marc Guia, who had never played for the team. And half a minute later, Guiyu, having received a pass from Joao Felix, finally shot through goalkeeper Unai Simon, bringing the Catalans the win and allowing them to remain just a point behind the tandem leading the table.

Many footballers have played for Barcelona, ​​including outstanding goalscorers. But none of its debutants has ever managed to distinguish themselves so quickly.

The incident with Marc Guiou only cemented Xavi’s reputation as a mentor with some incredible instinct for talent. At the beginning of the season, he suddenly integrated 16-year-old Lamin Yamal into the squad. He sparkled immediately, becoming the youngest goal scorer in the history of Barcelona and breaking into the national team.

The debut of Marc Guiou is, however, largely the result not so much of an insight as of an unfortunate combination of circumstances for Barcelona. In October, its players were plagued by injuries that sidelined Frenkie de Jong and Robert Lewandowski in particular, and Xavi was forced to draw reserves from the youth team. Guiyu, who did not really play for the second team of Barcelona, ​​for its formal double, intended to test future elite fighters, and who played exclusively for the youth team, up to 18 years old, is known in the club academy as a forward of the Lewandowski format. In principle, he is not so subtle and technical, but he is very good at navigating the penalty area, even in conditions of dense resistance.

And after Giyu’s triumphant exit from the bench, the main intrigue associated with him is the striker’s participation in the next championship match. And it will be a match of exceptional importance: Barcelona meets Real Madrid on Saturday.

English Championship

The weekend in the English Championship was marked by a scandal that will continue. Manchester City hosted Brighton on Saturday, and during the game the stadium announced the death of the brightest legend of English football, Bobby Charlton, who seemed to be adored by the entire homeland of football. But during the break of the match, a group of fans began shouting insults at Sir Robert Charlton, who, as you know, spent almost his entire career playing for neighboring Manchester United. And Manchester City have a fundamental rivalry with him. The club eventually promised to find the hooligans after studying the videos and apologized to the relatives of the legendary football player.

As for the match itself, the Manchester team somehow defeated a rather powerful opponent with a score of 2:1. In a different situation, the win could have been perceived as quite ordinary, because Brighton, no matter how much it improves, is still not standing next to the best club in Europe. But the situation did not look so clear-cut. The fact is that before the clash with Brighton, Manchester City experienced a breakdown that was amazing by its standards, having suffered two defeats in a row – from Wolverhampton and Arsenal, that is, the most dangerous competitor. So success was extremely necessary from all points of view, including psychological.

Material, let’s say, benefit from it was also immediately extracted. “Arsenal” in the ninth round parted ways with “Chelsea”, who was still looking for a game (and was saved in the end by a miracle, losing 0:2), and “Manchester City” overtook them in the classification. By the way, only a point behind this duo are Liverpool and Tottenham.

Italian Championship

An extremely significant match took place in the Italian championship over the weekend. Milan, which was in the lead before the ninth round, hosted Juventus, which was trying to regain its flagship status after a series of failures and problems that had recently befallen it. The game was pretty bland until the episode before the break. Milanese defender Malik Thiaw knocked down Moise Ken, who was coming out to goal, and earned a straight red card. Juventus took advantage of the sending off after a rest, when Manuel Locatelli scored the only goal of the game with the help of a rebound. Thus, Milan lost first place in the table to Inter, from which it is separated by a point. Juventus is still behind them in points.

German Championship

Nothing bad seems to be going on with Bayern. In eight rounds of the German championship, she drew twice, and won victories in the remaining matches, for example, defeating Mainz on Saturday. But, oddly enough, the two clubs are still faster than the football giant. Stuttgart is ahead of Munich by a point, Bayer by two.

French Championship

The symbolic team of the next round of the French championship, compiled by L’Equipe, should warm the eyes of Russian fans due to the presence of Alexander Golovin from Monaco in its midline. He broke into this team thanks to his achievement in the home match against Metz. Golovin’s double brought Monaco a tough win over their opponents with a score of 2:1.

More interesting, however, is something else. For Golovin, this is already the third inclusion in such a team, despite the fact that only nine rounds have been played since the beginning of the tournament. During the warm-up part of the season, the Russian central midfielder is really good – energetic and effective. Statistics tell a good story about this. Golovin already has four goals and one assist. In the sniper race of the French Championship, he is close to the top three, although the key component of his functionality is not to hit someone else’s goal, but to develop Monaco’s attacks, while not forgetting to participate in disrupting opponents’ attacks.

The excellent form of Golovin and some of his partners is translated into results. Monaco, which essentially failed the last championship, remaining sixth, is currently in the lead. Nice has a point less than him, and PSG, which has undergone a radical restructuring, has two points. Without Lionel Messi and Neymar, he stumbled, losing points in four matches.

Alexey Dospehov