Feyenoord and Ajax winners 22nd round of play – Rutten lacks survival instinct at PSV

With a look at the standings, we close this liveblog. In the title race, leaders Feyenoord and Ajax are the big winners of the weekend.

EXC-NEC | Ready in Kralingen

NEC has kept its hopes of participating in the playoffs for European soccer alive. On a visit to Excelsior, it distanced itself late (0-3), incidentally only the fifth league win for the Nijmegen side.

EXC-NEC | 85′ GOAL NEC!

A beautiful goal by NEC attacker Anthony Musaba. He gets the ball behind the stanchion and shoots from outside the penalty area.

EXC-NEC | 74′ GOAL NEC!

After a crucial save by Jasper Cillessen on a header by Siebe Horemans at one end, Souffian El Karouani shoots in unchallenged at the other end. The game seems decided.

EXC-NEC | 56′ Lamprou fails to punish mistake Sandler

After very nonchalant ball loss by NEC defender Philippe Sandler, Lazaros Lamprou heads alone towards the NEC goal. He passes Jasper Cillessen, but then shoots into the side netting. This was the chance for the equalizer.

Depay wins again with Atlético Madrid

A week after his winning goal against Celta, Memphis Depay was again of value for Atlético Madrid. Against Athletic Club, he was involved in Antoine Griezmann’s winning goal: 1-0.

It remained 0-0 for a long time at the Cívitas Metropolitano in Madrid. It wasn’t until the 73rd minute that Griezmann opened the scoring. He set up the attack with a pass to Depay, who substituted shortly before, got the ball back through an Athletic defender and after a rush shot hard inside low into the far right corner

The win keeps Atlético on the trail of Real Sociedad, the No. 3 side in La Liga.

EXC-NEC | 47′ RED Excelsior captain

Redouan El Yaakoubi fouls Elayis Tavsan from behind just after halftime and has to leave the field with his second yellow card. An incredibly stupid action by the Excelsior captain.

The ball rolls for the second half at Excelsior – NEC (0-1).

Second NEC goal in nine games away from home

Mattsson’s goal was only NEC’s 2nd goal in its last 9 away games in the premier league, following a goal by Lasse Schöne during a 0-1 win at Cambuur on Nov. 4.

Grim atmosphere after Frisian derby in Leeuwarden, eight arrests

After the SC Cambuur versus sc Heerenveen match in Leeuwarden, police arrested eight people. According to the police, the atmosphere after the game between the two soccer clubs was grim and many acts of vandalism were committed around the stadium.

Rutten lacks survival instinct in spilling PSV: ‘We have to learn from that’

Disappointment for PSV captain De Jong: ‘We have to become much smarter’

A lackluster and, with some fierce tackles, also solid Sunday night match is broken open with a goal on the stroke of half-time.

Half-time score: Excelsior – NEC 0-1

EXC-NEC | 45′ GOAL NEC!

Verdonk let the ball in from the right with his left foot and from the far post Magnus Mattsson headed in from the far corner.

Juventus experiences good dress rehearsal for away game with Nantes

Juventus gained confidence in the Italian Football League for the return match against Nantes in the Europa League intermediate round. Coach Massimiliano Allegri’s team won at low-ranked Spezia through goals by Moise Kean and Ángel Di María: 0-2.

Juventus climbed to seventh place thanks to the win. The Turin club received 15 penalties this season for allegedly tampering with player transfer values to comply with financial rules.

Because of that points penalty, it is very difficult for Juventus to qualify for the Champions League via the Italian league. That requires a place among the first four. Juventus is now 10 points behind No. 4 has therefore set itself the goal of winning the Europa League. The winner of the Europa League gets a ticket to the main tournament for the Champions League for next season.

The first match between Juventus and Nantes ended 1-1 on Thursday. The winner qualifies for the eighth finals.

Spezia, which fired coach Luca Gotti this week, were missing injured Dutch goalkeeper Jeroen Zoet.

Watch the summary of Ajax – Sparta Rotterdam

EXC-NEC | 18′ Miss Márquez

What a miss by NEC defender Iván Márquez. The Spaniard can head right in at the second post, but heads wide. Excelsior escapes.

EXC-NEC | 5′ Just past the junction

Lazaros Lamprou is close to the opening goal for Excelsior. The Greek curls the ball just past the cross.

The ball rolls at the final match of the 22nd round of play: Excelsior – NEC.

Meanwhile in Germany: weak Union fails to pass Bayern

Union Berlin failed in the Bundesliga to capitalize on Saturday’s defeat by Bayern Munich. Union came no further than 0-0 against Schalke 04 and now shares the lead in the Bundesliga with Bayern.

Heitinga: ‘Not perfect yet, entertaining though’

Tadic: ‘Proud to score 100 goals for dream club’

EXC-NEC | Setup Excelsior

AJA-SPA | Match report

Thanks to an excelling captain Dusan Tadic, Ajax recorded a simple win over Sparta Rotterdam, the number six in the premier league: 4-0. As a result, the Amsterdammers climbed over AZ to second place.

When Ajax acquired Tadic from Southampton in the summer of 2018, no one could have imagined that the Serbian would become such a huge success in Amsterdam. The now 34-year-old Serb grew to become one of the most influential purchases in club history.

AJA-SPA | 90+4′ Finished

End of match at the Arena. Ajax wins without too much trouble from Sparta and, for now, is the only team that manages to stay on the trail of leader Feyenoord.

AJA-SPA | 85′ GOAL AJAX!

Mohammed Kudus makes it 4-0 for Ajax with a beautiful free kick. Right after his goal, the Ghanaian shows his undershirt, where he has a message for his deceased compatriot Christian Atsu. The former Vitesse player died in the earthquake in Turkey recently.

AJA-SPA | The hundredth for Tadic

Dušan Tadic scores his 100th goal for Ajax in all competitions.

Luis Suárez was the last Ajax player to reach the 100-goal mark for the club. Suárez (111 goals for Ajax in total) reached the milestone on July 28, 2010, in the CL qualification game between Ajax and PAOK (1-1 at the Arena).

Elia announces farewell

Eljero Elia (36) has officially ended his career as a footballer. “In my head, I had already finished playing soccer for a long time. I just haven’t had time to announce it yet,” the former attacker of ADO Den Haag, FC Twente, Hamburger SV, Werder Bremen, Feyenoord and FC Utrecht, among others, told ESPN.

Elia, one of the key players in Feyenoord’s championship year in 2017, made his return to ADO Den Haag last season. He tore his ankle ligaments, after playing nine games in the first division. With that, the season, and as it turns out, his career, was over. Elia played 30 international matches, including (as a substitute for Dirk Kuijt) the lost 2010 World Cup final.

AJA-SPA | 64′ GOAL AJAX!

From eleven yards, Tadic shoots in to make it 3-0. This looks to be an easy win for the home club.