Sparta climbs to fifth place without ailing Steijn – Mbappé all-time top scorer PSG

Real Madrid takes late distance from Cadiz

Real Madrid made no mistake in the Spanish league between the two duels with Chelsea in the Champions League. Coach Carlo Ancelotti’s team won 2-0 at Cadiz. The Madrilenians left many chances unused, but pulled the match to their advantage in the closing stages through goals by defender Nacho and Marco Asensio.

Last week Real had been surprised by Villarreal (2-3) in front of their own crowd. Ancelotti’s team did win 2-0 over Chelsea on Wednesday at Santiago Bernabéu stadium, in the quarterfinals of the Champions League. Tuesday is the return in London. Real Madrid has 10 points less than leaders FC Barcelona in La Liga, which plays Sunday against Getafe without the still injured Frenkie de Jong.

Relief ill Berlusconi thanks to former premier league player: Monza stunts against Inter

Just when Silvio Berlusconi is being treated in hospital for leukemia, Monza made good on its promise. At Giuseppe Meazza, better known as San Siro for Berlusconi and his right-hand man Adriano Galliani, the team stunted with a 1-0 win.

PSG wins topper against Lens and takes advance on French title

Paris Saint-Germain has taken a shot at prolonging its title in the French soccer league. Coach Christophe Galtier’s team beat Lens, the Ligue 1’s No. 2, 3-1 to create a nine-point gap. Kylian Mbappé opened the scoring after half an hour with his 139th goal for PSG in the French league, taking over the club record from Edinson Cavani.

The 24-year-old striker, transferred from AS Monaco in 2017, needed 169 league games to do so. Cavani scored 138 goals in 200 games for PSG in the Ligue 1. Lens had to continue with ten men after only 19 minutes. Salis Abdul Samed was sent off with red for a tackle on Achraf Hakimi’s ankle.

Between the 31st and 40th minutes, Mbappé, Vitinha and Lionel Messi scored. Przemyslaw Frankowski did put something back after an hour from a penalty kick on behalf of the ten from Lens, but the home club did not let the win come in danger. With two wins in a row, PSG recovered somewhat from a bad phase with elimination in the Champions League and two defeats in the Ligue 1.

Dumfries and De Vrij also lose to Monza with Inter in Serie A

Internazionale suffered another defeat in Serie A. Coach Simone Inzaghi’s team was surprised by promoted Monza in front of their own crowd: 0-1. Defender Luca Caldirola, who played for Inter in youth, headed in from a corner kick 15 minutes before time.

At the home club, Oranje internationals Denzel Dumfries and Stefan de Vrij started. De Vrij had to be replaced with an injury at the beginning of the second half. Inzaghi brought in Lautaro Martínez, Edin Dzeko and Hakan Calhanoglu, among others, but even those regulars could not prevent Inter from going down again.

The 2021 champion also lost to Bologna, Spezia, Juventus and Fiorentina in recent weeks, and last week at Salernitana did not go beyond 1-1. Inter did win 2-0 at Benfica on Tuesday in the Champions League quarterfinals. Next Wednesday is the return in Milan. With that in mind, Inzaghi had some of the base players start on the bench against Monza.

Mbappé all-time top scorer PSG in French league

Kylian Mbappé has become Paris Saint-Germain’s all-time top scorer in the French soccer league with his goal in the first half against RC Lens (halftime score 3-0). The 24-year-old striker scored his 139th goal for PSG in the Ligue 1 in the home game against Lens. In doing so, he succeeded Edinson Cavani as the record holder.

The Uruguayan scored 138 goals in 200 league games for the Paris club. Mbappé needed 169 duels to surpass Cavani. The striker, transferred from AS Monaco in 2017, relieved Cavani as PSG’s overall all-time top scorer over a month ago. The striker from Uruguay scored 200 times in all competitions. For Mbappé, the tally now stands at 203 goals.

Lens was the only club Mbappé had not yet scored against in the Ligue 1. He did manage to score against the other 26 clubs he faced in the French league while serving PSG.

Brighton misses injured Veltman in FA Cup semifinal

Joël Veltman will be missing from Brighton & Hove Albion’s FA Cup semifinal against Manchester United next Sunday. The Dutch defender suffered an injury in the 2-1 English league match against Chelsea on Saturday. Young striker Evan Ferguson was also injured at Stamford Bridge and will miss the game with ManUnited at Wembley.

“It is unfortunate that we are losing so many players,” said coach Roberto De Zerbi, who was nevertheless proud of his team’s performance in London against Chelsea. “We make the club and the fans happy. We played really good football. But I’m already thinking about the FA Cup semifinals again. It’s always about the next game.”

Next weekend at Wembley are the semifinals of England’s premier cup tournament. On Saturday, Manchester City and Sheffield United play each other there, a day later Brighton and Manchester United. That team of coach Erik ten Hag won the League Cup earlier this year.

Van Hooijdonk chases first place top scorer list

It could be a great night for Sydney van Hooijdonk (now 13 goals). If the striker scores twice, he will pass Anastasios Douvikas (14 goals) and Xavi Simons (14 goals) on the premier league’s top scorer list. Van Hooijdonk scored in each of his last 5 premier league games (he missed the game against FC Twente in between due to injury) and scored each of Heerenveen’s last 6 premier league goals.

Sydney’s father Pierre van Hooijdonk won the top scorer title in the premier league 1 time: in 2001/2002 as a Feyenoord player (24 goals). The last Heerenveen player to claim the title was Alfred Finnbogason in 2013/2014 (29 goals).

Outperformer Vormer prevents relegation for now Zulte Waregem

Led by an outstanding Ruud Vormer, Zulte Waregem has managed to avoid relegation for the time being in the Belgian soccer league. Zulte Waregem won 5-1 at KAS Eupen and with one game to go has 1 point less than Eupen, which is just above the relegation line. Vormer was involved in all goals.

The 34-year-old North Hollander provided three assists and signed the fifth goal himself, his first league goal in service to Zulte Waregem. Striker Zinho Gano made a pure hat-trick in the first half. For his first goal, the assist came from Alioune Ndour, who laid the ball back to Gano after a free kick from Vormer.

Eupen will close the league next week with an away game against national champions Club Brugge, the club Vormer traded for Zulte Waregem in early January. A collarbone fracture sidelined the midfielder for six weeks.

First goal Danjuma for Spurs, Chelsea also loses to Brighton

Tottenham Hotspur lost 3-2 to Bournemouth against his old club at their own stadium despite the first league goal by substitute Orange international Arnaut Danjuma. Dango Ouattara scored the winning goal deep into injury time. The Spurs lost precious points in the battle for Champions League tickets and remain in fifth place.

Chelsea also went down in the third game under interim coach Frank Lampard. The London club had to lose to Brighton & Hove Albion at their own Stamford Bridge in the Premier League: 1-2. Chelsea also lost last week at Wolverhampton Wanderers (1-0) and went down to Real Madrid (2-0) in the Champions League quarterfinals on Wednesday.

Mané against Manchester City back in selection Bayern Munich

Sadio Mané is back in Bayern Munich’s squad Wednesday for the second match in the Champions League quarter-finals against Manchester City. The Senegalese striker was missing for disciplinary reasons Saturday against Hoffenheim (1-1) because he got into an argument with fellow player Leroy Sané after the first game with the Englishmen. He allegedly punched Sané in the face. Bayern Munich lost 3-0 in Manchester.

According to coach Thomas Tuchel, the problems have been resolved. “Sadio has apologized and thus sent a clear signal. On Sunday he will participate in training again and in any case I will include him in the group for the game with Manchester City.” Apart from the one-match suspension, Mané, a former player of Liverpool and others, was also fined by the German club.