The List | 10 Things From The Weekend - 24/02/2014 - Football News

No one would blame you for still talking about the midweek Champions League results – or even looking ahead to the games this week. The European competition came back with a bang but luckily the domestic competitions still have plenty of twists and turns to go, and we have taken a look at the ten things we learnt from the action just gone.

Spurs and United will fight it out for the Thursday night slot – Spurs yet again dropped points after the Europa League whilst United managed to close the gap on them. The top four are looking like staying that way now – in what order remains to be seen – but that of course leaves Moyes and his men along with Spurs and Everton to fight it out for the Europa League.

It was the week of wonder goals – From Zlatan Ibrahimovic in the Champions League to the 25 yard screamer scored by Gareth Bale in the thrashing of Elche, and the third Arsenal goal by Rosicky wasn’t awful to look at either! There were also some vital goals like John Terry's last minute winner at Stamford Bridge, and the decent effort from Yaya Toure at the Etihad Stadium.   



Old guard to the rescue – Had Chelsea dropped another two points on the weekend, they may as well have gift wrapped the title and handed it to Manchester City. As it turned out, Frank Lampard and John Terry weren't quite done and combined to get the last gasp winner and keep the Blues at the top of the table. 



In Big Sam they were right to trust – Not only Big Sam, but skipper Kevin Nolan as well to be precise. Not too long ago, Hammers fans were calling for the head of their manager, yet the board stuck with him. Now after this weekend the club are in the top half of the table and well out of the dog fight. Perhaps they learnt from Blackburn Rovers and Newcastle? 



Mesut Özil picked up a very timely 'injury' - Arsene Wenger faced a difficult choice after the Mesut Özil penalty miss and performance which should have once again seen him placed on a milk bottle for missing people. The Arsenal boss chose to leave Özil out of the squad claiming he had a thigh injury, leaving us waiting for the manager’s nose to start growing in the post-match presser. 



Jose proven right? It's looking like this is one of the weakest Barcelona sides we have seen in years and the Cules are seemingly on the decline. Yes, they are still great, but the best in the world? Not on the weekend’s display. They were there for the taking against City as well and but for a Argentine slug at the back, Kompany et al may well have done it.



Fighting on multiple fronts is starting to kill certain clubs – Atletico Madrid are suffering from having to fight both in Europe and also the league, and their loss in Pamplona showed it to maximum effect. Some sides do not have the squads or the luxury of resting players ahead of European games – Bayern we are looking at you – and it is coming to decision time over which matters the most.  



Want to make some money? Stick a tenner on Real Madrid to do the treble – The La Liga leaders are coming good at just the right time of the season and have their star players performing. Gareth Bale is settling in more and more with each passing game, both keepers are brick walls and Luka Modric is the star man. Oh, and there’s that Ronaldo who isn’t too bad either. 



What on earth is happening to BVB? - At one time, we thought that Jurgen Klopp had a seriously good thing going on in Dortmund. Now the club are falling apart, and their battering at the hands of lowly Hamburg only made things worse. As if it wasn’t a big enough lure when Bayern come calling to their players when they were league runners up, god knows what their star men would say to a move now! 



Ibra shone for PSG again and is flirting with the Premier League – The forward is ripping Ligue 1 apart – obviously, he is Zlatan of course – and is now flirting with a move to England as one final career swansong. He believes he would ‘rip the league apart’ and we don’t disagree. Jose are you listening? 

What did you learn from the weekend? Let us know. Join the conversation online, on Twitter and on Facebook.