Soccer Monday: Bellingham downs Girona, Cincy the best and livid Liverpool
Kick off your week with all the action from this past weekend
Happy October! Hope everyone has gotten the month off on the right foot.
Some teams ended last month on the correct footing. They are, most notably, Real Madrid and Monaco. It wasn’t all positive. Teams like Liverpool had plenty to complain about after this weekend.
Here’s a look at three storylines to emerge from this past weekend:
3. Bellingham gives Girona a reality check
Jude Bellingham delivered another great performance, helping lift Real Madrid to a 3-0 road win on Saturday against Girona.
Girona had entered the round undefeated and on a six-game winning streak that had taken it to the top of the table for the first time in the club’s history.
But Bellingham put Los Blancos on course for the win by producing a superb pass for Joselu Mato’s 17th-minute opener. After Aurélien Tchouaméni doubled the score, Bellingham rounded off the scoring with his league-leading sixth goal.
As a result, Real Madrid catapulted to first place over Girona and rivals Barcelona to the top of the standings. Real Madrid currently lead Barcelona (1-0 winners against Sevilla on Friday) by one point and Girona by two.
2. FC Cincinnati wins the Supporters’ Shield
FC Cincinnati captured the Supporters’ Shield on Saturday as the MLS team with the best overall regular season record. The team’s 3-2 road victory against Toronto FC on Saturday secured the trophy and the top seed in the Eastern Conference.
Building on its first-ever postseason berth in 2022, FC Cincinnati will have home field advantage throughout the playoffs, which being at the end of this month.
Cincy’s rise is largely due to captain and midfielder Luciano Acosta, who has had an MVP-caliber season. The Argentine playmaker — one of three Designated Players on the roster alongside defensive midfielder Obinna Nwobodo and striker Aaron Boupendza — was signed following Brenner’s transfer to Serie A’s Udinese.
At the helm since 2022, coach Pat Noonan has guided the club’s on-field transformation, with the win against Toronto improving the club’s record to 19-4-8 this season and securing the club’s first-ever trophy with three games left to play in the regular season.
1. Referee blunder a bridge to VAR
In the 34th minute of Liverpool’s game at Tottenham on Saturday, Luis Diaz was played through on goal by Mohamed Salah. Diaz scored, but was flagged offside.
To the surprise of Liverpool fans, the goal did not stand following a miscommunication. Tottenham went on to a 2-1 win at home, with two Liverpool players — Curtis Jones and Diogo Jota — shown red cards. Joel Matip’s own goal in stoppage time handed Tottenham the three points.
Following the game, the Professional Game Match Officials Limited, England’s referees’ governing body, admitted a “significant human error” regarding the Diaz decision.
“The goal by Luiz Diaz was disallowed for offside by the on-field team of match officials,” it said in a statement. “This was a clear and obvious factual error and should have resulted in the goal being awarded through VAR intervention, however, the VAR failed to intervene.”
Liverpool missed the chance to move to the top of the table following Manchester City’s shock 2-1 defeat against Wolverhampton earlier Saturday.
“We will not get points for it so it doesn’t help. Nobody expects 100% right decisions on the field but we all thought when VAR comes in that it might make things easier,” Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp said.
The PGMOL said it would conduct a full review into the matter.
In other news: USMNT star Christian Pulisic scored the opening goal as AC Milan beat Lazio 2-0 at home Saturday to stay level on points with Inter Milan at the top of Serie A. AC Milan went top of the table with 18 points after seven matches, before city rivals Inter Milan went back above them on goal difference following a 4-0 win at Salernitana later in the day. … A week after missing two penalty kicks in a defeat to Nice, Folarin Balogun started and scored in a topsy-turny 3-2 home win on Saturday over Olympique Marseille to go into first place in Ligue 1. At the same time, PSG could not find a way to score in a 0-0 draw at struggling Clermont. … Ajax’s Dutch league away game against RKC Waalwijk was abandoned in the 84th minute on Saturday after RKC goalkeeper Etienne Vaessen was knocked unconscious. Vaessen went down after a collision with Ajax striker Brian Brobbey, causing panicked reactions from his teammates as they called for medical help. The goalkeeper regained consciousness as he was stretchered off the field.