Soccer Monday: FA Cup upsets, AC Milan keeps losing and Barca-Real battle heats up
Soccer Monday: FA Cup upsets, AC Milan keeps losing and Barca-Real battle heats up
Here's what you may have missed this weekend
The FA Cup dominated the weekend action with Brighton’s 2-1 shock win against Liverpool on Sunday the biggest upset of the fourth round.
Over in Italy, Napoli extended its lead at the top of the table after AC Milan lost — again! — in league play. In Spain, the battle for the title between Barcelona and Real Madrid got even more interesting after the weekend slate of matches.
Here’s a recap of what you may have missed:
3. FA Cup returns … and so do the upsets
Liverpool’s defeat aside, the FA Cup had plenty of other noteworthy action. Manchester United’s fine form continued with a 3-1 win against Reading on Saturday, a day that also included Tottenham’s 3-0 win over Preston.
The biggest game of the round may have been Sheffield United’s 3-3 draw against Wrexham. It was John Egan's stoppage-time goal that rescued Sheffield United against the team co-owned by actor Ryan Reynolds.
The draw now forces a replay. For Wrexham, however, it was nearly a second straight upset over a Championship side after Wrexham defeated Coventry 4-3 earlier this month in the third round.
2. AC Milan can’t win anymore
Napoli extended its lead to 13 points on Sunday at the top of the Serie A table after a 2-1 win at home against Roma. Inter Milan moved into second place following a 2-1 win on Saturday at Cremonese. AC Milan dropped to third place after a 5-2 defeat at home against Sassuolo.
The Rossoneri, who won the Serie A title last season, are coming off a series of poor results over the past few weeks. After a 2-1 win against Salernitana on Jan. 4, AC Milan managed to draw Roma 2-2 on Jan. 8, a 2-2 draw against Lecce on Jan. 14 and a 4-0 defeat to Lazio on Jan. 24.
Sandwiched between those games was a 1-0 defeat to Torinio on Jan. 11 in the round of 16 of the Coppa Italia and a 3-0 defeat to rivals Inter Milan on Jan. 18 in the Italian Super Cup.
1. Barcelona takes a lead over rivals Real Madrid
Real Madrid was held to a scoreless draw at home Sunday by third-place Real Sociedad to lose ground to rivals Barcelona at the top of the Spanish league.
The result left the defending league champions five points adrift of Barca, who won 1-0 at Girona on Saturday.
Real Sociedad, meanwhile, stayed three points behind Real Madrid and eight behind Barcelona. Both Real Madrid and Barcelona have a game in hand.