Weekend highlights: A globetrotting goalscorer and football from a winter fairy tale
Goal of the weekend
A shot like Rooney, a celebration like Ronaldo... in short, a goal that warmed the hearts of Manchester United fans, but not only them. Alejandro Garnacho's beautiful bicycle kick has taken the world by storm and many fans are hailing it as the goal of the year.
This week, we're happy to make an exception to our usual rule and announce the top two goals of the weekend. In addition to the acrobatic finish, we must also recognise the fantastic rocket from distance courtesy of veteran Antonio Candreva, which was the winning goal in Salernitana's victory over Lazio. He himself had been at the Roman club for five years, but that didn't stop him from celebrating...
Underperformer of the weekend
Barcelona dropped valuable points at the weekend, only drawing with Vallecano. However, everything could have been different if the referees had looked at the VAR screen from time to time. For example, this judo tackle from Florian Lejeune on Robert Lewandowski in the penalty area went completely unnoticed.
Social media highlight
While in the Red Dwarf series, the truth was fought for with a massive leaflet campaign, Everton fans went with a slightly grander approach. They paid for a plane that displayed the message "The Premier League is corrupt" over the Etihad Stadium during Manchester City's match against Liverpool. Logically, they don't like the fact that their club was docked points for one breach of Financial Fair Play, while the Citizens received no punishment even though there are over 100 cases involving them.
Statistic of the weekend
When Justin Kluivert is asked what he does, he might as well say traveller as well as footballer. The son of iconic striker Patrick Kluivert has already gone through a considerable number of clubs at a young age, and has broken a unique record as a result. His winning goal for Bournemouth against Sheffield United made him the first player in history to score in each of the top six leagues in the world according to the current coefficient.
Before scoring in the Premier League, he did so in the Bundesliga for Leipzig, Serie A for AS Roma, La Liga in a Valencia shirt, Ligue 1 as a Nice player and of course in the Eredivisie for Ajax, of which he is a product. "I am very happy to have achieved something like this, even though I am only 24 years old. I'm looking forward to more achievements," smiled the Dutchman.
Story of the weekend
Sometimes a celebration doesn't quite go as planned. German referee Felix Brych recognised this on Saturday. Frankfurt's clash with Stuttgart was his 344th in the Bundesliga, putting him on a par with Wolfgang Stark. In the next game, he will take the lead in the historical ranking of referees... but God knows when that "next time" will be.
Brych injured his knee during the match and had to withdraw at half-time. The five-time German Referee of the Year will have to take a long break and recuperate before he moves onto a record 345 games. Incidentally, the second half was officiated by young referee Patrick Schwengers, for whom it was, on the other hand, his first-ever Bundesliga match as head referee.
Photo of the weekend
Instead of just one photo, we'll choose a whole story. The common theme? Winter! Last weekend showed that even in freezing conditions you can still play.
Olomouc triumphed on a snowy pitch in Karvina and enjoyed a ball game with the fans after the game.
In order to play in Romania, the fans and officials of Otelul Galati got involved in clearing the snow from the pitch. Dorinel Munteanu, the head coach of the home team and the record holder in the number of games played for the national team, also swung a shovel.
In Razgrad, Bulgaria, not even shovels were enough. Ludogorets' match with Slavia Sofia was postponed until Monday, because on Sunday the home team's pitch was hidden under half a metre of snow.
