The Week that was (in Football (Soccer)): Review of the top Leagues in Europe-part 2 (Week of April 16-23, 2018)

Note:

The purpose of this section is to summarize the week in question, it is not meant to give a full statistical analysis of the matches.

We live in a viral age and all that information can be accessed.

I welcome all contributions from anyone, even for the Leagues that I did not cover.

I.  England

Manchester City celebrated its League title win in front of its own fans with another powerful display in dismantling Swansea City (5-0) followed afterwards by a pitch invasion.

This was also the weekend of the FA Cup semifinals and Manchester United and Chelsea booked their places in the Final, where Jose Mourinho will face his former club. The last time the two sides met in the Final, Mourinho’s Chelsea defeated Manchester United (1-0) in 2007.

Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah capped off a magnificent season by being named as the PFA player of the year, with Manchester City’s Leroy Sane being named as the Young player of the Year.

However, the biggest news of this week was the impending resignation of Arsenal Manager Arsene Wenger after nearly 22 years in charge. He was the longest current serving Premier League Manager. In his tenure, Arsenal won Three English Premiership titles (1998, 2002, 2004) as well as even more FA Cups along the way.

Photo From: L’Equipe, April 23, 2018

(Arsene Wenger)

Diary:

Tuesday, April 17, 2018:

- Manchester City was cleared of any wrongdoing in signing of Argentina teenager Benjamin Garre from Velez Sarsfield in July 2016. Velez had accused Manchester City of breaking regulations in their approach for the player.  (source: BBC Football Online)

- Chelsea’s Marcos Alonso was charged with violent conduct by the FA for a dangerous tackle on Southampton’s Shane Long over the weekend. He is to be suspended for Chelsea’s upcoming FA Cup semifinal match. (source: BBC Football Online)

Wednesday, April 18, 2018:

-The PFA Team of the season was announced:

Goalkeeper: David De Gea (Manchester United)

Defenders: Marcos Alonso (Chelsea), Nicolas Otamendi (Manchester City), Jan Vertonghen (Tottenham), Kyle Walker (Manchester City)

Midfielders: Kevin Debruyne (Manchester City), David Silva (Manchester City), Christian Eriksen (Tottenham)

Strikers: Sergio Aguero (Manchester City), Mohamed Salah (Liverpool), Harry Kane (Tottenham). (source: BBC Football Online)

-Current Chelsea Manager Antonio Conte believes Manchester City could dominate the Premiership for the years to come. (source: BBC Football Online)

Thursday, April 19, 2018:

-As mentioned earlier, Marcos Alonso was suspended for three matches and will miss the FA Cup semifinal.  (source: BBC Football Online)

-Arsenal Manager Arsene Wenger came out in favor of the safe standing proposals (that have been rejected by the authorities who would like to maintain all-seater stadiums).  (source: BBC Football Online)

-Liverpool unveiled its new home jerseys to be used for next season. They will debut this new jersey in their last home game of the current season.  (Source Daily Telegraph online)

-Arsenal Manager Arsene Wenger would be willing to offer Santi Carzola a new contract, however, whether the player can regain fitness and play again remains unknown. (Source Daily Telegraph online)

Friday, April 20, 2018:

-Arsenal Manager Arsene Wenger announced that he will leave the club at the end of the season. He arrived in 1996 and has served Arsenal for 22 seasons.  (source: BBC Football Online)

-1990s Southampton and Norway defender Claus Lundekvam revealed that after his playing career he has struggled with substance abuse issues and even attempted suicide twice. (Source Daily Telegraph online)

-Former England International Michael Carrick revealed that he suffered from depression when lining for England (brought on during the 2010 World Cup). (Source Daily Telegraph online)

-Manchester City are reportedly monitoring Ajax Amsterdam defender Matthijs de Ligt. (Source Daily Telegraph online)

-Manchester United’s Belgian striker Romelu Lukaku has left his agent Mino Raiola and signed with Roc Nation Sports (founded by Rapper Jay-Z). (Source AS.com online)

Sunday, April 22, 2018:

-Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah was named PFA Player of the year. Manchester City’s Leroy Sane was named the young player of the year. (source: BBC Football Online)

-Manchester City Manager Josip Guardiola stated that Kevin De Bruyne should have been named as the player of the year. (Source AS.com online)

Monday, April 23, 2018:

-Manchester United’s Paul Pogba insisted that he has no problems with Manager Jose Mourinho and does intend to transfer out, contrary to most reports. (source: BBC Football Online)

-The English FA apologized to both Manchester United and Tottenham in writing after a tweet that appeared to mock Tottenham’s Harry Kane. The tweet showed a match photo of Chris Smalling and Harry Kane, and read “what’s in your pocket?”, with a clip showing Smalling say “Harry Kane”. (source: BBC Football Online)

League Matchday (April 17-23, 2018):

Tuesday, April 17, 2018:

Brighton Hove and Albion 1-Tottenham Hotspur 1 (Pascal Gross 50 pen / Harry Kane 48)

Wednesday, April 18, 2018:

Bournemouth 0-Manchester United 2 (Chris Smalling 28, Romelu Lukaku 70)

Thursday, April 19, 2018:

Leicester City 0-Southampton 0

Burnley 1-Chelsea 2 (Ashley Barnes 64 / Kevin Long (own goal) 20, Victor Moses 69)

Saturday, April 21, 2018:

West Bromwich Albion 2-Liverpool 2 (Jake Livermore 79, Salomon Rondon 88 / Danny Ings 4, Mohamed Salah 72)

Watford 0-Crystal Palace 0

Sunday, April 22, 2018:

Stoke City 1-Burnley 1 (Badou N’Diaye 11 / Ashley Barnes 62)

Arsenal 4-West Ham United 1 (Nacho Monreal 51, Aaron Ramsey 82, Alexander Lacazette 85, 89 / Marko Arnautovic 64)

Manchester City 5-Swansea City 0 (David Silva 12, 64, Raheem Sterling 16, Kevin De Bruyne 54, Gabriel Jesus 88)

Monday, April 23, 2018:

Everton 1-Newcastle United 0  (Theo Walcott 51)

FA Cup Semfinals (April 21-22, 2018):

Saturday, April 21, 2018:

Manchester United 2-Tottenham Hotspur 1 (Alexis Sanchez 24, Ander Herrera 62 / Dele Alli 11)

Sunday, April 22, 2018:

Chelsea 2-Southampton 0 (Olivier Giroud 46, Alvaro Morata 82)

Top Goalscorer:

Mohamed Salah (Liverpool) 31 goals

Harry Kane (Tottenham Hotspur) 25 goals

Table	Team	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Man City	34	29	3	2	98	25	73	90
2	Man Utd	34	23	5	6	65	26	39	74
3	Liverpool	35	20	11	4	80	37	43	71
4	Tottenham	34	20	8	6	66	31	35	68
5	Chelsea	34	19	6	9	59	34	25	63
6	Arsenal	34	17	6	11	66	46	20	57

P-Played, W-Win, D-Draw, L-Loss, GF-Goals For, GA-Goals Against, GD-Goal Difference, Pts-Point

II.  Italy

When the week started it seemed like the Scudetto was just within the grasp of Juventus, as they held a commanding six point lead. By the end of the week the lead had shrunk to a solitary one.

First in midweek, Napoli narrowed the gap to four points as Juve were held by Crotone (1-1) and Napoli defeated Udinese (4-2).

The showdown between the giants was set on Sunday. Uncharacteristically, Juventus appeared to be playing for a draw (at home) to maintain their lead. Napoli had to win to have any chance for the Scudetto and had more of the initiative, though they rarely troubled Juventus, whose plan appeared to be paying dividends. That is until the very last minute, when a careless giveaway led to a corner from which Koulibaly powerfully headed Napoli’s winner.

Naturally, Allegri’s choice of tactics will be questioned (that nearly worked), with many wondering why Juventus played defensively at home (not a single shot on target) in a match where they could have killed the title race with a win.

Now it’s game on as far as the title and Juventus face a tougher schedule with matches against Inter and Roma.

The difference a week makes.

Photo From: L’Equipe, April 23, 2018

(Juventus and Napoli formations)

Photo From: L’Equipe, April 23, 2018

(Koulibaly’s goal, April 22, 2018, Juventus 0-Napoli 1)

Photo From: France Football, issue 3743, April 24, 2018

(Koulibaly’s goal, April 22, 2018, Juventus 0-Napoli 1)

Diary:

Monday, April 16, 2018:

- Juventus are reported to be in contact with Atletico Madrid’s Antoine Griezmann’s agents per RAI Sport. Juventus are also linked with Atletico Madrid’s Diego Godin. (Source AS. Com online)

Tuesday, April 17, 2018:

- Juventus are reported to be interested in Manchester United’s Italian defender Matteo Darmian. (Source AS.com online)

- Crotone Manager and former Italy goalkeeper Walter Zenga came out to defend Gianluigi Buffon’s actions in the CL match vs. Real Madrid. According to Zenga, “I would have done worse”. (Source AS. Com online)

Thursday, April 19, 2018:

-Former Italy defender Marco Materazzi chimed in the controversy surrounding Gianluigi Buffon’s outburst against English Referee Michael Oliver. Materazzi predicted that one day Buffon will apologize. (Source La Gazetta delo Sport online)

League Matchday (April 17-18, 2018):

Tuesday, April 17, 2018:

Internazionale Milano 4-Cagliari 0 (Joao Cancelo 3, Mauro Icardi 49, Marcelo Brozovic 60, Ivan Perisic 90)

Wednesday, April 18, 2018:

Benevento 0-Atalanta 3 (Remo Freuler 21, Musa Barrow 49, Alejandro Gomez 67)

Torino 1-AC Milan 1 (Lorenzo De Silvestri 70 / Giacomo Bonaventura 9)

Sampdoria 1-Bologna 0 (Zapata 90+3)

SPAL 0-Chievo Verona 0

AS Roma 2-Genoa 1 (Cengiz Under 17, Ervin Zukamovic (own goal) 52 / Gianluca Lapadula 61)

Crotone 1-Juventus 1 (Simy 65 / Alex Sandro 16)

Fiorentina 3-Lazio 4 (Jordan Veretout 16, 31 pen,54 / Luis Alberto 39, 73, Martin Caceres 45, Felipe Anderson 69)

Verona 0-Sassuolo 1 (Mauricio Lemos 38)

Napoli 4-Udinese 2 (Lorenzo Insigne 45+2, Raul Albiol 64, Arkadiusz Milik 70, Lorenzo Tonelli 75 / Jakub Jankto 41, Svante Ingelsson 55)

Top Goalscorer:

Ciro Immobile (Lazio) 27 goals

Mauro Icardi (Internazionale Milano) 25 goals

Table	Team	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Juventus	33	27	4	2	78	19	59	85
2	Napoli	33	25	6	2	70	23	47	81
3	AS Roma	33	19	7	7	52	27	25	64
4	Lazio	33	19	7	7	79	43	36	64
5	Internazionale	33	17	12	4	54	22	32	63
6	AC Milan	33	15	9	6	44	37	7	54

P-Played, W-Win, D-Draw, L-Loss, GF-Goals For, GA-Goals Against, GD-Goal Difference, Pts-Point

League Matchday (April 21-22, 2018):

Saturday, April 21, 2018:

SPAL 0-AS Roma 3 (Francesco Vicari (own goal) 33, Radja Nainggolan 52, Patrik Schick 59)

Sassuolo 1-Fiorentina 0 (Matteo Politano 41)

AC Milan 0-Benevento 1 (Pietro Iemmello 29)

Sunday, April 22, 2018:

Cagliari 0-Bologna 0

Udinese 1-Crotone 2 (Lasagna 5 / Simy 7, Faraoni 86)

Chievo Verona 1-Internazionale Milano 2 (Mariusz Stepinksi 90 / Mauro Icardi 50, Ivan Perisic 61)

Lazio 4-Sampdoria 0 (Sergej Milinkovic-Savic 32, Stefan De Vrij 43, Ciro Immobile 85, 88)

Atalanta 2-Torino 1 (Remo Freuler 53, Robin Gosens 64 / Adem Ljajic 56)

Juventus 0-Napoli 1 (Kalidou Koulibaly 90)

Monday, April 23, 2018:

Genoa 3 –Verona 1 (Iuri Medeiros 6, Daniel Bessa 78, Goran Pandev 90+3 / Romulo 64 pen)

Top Goalscorer:

Ciro Immobile (Lazio) 29 goals

Mauro Icardi (Internazionale Milano) 26 goals

Table	Team	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Juventus	34	27	4	3	78	20	58	85
2	Napoli	34	26	6	2	71	23	48	84
3	AS Roma	34	20	7	7	55	27	28	67
4	Lazio	34	20	7	7	83	43	40	67
5	Internazionale	34	18	12	4	56	23	33	66
6	Atalanta	34	15	10	9	53	35	17	55

P-Played, W-Win, D-Draw, L-Loss, GF-Goals For, GA-Goals Against, GD-Goal Difference, Pts-Point

III.  Spain

The main attraction of this week was the Copa Del Rey Final. Sevilla that had given Barcelona a scare just few weeks before, were completely outplayed in a match that was more like a training exercise for Barcelona who won their fourth straight Copa Del Rey title by winning (5-0).

It was an emotional farewell for Barcelona Captain Andres Iniesta, who played his last Copa Del Rey match for the club. He is expected to leave the club at the end of the season, most likely for China.

The League title has been Barcelona’s for some time and Atletico Madrid missed its chance to prolong their resistance as they were held scoreless at home by Betis. Atletico are most likely concentrating on the more realistic objective of Europa League glory.

Barcelona can clinch the title with one more win.

Photo From: L’Equipe, April 22, 2018

(Andres Iniesta lifting the Copa del Rey)

Diary:

Monday, April 16, 2018:

- Atletico Madrid’s. Diego Godin is linked with transfers to Juventus as well as Boca Juniors. (Source AS. Com online)

Thursday, April 19, 2018:

-Real Madrid Manager Zinedine Zidane denied having problems with Gareth Bale and also praised under-fire striker Karim Benzema.  (Source AS. Com online)

-Fluminense forward Ramon de Araújo Siqueira’s impending transfer to Real Madrid was called off after the player was injured. (Source AS. Com online)

- Malaga became the first team to be relegated after losing (0-1) at Levante (Source AS. Com online)

Friday, April 20, 2018:

- Paris St. Germain are considering to sell outright the on-loan Portuguese player Guedes currently at Valencia. (Source AS. Com online)

- According to reports Zinedine Zidane’s decision to sideline Bale stems from his poor performance against Juventus in the Champions League second leg (Source AS. Com online)

Sunday, April 22, 2018:

-Sevilla’s French player Steven N’Zonzi apologized to the club’s fans. The player had been seen out celebrating on the night after Sevilla had been defeated by Barcelona (0-5) in the Copa Del Rey Final. (Source AS.com online)

Monday, April 23, 2018:

-In the upcoming annual Salaries issue of France Football, Barcelona’s Lionel Messi is top earner (estimated 100 Million Euros Revenue). (Source France Football online)

-There is reportedly a rift between Barcelona Manager Ernesto Valverde and Club President Bartomeu. This appears to stem from Barcelona’s elimination in the Champions League by AS Roma. (Source Marca.com online)

League Matchday (April 17-19, 2018):

Tuesay, April 17, 2018:

Deportivo La Coruna 0-Sevilla 0

Celta Vigo 2-Barcelona 2 (Jonny 45, Iago Aspas 82 / Ousmane Dembele 36, Paco Alcacer 64)

Villareal 2-Leganes 1 (Ruiz 42, Bacca 55 / Brasanac 82)

Wednesday, April 18, 2018:

Espanyol Barcelona 0-Eibar 1 (David Lomban 32)

Valencia 1-Getafe 2 (Rodrigo 69 / Loic Remy 16,49)

Real Madrid 1-Athletic Bilbao 1 (Cristiano Ronaldo 87 / Inaki Williams 14)

Thursday, April 19, 2018:

Real Sociedad 3-Atletico Madrid 0 (William 27, Juanmi 80, 90+2)

Alaves 1-Girona 2 (Tomas Pina 90 / Alexis Garcia 59, Stuani 86 pen)

Real Betis 1-Las Palmas 0 (Junior Firpo 90+4)

Levante 1-Malaga 0 (Emmanuel Boateng 90+3)

Top Goalscorer:

Lionel Messi (Barcelona) 29 goals

Luis Suarez (Barcelona) 23 goals

Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid) 24 goals

Table	Team	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Barcelona	33	25	8	0	83	19	64	83
2	Atletico Madrid	33	21	8	4	54	18	36	71
3	Real Madrid	33	20	8	5	80	36	44	68
4	Valencia	33	20	5	8	61	35	26	65
5	Real Betis	33	17	4	12	54	53	1	55
6	Villareal	33	15	6	12	45	40	5	51

P-Played, W-Win, D-Draw, L-Loss, GF-Goals For, GA-Goals Against, GD-Goal Difference, Pts-Point

League Matchday (April 20-22, 2018):

Friday, April 20, 2018:

Leganes 0-Deportivo La Coruna 0

Saturday, April 21, 2018:

Eibar 0-Getafe 1 (Olivera 23)

Celta Vigo 1-Valencia 1 (Gomez 63 / Santi Mina 59)

Sunday, April 22, 2018:

Girona 0-Espanyol 2 (Gerard Moreno 43, 55)

Malaga 2-Real Sociedad 0 (Adrian 11, En-Nesyri 35)

Las Palmas 0-Alaves 4 (El Haddadi 51, 73, Medran 79, Sobrino 90+1)

Atletico Madrid 0-Real Betis 0

Monday, April 23, 2018:

Athletic Bilbao 1-Levante 3 (Garcia 8 / Bardhi 42, 44, Jose Luis Morales 90)

Top Goalscorer:

Lionel Messi (Barcelona) 29 goals

Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid) 24 goals

Luis Suarez (Barcelona) 23 goals

Table	Team	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Barcelona	33	25	8	0	83	19	64	83
2	Atletico Madrid	34	21	9	4	54	18	36	72
3	Real Madrid	33	20	8	5	80	36	44	68
4	Valencia	34	20	6	8	62	36	26	66
5	Real Betis	34	17	5	12	54	53	1	56
6	Villareal	33	15	6	12	45	40	5	51

P-Played, W-Win, D-Draw, L-Loss, GF-Goals For, GA-Goals Against, GD-Goal Difference, Pts-Point

Copa Del Rey-Final (April 21, 2018):

Saturday, April 21, 2018:

Sevilla 0-Barcelona 5 (Luis Suarez 14, 40, Lionel Messi 31, Andres Iniesta 52, Phillipe Coutinho 69 pen)

Note: Barcelona Champions 2017/18 Copa Del Rey

IV.  Germany

The main focus this week were the DfB Pokal semifinals. Bayern are now in line for a possible treble after qualifying for the Final by easily disposing of Leverkusen (6-2).

Their opponents will be Eintracht Frankfurt (managed by Bayern’s future Manager Niko Kovac). Frankfurt defeated Schalke (1-0) to reach the Final.

In the Bundesliga, Bayern continued winning with Ruhr rivals Schalke and Dortmund vying for the second spot.

Diary:

Monday, April 16, 2018:

- There was controversy in the use of VAR in the League match between Mainz and Freiburg. After blowing for the halftime whistle, the referee had to call back the teams onto the field after he had awarded a penalty kick for Mainz after VAR review. (Source Daily Telegraph online)

- The season of Michy Batshuayi (Dortmund’s Belgian striker) is over an ankle injury in the League match vs. Schalke over the weekend. His World Cup chances are now compromised as well. (Source L’Equipe online)

Tuesday, April 17, 2018:

- The season of Bayern Munich’s Arturo Vidal is over after an injury. (Source Kicker.de online)

-Match Action:

DfB Pokal-Semifinals, Bayer Leverkusen 2-Bayern Munich 6

Wednesday, April 18, 2018:

- Koln’s Marco Hoger is to remain with his club despite a relegation clause and offers from other teams. (Source Kicker.de online)

Thursday, April 19, 2018:

-Eintracht Braunschweig’s Salim Khelifi is linked to SV Hamburg. (Source Kicker.de online)

Monday, April 23, 2018:

-Koln’s Jonas Hector has extended his contract with the club despite interest from Bayern Munich and Dortmund. (Source AS.com online)

DfB Pokal-Senifinals (April 17-18, 2018):

Tuesday, April 17, 2018:

Bayer Leverkusen 2-Bayern Munich 6 (Lars Bender 16, Leon Bailey 72 / Robert Lewandowski 3, 9, Thomas Muller 52, 64, 78, Thiago Alcantara 61)

Wednesday, April 18, 2018:

Schalke 0-Eintracht Frankfurt 1 (Luka Jovic 75)

League Matchday (April 20-22, 2018):

Friday, April 20, 2018:

Borussia Moenchengladbach 3-Wolfsburg 0 (Lars Stindl 8, Raffael 35,  Chistoph Kramer 44)

Saturday, April 21, 2018:

RB Leipzig 2-Hoffenheim 5 (Naby Keita 59, Dayot Upamenco 88 / Mark Uth 14, 59, Serge Gnabry 35, Pavel Kaderabek 45, Lukas Rupp 64)

Hannover 0-Bayern Munich 3 (Thomas Muller 57, Robert Lewandowski 73, Sebastian Rudy 89)

Eintracht Frankfurt 0-Hertha Berlin 3 (Elke Jonas 57 pen, Mathew Leckie 77, Alexander Esswein 90+1)

SV Hamburg 1-Freiburg 0 (Lewis Holtby 54)

Stuttgart 2-Werder Bremen 0 (Christian Gentner 13, Berkay Ozcan 90+1)

Dortmund 4-Leverkusen 0 (Jadon Sancho 13, Marco Reus 55, 79, Maximilian Philipp 63)

Sunday, April 22, 2018:

Augsburg 2-Mainz 0 (Michael Gregoritsch 29, Alfred Finnbogason 90+2)

Koln 2-Schalke 2 (Leonardo Bittencourt 26, Marcel Risse 83 / Breel Embolo 4, Yevhen Konoplyanka 23)

Top Goalscorer:

Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich) 28 goals

Kevin Volland (Bayer Leverkusen) 14 goals

Table	Team	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Bayern Munich	31	25	3	3	84	22	62	78
2	Schalke	31	16	8	7	49	35	14	56
3	Dortmund	31	15	9	7	61	41	20	54
4	Bayer Leverkusen	31	14	9	8	55	41	14	51
5	Hoffenheim	31	13	10	8	60	44	16	49
6	RB Leipzig	31	13	8	10	47	47	0	47

P-Played, W-Win, D-Draw, L-Loss, GF-Goals For, GA-Goals Against, GD-Goal Difference, Pts-Point

V.  France

The League Champions Paris St. Germain sealed a date for the French Cup Final in midweek by defeating Caen.  Their opponents in the Final will be lower League side Les Herbiers. It would be a miracle of epic proportions in the History of the game if the Parisians do not win.

Monaco had appeared comfortably set in the runner-up spot as the only semi-challengers to PSG’s supremacy.

However, they appear to be on a freefall after their (1-7) loss to PSG last week.

They lost again, this time to Guingamp (1-3). This allowed their narrowest challengers Lyon and Marseille to narrow the gap to just one point. The two sides appear to have the momentum with Marseille galvanized by their Europa League run. Interesting few weeks ahead for the Champions League spots.

 

Photo From: L’Equipe, April 19, 2018

(Kylian Mbappe and Edinson Cavani , April 18, 2018, Coupe de France, Caen 1-PSG 3)

Diary:

Tuesday, April 17, 2018:

-Italian agent Mino Raiola has reportedly offered the services of his client AC Milan goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma to Paris St. Germain (Source L’Equipe online)

-Real Madrid’s Brazilian midfielder Casemiro is linked to Paris St. Germain. (Source AS. Com online)

Wednesday, April 18, 2018:

- Paris St. Germain’s injured Brazilian star Neymar might return to training after final examination on May 17^th. (Source AS. Com online)

-Brazilian striker Fernando Karanga (CSKA Sofia) is linked to Olympique Marseille. (Source L’Equipe online)

-AS Monaco defender Djibril Sidibe suffered a knee injury over the weekend in the match vs. PSG. His World Cup chances are now compromised. (Source France Football online)

Thursday, April 19, 2018:

-Bordeaux’s Majority Shareholder Nicolas de Tavernost announced that a ‘major Brazilian player’ would be transferred at the end of the season. Many believe that this could only be their star player Malcolm. (Source L’Equipe online)

-PSG’s Hatem Ben Arfa will open a lawsuit against the club for around 100,000 Euros in lost wages. (Source L’Equipe online)

-PSG Manager Unai Emery denied any links to Real Sociedad to manage the club next season. (Source AS.com online)

Friday, April 20, 2018:

- Former France star Emmanuel Petit discussed in his autobiography his regret in leaving Arsenal for Barcelona in 2000. He believed the atmosphere at the club was poor due to cliques. (Source AS. Com online)

-Stade Reims were promoted to the First Division after defeating Ajaccio (1-0) in the French Second Division (Source L’Equipe online)

Sunday, April 22, 2018:

-Former Brazil star Rivaldo said that Neymar should leave PSG and “very likely” will sign for Real Madrid. (Source AS.com online)

Coupe de France-Semifinals (April 17-18, 2018):

Tuesday, April 17, 2018:

Les Herbiers 2-FC Chambly 0 (David 28, Gboho 80)

Wednesday, April 18, 2018:

Caen 1- Paris St. Germain 3 (Ismael Diomande 43 / Kylian Mbappe 25, 81, Christopher Nkunku 90+5)

League Matchday (April 20-22, 2018):

Friday, April 20, 2018:

Nantes 1- Stade Rennais 1 (Adrien Thomasson 42 / Nicolas Pallois (own goal) 81)

Dijon 2-Lyon 5 (Naim Sliti 26, 55 / Memphis Depay 4, Valentin Rosier (own goal) 50, Nabil Fekir 53, Bertrand Troare 77, Maxwell Cornet 82)

Saturday, April 21, 2018:

Olympique Marseille 5-Lille 1 (Florian Thauvin 12, 30 pen, Kostas Mitroglu 35, 38, Lucas Ocampos 68 / Yassine Benzia 54)

Toulouse 2-Angers 0 (Yaya Sanogo 42, Max-Alain Gradel 60 pen)

Metz 1-Caen 1 (Damien Da Silva (own goal) 71 / Jessy Deminguet 73)

Guingamp 3-Monaco 1 (Jimmy Briand 22 pen, Etienne Didot 54, Marcus Thuram 47 / Almamy Toure 55)

Amiens 3-Strasbourg 1 (Thomas Monconduit 45, Harisson Manzala 79, Gael Kakuta 90+2 / Idriss Saadi 90+4)

Sunday, April 22, 2018:

OGC Nice 1-Montpellier 0 (Pierre Lees-Melou 59)

Saint Etienne 2-Troyes 1 (Robert Beric 68, 74 / Adama Niane 8)

Bordeaux 0-Paris St. Germain 1 (Giovani Lo Celso 76)

Top Goalscorer:

Edinson Cavani (Paris St. Germain) 25 goals

Neymar (Paris St. Germain) 19 goals

Table	Team	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Paris St. Germain	34	29	3	2	104	23	81	90
2	AS Monaco	34	21	7	6	79	44	35	70
3	Lyon	34	20	9	5	77	38	39	69
4	Marseille	34	20	9	5	72	41	31	69
5	Nice	34	14	8	12	45	45	0	50
6	Saint Etienne	34	13	10	11	40	46	-6	49

P-Played, W-Win, D-Draw, L-Loss, GF-Goals For, GA-Goals Against, GD-Goal Difference, Pts-Point

Diary (extra):

Tuesday, April 17, 2018:

-Rangers Glasgow pair Kenny Miller and Lee Wallace will be suspended after an argument with Manager Graeme Murty following Rangers’ loss (0-4) to Celtic Glasgow in the Scottish Cup Semifinals over the weekend.  (Source BBC Football online)

-Former Dutch star Wesley Sneijder expressed that he was happy playing in Qatar and that his early season transfer to OGC Nice in France had been a mistake. (Source La Gazzetta delo Sport online)

Wednesday, April 18, 2018:

-Swedish star Zlatan Ibrahimovic announced on American Television that he will be going to the World Cup and that it wouldn’t be a World Cup without him. (Source AS. Com online)

-Former Brazilian star Kaka revealed that his relationship with Jose Mourinho at Real Madrid was respectful but complicated as he felt the Portuguese had no confidence in him and did not give him a chance. (Source Sport bild online)

Thursday, April 19, 2018:

-It was reported that VAR replays would be shown on live giant screens for fans in the World Cup.  (Source BBC Football Online)

-Former Argentina defender Oscar Ruggeri urged Barcelona star Lionel Messi to get a rest from playing for the club to prepare himself for the World Cup. (Source AS. Com online)