Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has confirmed both Anthony Martial and Edinson Cavani suffered injuries during Manchester United’s 3-1 win over West Ham on Saturday.
United were 1-0 down at the break before Bruno Fernandes and Marcus Rashford were introduced. Paul Pogba, Mason Greenwood and Rashford grabbed the goals to secure a 3-1 win, with the result moving the Red Devils up to fifth, just three points adrift of leaders Chelsea.
However, it wasn’t all good news. At the break, Cavani was withdrawn, while Martial pulled up with a problem early on in the second half.
Greenwood was one of the scorers for United | Justin Setterfield/Getty Images
Speaking after the victory, Solskjaer told MUTV: “We lost Anthony and Edinson. Hopefully they aren’t too bad but they couldn’t carry on today. There’s a game coming up on Tuesday but that’s probably going to be the season this year.
“There’s going to be some games that we have to do without players and I’m glad we’ve got the subs that we have. They’re not bad ones hopefully. We’ll do scans and hopefully they’ll be available soon.”
Their injuries come on the eve of United’s most important game of the season so far against RB Leipzig. Going in their final Champions League group stage fixture, United know that avoiding defeat to Julian Nagelsmann’s side would guarantee qualification into the knockout stages.
Solskjaer said he hoped that their win over the Hammers would help give them momentum for Tuesday’s game.
“It’s a brilliant week. We’re looking forward to it. That’s a good start,” he added.
Cavani and Martial will not be the only players missing for the Leipzig game. David de Gea is also struggling for fitness and could miss out, while Luke Shaw remains on the sidelines with a hamstring problem.
Barcelona have confirmed that French forward Ousmane Dembele will miss Tuesday’s meeting with Juventus after picking up a hamstring injury in Saturday’s humiliating 2-1 loss to Cadiz.
Dembele came off the bench at half-time and did manage to finish the game, but he was seen holding his hamstring and Barcelona fans were immediately fearing the worst as the 23-year-old has an abysmal history when it comes to muscular injuries.
Dembele came on at half-time | Soccrates Images/Getty Images
Fortunately, Barcelona took to their official website to confirm that this latest issue is nothing too severe, but it will force Dembele to miss Tuesday’s decisive meeting with Juventus at the very least.
There’s no mention of just how long Dembele will be sidelined, with Barcelona instead suggesting that his progress will dictate his return date.
Marca anticipate that Dembele will miss between one and two weeks, so there’s a good chance that he will be unavailable for the visit of Levante on Sunday, while his involvement in subsequent meetings with Real Sociedad and Valencia also appears to be in doubt.
Ousmane Dembele’s injury history since joining Barcelona for €105 million:
Given Dembele’s wretched history with hamstring issues, Barcelona will likely avoid taking any risks with the Frenchman. AS are confident that he’ll be kept on the sidelines for the next two weeks, and he may even stay on the treatment table for a little while longer until club doctors are 100% satisfied that Dembele will not suffer a relapse of the issue.
Ronald Koeman already has plenty of injury problems to deal with. Ansu Fati, Sergi Roberto and Gerard Pique are all expected to miss the next few months, while plenty of his players have needed rests in recent weeks.
Fortunately, even without Dembele and Fati, Koeman does still have plenty of options in attack. Lionel Messi, Antoine Griezmann, Philippe Coutinho and Martin Braithwaite started against Cadiz, with Pedri and Francisco Trincao joining Dembele on the bench.
Koeman has a dilemma on his hands | Soccrates Images/Getty Images
It remains to be seen which lineup Koeman will go with against Juventus, but with top spot in the group on the line, the boss will undoubtedly be keen to field his best-possible side.
Barcelona are three points ahead of Juventus in Group G and will finish top of the table as long as they avoid losing by three goals.
George Graham’s Arsenal may be the side chiefly associated with a ‘1-0’ scoreline in the minds of many, but Real Madrid, leaning away from the club’s fabled glitz and glamour, earned their latest silverware playing football infused with a similarly gritty resolve.
It wasn’t always pretty, and those on the other side of the Clasico divide will undoubtedly hiss some conspiracy about VAR, but Madrid ground their way through La Liga’s post-lockdown stretch to great success, winning just their second top flight title in eight years.
Real Madrid are crowned La Liga champions! ? pic.twitter.com/gt0mAsDqlk
— 90min (@90min_Football) July 16, 2020
After trailing Barcelona when the season was suspended in March, Madrid won their first ten fixtures following the restart, six of them by just the single goal including a run of three consecutive, hard-fought 1-0 wins.
Los Blancos repeated that scoreline against Europa League winners Sevilla on Saturday with a much improved display not entirely in-keeping with the club’s patchy start.
Even during their stuttering start to the campaign, going forward hasn’t been a problem for Madrid. They remain one of the best in the Spanish top flight for a host of attacking metrics and created plenty of chances against Sevilla, even if the breakthrough was courtesy of an own goal from the opposition goalkeeper.
Yet, more pertinently, Madrid’s backline held up remarkably well even though world class defender Sergio Ramos was once again sidelined. Zidane’s side ceded possession but allowed their hosts few chances of any genuine quality – Sevilla didn’t have a single shot with more than a 7% probability of scoring (that’s very low) according to UnderStat’s expected goals (xG) model.
? #Zidane: “Congratulations to the players because it’s not easy to win here.”#RMLiga | #HalaMadrid pic.twitter.com/1Dw0YmN33c
— Real Madrid C.F. ???? (@realmadriden) December 5, 2020
However, Saturday’s result was just their second 1-0 win from the opening 16 games of the season. An inability to replicate the tight defensive display against Sevilla or from the backend of last season has been a key factor in Madrid’s staccato start.
Going into the weekend’s fixtures, Madrid ranked eighth in La Liga for non-penalty xG conceded. Essentially, they were giving up chances befitting the status of a mid-table outfit. This is a dramatic drop-off from their league-leading defensive record, both in terms of xG and reality, last season. On their way to the title, Madrid conceded just 26 goals in 38 league outings, ensuring they boasted the lowest goals against per game ratio across Europe’s top five leagues.
This term they are averaging almost double that ludicrously low figure, though the circumstances of their recent concessions should be considered. The last seven goals Madrid have conceded in La Liga have been made up of five penalties, one own goal and an uncharacteristic blunder from Thibaut Courtois.
Nevertheless, even if penalties were excluded, Madrid are conceding more shots of much better quality on average this season compared to last, though the Sevilla clash was a notable, and perhaps prescient, exception.
Madrid conceded three penalties in a single game against Valencia earlier this season | Angel Martinez/Getty Images
With 11 games of the 2019/20 campaign to play, Madrid seemed to treat post-lockdown La Liga as a separate competition in and of itself. Ramos – whose penalties were often decisive in those narrow victories – called it the ‘COVID league’ and Madrid may be best served framing the upcoming week with a similar spin.
Three days after hosting Borussia Monchengladbach in the Champions League, Los Blancos welcome their table-topping city rivals Atletico Madrid to the Estadio Alfredo di Stefano.
Borussia Monchengladbach lead the delicately poised Group B where all four teams can qualify for the knockout stages or be eliminated. To avoid any nail-biting permutations, a win against the German side would put Madrid through to the last 16 for the 24th consecutive year.
While Champions League football post-Christmas without Madrid is near unthinkable, the derby against Atletico carries a similar weight to it.
Zinedine Zidane (right) has only lost two of his 11 meetings with Diego Simeone’s Atletico Madrid | TF-Images/Getty Images
Diego Simeone’s team – propelled by the wondrous talents of Joao Felix – are one of only two sides in Europe’s top five leagues yet to taste domestic defeat since football on the continent returned following the coronavirus-induced hiatus.
Atletico’s defence hasn’t endured any of the setbacks suffered by their rivals – they’ve conceded a staggering two league goals in ten games – and are fresh from recording a 1-0 win of their own against Barcelona.
Regardless of whether this week decides Zidane’s future as manager, it will certainly play a huge role in the club’s fortunes for the current campaign. If fans were allowed back into the stadium they probably wouldn’t pocket the white hankies to belt out a rendition of ’1-0 al Real Madrid’, but a return to their gritty slogs of June and July may be the club’s best route to success.
Juventus painted Turin black and white as they came from a goal down to beat Torino 2-1 in the Derby della Mole at the Allianz Stadium on Saturday.
I Bianconeri continued their unbeaten start in Serie A to gain a much-needed derby day win. Juve found themselves a goal down after only nine minutes played through a corner. Poor positioning and marking at the front post meant that the ball ricocheted into the path of Nicolas Nkoulou, who fired Il Toro ahead.
Despite Juventus largely dominating the ball in the first half, the Italian champions failed to come up with a reply, with Torino continuing to attack Wojciech Szczęsny’s goal with long balls in behind the defence. Andrea Pirlo sent out an unchanged team for the second half and for a long while all his side could muster were some Paulo Dybala free-kicks and some half chances for main man Cristiano Ronaldo.
Cuadrado put in a solid second half performance | DeFodi Images/Getty Images
It wasn’t until changes were made that Juventus looked the better side. Juan Cuadrado, who was the outstanding performer for Juve, found the net from the edge of the area following a corner but his fine strike was chalked off after VAR ruled Leonardo Bonucci blocked Lyanco in the box.
Weston McKennie and Alex Sandro were then introduced and within minutes, the American midfielder got on the end of a Cuadrado cross and headed home the equaliser. 10 minutes later, in the dying embers of the game, key man Cuadrado put in another splendid cross into the box which Bonucci converted the winner for Juventus.
The derby day hero | Stefano Guidi/Getty Images
Wojciech Szczęsny (GK) – 6/10 – Although he conceded early on in the match, he was integral in keeping Juventus in the game, keeping out several chances from Torino captain Andrea Belotti.
Juan Cuadrado (RB) – 8/10 – With two assists, Cuadrado was the standout performer against Torino. The Colombian whipped in two great crosses which ended up being the difference, and was also unlucky not to get on the scoresheet after his strike was ruled out by VAR.
Matthijs de Ligt (CB) – 5/10 – Was caught on the break a few times and had to rely on his pace to bail him out of danger. On one occasion the Dutchman managed a brilliant recovery, using his strength to shift Linetty while Torino were on the counter-attack. He did, however, pick up a yellow for a later transgression.
Leonardo Bonucci (CB) – 6/10 – Suffered from the same problems as De Ligt, getting caught on the break. However, he did manage to get the winner for Juventus.
Danilo (LB) – 5/10 – Failed to impact the game in the same way as his right-back counterpart, and was eventually substituted for the more forward-thinking Alex Sandro.
An impressive display from the Uruguayan | DeFodi Images/Getty Images
Dejan Kulusevski (RM) – 4/10 – The youngster perhaps struggled to get to grips with the emotion of the derby and put in a poor performance. He lost possession a lot and was the first man to be subbed off by Pirlo.
Rodrigo Bentancur (CM) – 7/10 – One of the better performers on the night, the Uruguayan really dictated play from midfield and allowed the likes of Dybala ahead of him to play a freer role.
Adrien Rabiot (CM) – 5/10 – Rabiot provided a nice aerial threat as the game was decided with set pieces. Following the blunder that led to Torino’s opener, he won almost all of his duals in the air.
Federico Chiesa (LM) – 5/10 – Did manage to create some opportunities for Ronaldo and Dybala, but it ultimately wasn’t enough as Juventus had to rely heavily on set plays and crosses from Cuadrado.
A quiet day for Ronaldo | DeFodi Images/Getty Images
Cristiano Ronaldo (ST) – 6/10 – His 750 goal landmark was celebrated before the game, but he was unable to build on those extraordinary numbers. Lacked many real clear cut chances.
Paulo Dybala (ST) – 6/10 – Had more creative responsibility than Ronaldo, and the half-chances that the Portuguese forward did have were down to Dybala’s genius. However, other than a few free-kicks and shots from far he didn’t manage to influence the game.
McKennie changed the game | Chris Ricco/Getty Images
Aaron Ramsey (CM) – 6/10
Weston McKennie (CM) – 7/10 – Came on and his impact on the game was instant – only did he get the equaliser, but he was important in allowing Juventus to maintain pressure.
Since Jadon Sancho swapped Manchester City for Borussia Dortmund in 2017 to blossom into a global footballer, German sides have been hyper-focused on English academies and trying to find their own £100m players.
The most high-profile example was Bayern Munich trying to throw £30m at Chelsea for then-inexperienced winger Callum Hudson-Odoi, but while the Blues were able to resist Bayern’s advances with that one, they failed to stop the German side from poaching talented teenagers Jamal Musiala and Bright Arrey-Mbi in July 2019.
Of the pair, it was Musiala who was seen as the biggest loss for Chelsea. There was a belief that the teenager could rise right to the top of the football mountain, and just over one year later, we’re starting to see why Bayern were so excited to sign him.
Jamal Musiala steps up for Bayern! ?
The 17-year-old subs on and scores fives minutes later ✨ pic.twitter.com/VYkXhBusNn
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) December 5, 2020
After a season of starring for Bayern’s reserves, Musiala was brought into the senior set-up post-lockdown, becoming the youngest player to appear for the club in the Bundesliga when he made his debut in June against Freiburg, and he also sat on the bench for two Champions League fixtures.
A permanent promotion to Hansi Flick’s first team followed, and Musiala has already bagged three goals in just seven Bundesliga appearances this year, the first of which made him the club’s youngest-ever scorer.
Such records are impressive at any team, but at a club like Bayern, who have won eight consecutive league titles and are reigning European champions, it carries even more weight. You have to be a special kind of talent, but Musiala is exactly that.
Predominantly an attacking midfielder, Musiala is comfortable anywhere in the attacking third and loves to use his fluid movement to drift around the field in search of possession. He’s the type of player who actively seeks out the ball, and his quick feet and outstanding dribbling skills make him a nightmare for any defender.
? Jamal Musiala makin’ ’em dizzy ?
This kid is special ? pic.twitter.com/rb930rWCad
— The DFB-Pokal (@DFBPokal_EN) October 15, 2020
While he still needs to work on a few aspects of his game – passing in the final third isn’t his strong suit – he already plays at an alarmingly high level and still has almost the entirety of his senior career ahead of him.
“When a 17-year-old comes on, the demands on someone as talented as him are as high as they are for any other player,” team-mate Thomas Muller recently told bundesliga.com. “Jamal had some great moments today. In some situations you could still see his inexperience. He can work on that over time, but overall I’m very happy with him.”
It’s not hard to see why people are so excited about Musiala. He’s already being described as ‘the one that got away’ from Chelsea and potentially the catalyst for another decade of domestic dominance for Bayern.
Even at international level, there were mini celebrations when Musiala was selected in the England Under-21 squad back in November as it meant that the 17-year-old had chosen to continue his national career with the Three Lions instead of the land of his birth, Germany.
Musiala remains part of the England set-up | Alex Livesey – Danehouse/Getty Images
His decision isn’t even final at this point and won’t be official until he plays in a competitive game for a senior team, but England fans were sent into a frenzy by the realisation that Musiala still remains loyal to England.
Musiala’s versatility has helped him earn plenty of minutes at senior level this year. Bayern are so strong in every attacking area, but when one player needs a rest, Musiala is their to fill the gap. He’s switched between midfield and left wing, and he’s excelled in both positions.
Musiala has already won over Flick | ALEXANDER HASSENSTEIN/Getty Images
Flick clearly has plenty of faith in Musiala, and rightly so. He’s a special talent who is not simply being primed for the future, but is instead ready to make an immediate impact.
If he can continue this electric form, Musiala will demand more minutes in arguably Europe’s strongest lineup, and all that exposure will only make him better. It’s an enthralling cycle that has fans of Bayern, England and football as a whole drooling with excitement.
For more from Tom Gott, follow him on Twitter!
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