City slickers, resurgent Real and bullish Bayern

Sergio Aguero’s hattrick sinks Chelsea as PSG rue injury crisis on dawn of crucial clash with United

Two giants of the Spanish game might have been battling it out in the Madrid derby, but even the pull of a mouthwatering Real vs. Atletico clash was overshadowed this weekend by the remarkable events at the Etihad Stadium. Arab News assesses scintillating City and European football’s major talking points. er-loosening essing led f just eight months into a three-year contract at Stamford Bridge.

But we have been here before with the west London club — the players seem to have far too much power. To outsiders, it appears that any time they dislike a manager or the way he sets up his teams, they collude to get him sacked.

Think Roberto Di Matteo in 2012, months after he won the club’s first — and, to date, only — Champions League trophy. Think Jose Mourinho in the wake of the Eva Carneiro scandal. Think Antonio Conte after the Italian led the club to an unlikely Premier League title.

Player power is on the rise in Europe’s top leagues — often not for the better — and Chelsea’s squad have recently been at the vanguard of a toxic culture of drastically underperforming players getting a manager sacked. to some games, while Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah in the emirates will stage the majority of games.

International audiences will be casting their eyes over new signings Ian Bell and Phil Salt at Islamabad this season.

Bell averaged 187 against spin in T20s last year and has been brought in to counter the array of spinning talent on show across the league. Meanwhile, Salt could uniquely be set for a role as an opener or a finisher after scoring 433 runs at a strike rate of 173.20 in the shortest format in 2018.

All-rounder Samit Patel will also be involved in his second PSL after taking 13 wickets in his nine previous games, and South African duo Wayne Parnell and Cameron Del-

We hope Chelsea stick by Sarri. Meanwhile, Aguero’s second hattrick in three games kept City’s title charge a nose ahead of Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool. Despite a robust performance from Tottenham to beat Leicester at Wembley, it looks increasingly like a battle between Guardiola’s City and Klopp’s Reds for glory come May.

Real Madrid overtook city rivals Atletico to become Barcelona’s closest challengers in La Liga, with the gap down to six points between the bitter old rivals.

For Santiago Solari, who had come under extreme pressure earlier in the season, the 3-1 win was his best yet at the Real helm and it continued the club’s resurgence since claiming the Club World Cup last year. It was also Atletico’s first home defeat of the season.

A good w weekend for the reigning Europ European champions got even bett better as an injury-hit Barc Barcelona were held to a g goalless draw away to

Athletic Bilbao. port will take part in their first PSL.

Statistically the most successful team in the PSL, Islamabad United will be looking for a third title after winning the tournament in the inaugural year in 2016 and then again in 2018. Holding a near-60 percent success rate since the tournament’s inception in 2016, United are under new leadership this year following Misbah-ul-Haq’s move to Peshawar Zalmi, with Luke Ronchi now the man looking to bring yet more success to the holders.

The Kiwi was the league’s leading run-scorer in 2018’s edition, scoring 435 at a strike rate of 182.

Islamabad United will open the fourth season of the PSL when they take on the Lahore Qalandars in Dubai on Thursday.

Lionel Messi played but was not fully fit while the likes of Jordi Alba, Arthur Melo and Ousmane Dembele were also missing from the starting line-up. Barca will be grateful now for five days off, with their Champions League tie against Lyon coming next week. La Liga could be a tighter race than originally thought.

Paris Saint-Germain must have been rubbing their hands with glee when, late last year, they were drawn against a woefully out of form Manchester United managed by Jose Mourinho in the Champions League last-16.

But injuries to Neymar, and now Edison Cavani (left) after this weekend’s labored 1-0 win over Bordeaux in Ligue Un, have threatened to derail their European ambitions for yet another season. The French giants will be without both for Tuesday’s trip to Old Trafford.

And under Ole Gunnar Solksjaer, United have gone through a remarkable renaissance, winning 10 of their last 11 games under the Norwegian. In a matter of months, fortunes have changed and many are now backing the Red Devils to go through against the Parisians.

Defending Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich had Hoffenheim to thank after they trimmed the gap in the table to five points behind leaders Borussia Dortmund.

Dortmund, cruising at 3-0 with 20 minutes remaining in their game against Hoffenheim, conspired to blow a three-goal lead, with the visitors scoring three very late goals, in a dramatic 3-3 draw.

It meant that Robert Lewandowski’s 100th home goal for the Bavarian behemoth in a 3-1 win over Schalke 04 was enough for Bayern to hang on to the coattails of their Rhine rivals.

It will be a tough week for Dortmund with their trip to Wembley to take on Tottenham on Wendesday, while Bayern can ease off the gas for a week, with their trip to Anfield to play Liverpool not until next week. The fat lady is not singing just yet in Germany.