And that, you’ll be saddened to hear, is all from me. Thanks for reading – over and out!
Full-time: Cologne 1-4 Bayern Munich
And the whistle sounds to confirm a result that was in no doubt from the second minute onwards. Bayern are back on top, a point ahead of Leipzig, and play rock-bottom Paderborn on Friday night before their title rivals – who travel to Spurs in midweek – are away to sixth-placed Schalke on Saturday afternoon. You wouldn’t be surprised if Bayern had opened up some daylight at the top by the end of next weekend.
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Goal for Rangers! Scott Arfield latches on to a wonderful pass from Ianis Hagi to finish coolly. One-nil.
In Cologne, former Blackburn Rovers legend Anthony Modeste has missed a chance to pull another one back against Bayern. He’s clean through, one-on-one with Neuer, but the keeper stands his ground and saves well with his foot.
Mildly diverting scenes in Switzerland, where St Gallen and Young Boys, the two clubs neck and neck at the top of the tables with 44 points each, are both losing 1-0.
Elsewhere in the Women’s FA Cup, Lucy Staniforth has enjoyed an eventful minute or so for Birmingham, scoring a late winner with a free-kick and then being sent off before the restart for reasons as yet unclear. But her team are through with a 1-0 win. And Man City declare at 10-0.
Goal! Cologne 1-4 Bayern Munich ( 70)
Nothing more than a consolation, surely, but Cologne pull one back in tidy fashion, Mark Uth slotting home to cap a smart counterattack. Then Bayern go down the other end and Gnabry misses another sitter, side-footing wide after his teammates slice through the Cologne defence with a series of exuberant flicks. That would have been a glorious goal.
Full-time: Juventus 2-0 Brescia
And that’s that. Juventus made slightly heavy weather of that but they go three points clear of Inter, who play away to Lazio this evening. Sampdoria’s hammering at the hands of Fiorentina ends 5-1.
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Goal! Cologne 0-4 Bayern (Gnabry 65)
A sensational goal from Gnabry, who picks up the ball on the left, shimmies through the challenge of two defenders and bends a sublime shot into the far corner from 25 yards.
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AND IT’S 10! Georgia Stanway gets the third hat-trick of the game! Time to lay off now, eh.
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Nine-nil to Man City. Park completes her hat-trick. Ten minutes left…
Gonzalo Higuain nods home a free-kick to make it 3-0 – or so he thinks: the flag is up. Meanwhile, Federico Chiesa makes a 5-0 to Fiorentina away at Sampdoria. And half-time is nearing at Ibrox, where Rangers are yet to find a way through Livingston.
Possible double-figure goal-tally alert: Jess Park makes it eight for Man City against Ipswich. Twelve minutes to go…
Goal! Juventus 2-0 Brescia (Cuadrado 75)
That woke them up. Juve promptly scamper down the other end where the ball is funnelled left to Cuadrado, who cuts inside, exchanges a tidy one-two with Matuidi and slots home at the near post. Lovely goal. How Bjarnason must be ruing that miss…
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Juventus are living dangerously – they’re in control here against 10 men but haven’t killed it off and, as Brescia make a rare venture forward, the ball breaks to Birkir Bjarnason in all sorts of space on the edge of the box, but he can only sidefoot haplessly over. Miralem Pjanic has also limped off with what looks like a groin injury.
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In sunny Cyprus, title hopefuls Omonia have fallen behind against AEL Limassol while top-of-the-table Anorthosis lead 2-1 again Nea Salamis.
Speaking of big leads with half an hour to play, a flurry of second-half goal from Manchester City Women –two each from Georgia Stanway and Pauline Bremer, who’s completed a hattrick – has taken them into a stonking 7-0 lead over poor old Ipswich.
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Thomas Muller belts one just over the bar for a rampant Bayern, who are now filing off the pitch for half-time with their win in the bag. Dusan Vlahovic makes it 4-0 to Fiorentina: a healthy scoreline under any circumstances, let alone away from home, having had a man sent off, and with half an hour to play. And Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, a man who very much Knows Where The Goal Is, adds a late third for Ajax, who are six points clear at the top of the Eredivisie.
It ends goalless between Leganes and Betis in La Liga, a result that leaves the hosts deep in the relegation mire. Higuain and Bonucci miss two huge chances to double Juventus’s lead against Brescia. And plenty of fun happening over in Sampdoria, where Fiorentina lead 3-0 and it’s 10-a-side, Nicola Murru and Milan Badelj have each gotten themselves sent off either side of half-time.
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Half-time in the Women’s FA Cup and Man City lead Ipswich 3-0, Jessica Park having added to the two early strikes. Still goalless between Sunderland and Birmingham.
Kevin Zohi equalises for Strasbourg against Lyon, 1-1. In Cologne, Serge Gnabry has produced a remarkable tribute to Ronny Rosenthal, being played clean through, rounding the keeper and with the open goal gaping, ballooning a left-footed shot against the bar. Marvellous.
Trabzonspor have beaten Sivasspor 2-1, a win that sees them climb from third to first: a point ahead of Istanbul Bahaksehir and with a game in hand, too. Daniel Sturridge and John Obi Mikel won a title together back in 2010 – could they be set for another one a decade later?
Sorloth, Suso, Macheda, Traore – and now Gervinho has joined the growing group of reformed Premier League flops helping themselves to goals today. The Ivorian has put Parma 1-0 up at Sassuolo. Whoever next? Marouane Chamakh? Helder Postiga? Karl-Heinze Riedle?
Remember that third-choice keeper for Brescia? Well he’s just made a superlative save, diving full length to claw a long-range striker from Dybala wide of the post. Magnificent stuff.
Goal! Cologne 0-3 Bayern (Gnabry 12)
A statement of intent. Serge Gnabry makes it three with a beautifully composed finish. Is there a player on the field, I wonder, who doesn’t just want the game to end then and there?
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Goal! Juventus 1-0 Brescia (Dybala 38)
…and tougher still. Paulo Dybala bends the resulting free-kick into the corner, the keeper rooted to the spot having taken a pre-emptive step the wrong way as the Argentine stepped up.
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Brescia down to 10 men! Florian Aye hauls down Aaron Ramsey, who is steaming clear, to pick up his second booking. A tough task just got even tougher.
Goal! Cologne 0-2 Bayern (Coman 5)
This looks ominous. Lewandowski turns provider, wriggling into the box and laying on a tap-in for Kingsley Coman. And that, you’d have to think, is that. What is it they say about Germans and efficiency?
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Goal! Cologne 0-1 Bayern (Lewandowski 2)
A strong sense of ‘no mucking about’ here. Bayern takes precisely 113 seconds to reclaim their spot atop the Bundesliga, Robert Lewandowski exchanges passes with Thomas Müller and thunders a staggingly powerful left-footed finish past the Cologne goalkeeper. In Turin, Dybala misses a sitter for Juventus. Still 0-0.
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That fairytale FA Cup win for Ipswich at Man City, well, it doesn’t look too likely. City are 2-0 up 20 minutes in, Laura Coombs and Pauline Bremer with the goals. Sunderland v Birmingham, the only other tie to go ahead, is still goalless.
Bertrand Traore has been in miserable form for Lyon this season – 20 games without a goal until today – but he’s just broken the deadlock against Strasbourg with a close-range header. In Turin, Brescia venture forward and draw a desperate foul from Leo Bonucci – who just about escapes with a booking – and Balotelli lofts the resulting free-kick over the bar.
Federico Macheda – formerly of Manchester United, Sampdoria, QPR, Stuttgart, Doncaster, Birmingham, Cardiff, Nottingham Forest and Novara Calcio – has scored for Panathinaikos. They’re 3-0 up against Panetolikos, and will go fourth.
Third-choice keeper alert! Brescia’s goalie, Enrico Alfonso, who was only playing because of an injury to the No1 choice Jesse Joronen, has picked up an injury and been replaced after 10 minutes by Lorenzo Andrenacci, who comes on for his Serie A debut. His very first act is to scuff a truly woeful goal-kick straight to Juventus’s Rodrigo Bentancur, who scurries forward and gets a shot away. This could be interesting.
A first sniff of goal for Juventus, as Aaron Ramsey collects a Danilo pass inside the Brescia box but sees his shot blocked by a last-ditch lunge. A minute later, Gonzalo Higuain pokes a good chance wide after another Danilo cross. Mario Balotelli, up front for Brescia today, may be in for a long afternoon.
Good news, Swansea fans! Your loanee striker Joel Asoro has put Groningen ahead at Sparta Rotterdam. Meanwhile, in Turin, game faces are affixed at Juventus and Brescia exchange their pre-match handshakes. The champions will have to do it without Cristiano Ronaldo, who sits out today with a knee injury – and has been in quiiiite good form recently…
Full-time at Aberdeen, where Celtic have edged to a hard-fought win and taken a pretty big step towards a faintly ludicrous ninth successive title. Rangers really, really need a win at Livingston this afternoon to keep their hopes even vaguely alive.
That didn’t take long. Ajax go 1-0 up against rock-bottom Waalwijk thanks to a Dusan Tadic penalty on 13 minutes. Helluva penalty, too: thumped fiercely into the top corner. Their six-point lead at the top is re-established (for now).
And speaking of former Premier League no-hopers, ex-Liverpool waif Suso scored his first goal for Sevilla earlier today, a late equaliser in a 2-2 draw at home to Espanyol. He’s turned into quite the handy playmaker since leaving Anfield:
⚪🔴 Suso equalises for Sevilla with his first goal since his move from Milan!
— Premier Sports 📺 (@PremierSportsTV) February 16, 2020
🔥 A really nice finish from outside the box, and that adds to his assist from earlier in this match pic.twitter.com/mXUZCeS4Hd
Kristoffer Ajer has produced a cool finish to put Celtic 2-1 up at Aberdeen. A win there would take them a stinking 13 points clear of second-placed Rangers, albeit having played two games more.
The afternoon’s first Huge Goal comes from the Turkish Super Lig, where Trabzonspor have gone ahead against Sivasspor, and in so doing leapfrogged their opponents and Istanbul Basaksehir to the top of the table. The scorer? That would be former Crystal Palace no-hoper Alexander Sorloth, who seems to have emphatically learned how to hit a cow’s arse with a banjo: having scored zero goals in 16 Premier League games has now scored 16 in 19 for Trabzonspor.
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Ahead of that Man City-Ipswich FA Cup tie, here’s the estimable Nick Ames on the visitors who are chasing “the biggest upset ever”:
Preamble
Gather round! Don’t tell Manchester City, but right now Europe is where the fun’s at. In lieu of a title race – or indeed much football at all – in the Premier League, this weekend brings us the latest neck-and-neck japes from two countries who have become used to their top divisions becoming the sort of repetitive procession currently besmirching the English top flight.
Serie A’s scramble for top spot, which was already a close-run thing, was blown even further open last weekend when, first, Cristiano Ronaldo and chums fell to a shock defeat at Hellas Verona, and then Romelu Lukaku led Inter to a four-goal comeback win in the Milan derby to leapfrog Juventus into first place on goal difference. Juve can banish that memory, at least for the few hours until Inter play, with a result against Brescia: a point will be enough for the winners of the last eight titles to reclaim top spot. At the other end of the table, Sampdoria and Fiorentina face off in a game that has the distinct look of a six-pointer. (Kickoffs 2pm GMT)
Over in Germany, meanwhile, the game of musical chairs between Leipzig and Bayern Munich continued yesterday when the fizz drink-funded upstarts saw off Werder Bremen 3-0 to take back first place from the side against whom they played out a fraught goalless draw with last weekend. But the Bundesliga’s establishment club can reverse that today – though do to so they’ll have to see of Cologne, who have won four of their last five. (Kickoff 2:30pm)
And that not all – out-of-form Lyon take on Strasbourg in Ligue 1 (2pm), rock-bottom Leganés play not-entirely-safe Betis in La Liga (1pm), while I’m sure you’re aware that their are crucial fixtures in the Turkish, Swiss, Dutch and Cypriot title races. As well as three Women’s FA Cup games that haven’t fallen victim to Storm Dennis (2pm), not least fourth-tier Ipswich’s trip to play holders Manchester City – who’ll be doing their best to ensure that Europe is where all the fun is at.
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